Reading and why it matters!

How to keep older kids reading and (why it’s so important they do).

I came across this article recently by Megan Daly and it sums up everything we try and do in the library to get students reading. Teachers and Library staff emphasize to students how reading, especially deep reading helps them critically analyse all literature and gives them the works to express themselves. But I wonder what they really hear? Blah, Blah, Blah? We would love it if parents just take some time to read themselves, or listen to audio books. This article gives some good advice about setting routines, making it part of a schedule, letting them see you reading, taking an interest in what they are reading. Bribery also comes into the discussion!

How do we choose books for our Libraries?

At the senior library we have hundreds of new books, and audio books (Borrowbox) a year to review and decide to purchase. What do we consider?

For a book to engage a teenage reader or YA (young adult), it needs to engage right from the start. First we look online to see what others say about the book, how many reviews and ratings it has. (Usually https://www.goodreads.com/). We also look for contemporary themes and issues. Often young adults have interests and questions which are being dealt with in a book. We look for different voices, male and female, diverse cultures and different genres. Dystopian and fantasy are always popular with students, but as teenagers progress through senior school, often biographies or autobiographies capture their attention, as they seek to understand people and events and develop wider insights. Sometimes students have a particular interest in subject, e.g. Physics and Black holes and will read extensively on the subject.

Teenagers also want to hear their own voice in novels, learn about relationships, challenges in history and seek understanding of current issues.

Librarians try not to exercise censorship or reflect their own point of view on students, but occasionally there are books which do not “fit” into a senior school library. This might be because of extreme violence or graphic content. Sometimes however, this content is important, as it is within the context of the story and very relevant in a well written novel. We also try to read as many books or at least the beginning to gain more of an idea. Our ISC Bookclub students also help choosing books their peers would like and offer us valuable insights into what is popular with students .We keep in mind also that in the internet age there is no limit to what our students can access so books can be a safe way of exploring complex themes.

This article in The Guardian is well worth a read. YA Marginalised books

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/15/torn-apart-the-vicious-war-over-young-adult-books

 It explains how publishers and authors are being pressured to censor content in their books as they do not want to be accused of racism, bigotry and marginalisation. We need to keep in mind that just because we read something it doesn’t mean we are going to agree with it. Teenagers are even more likely to question and form ideas by reading widely.

H

Importance of Libraries.

Earlier this year I was researching Pressreader for our Information Literacy sessions and came across this article which resonated with me. (Pressreader is a collection of magazines and newspapers from many countries around the world which can be read for free online). Our students in years 9, 10, 11 and 12 join up to the State Library of Victoria to gain access).

In The Insider, 23/1/2019 this article Journalism — the catalyst that connects communities and cultures in public libraries, discusses the importance of public libraries in America. At the advent of the internet age many people were predicting the end of libraries and books, but it is clear that this didn’t happen as libraries evolved and responded to meet clients’ needs in many different ways. What was surprising in this article was the number of millennials using public libraries. Also that people are increasingly looking for authentic news stories. The author says “When social media took off a decade ago many people used it as a gateway for news, bypassing the library’s limited supply of newspapers and magazines. But today, when it comes to news discovery, the love affair with social media is starting to largely wear off.To avoid all the misinformation and fake news polluting their social channels, people are starting to seek out more credible news sources When quality journalism is made available in public libraries and promoted by librarians, it fuels the power of the person and the collective by connecting people and ideas”.

Throughout the year students in year levels 7, 8, 9 and 10 through the Information Literacy sessions run by the ISC have been challenged to look at Fake news, Propaganda and Conspiracy theories. This is relevant to encouraging the use of authentic fact based information available through the State Library of Victoria. Lessons include How to spot fake news, and reverse image searching techniques.

Fake news anyone?

Early this year I was fortunate to attend an amazing SLAV Conference (School Library Association of Victoria) on Real Libraries vs Fake News. We heard from experts in media, Dr Barbara Combes – Charles Sturt University; Misha Ketchell, Managing Editor of The Conversation (previously editor of ABC Media Watch), Jo Teng, Australian Copyright Council. I also attended a workshop with the Australian editor of Wikipedia (which I will discuss in a later blog). 

Dr Combes discussed the historical perspectives and different studies of Fake news and concluded her presentation by saying the studies indicate “that we need to educate our students about the online environment and the effect it has on information reliability and dissemination. Our students need to understand that how we use the medium is actually part of the problem and it can have far reaching effects on how society is informed and by whom. There is a fine line between fake news and political propaganda or alternative facts. We have fake news because the information landscape today is incredibly complex; consists of multiple perspectives from multiple authors (anyone can publish); enables rapid dissemination of information that is often decontextualized or out of context and it is easy to manipulate or alter. To become informed today is actually much harder than pre-Internet, even though we have more information available and at our finger tips. The big question is can we find and sift out the good information from the fake. In an Information Age where our understandings are constantly changing, to equip our students with the knowledge and skills to be able to find and evaluate information is a primary goal of education and a major role for the information specialists in the library”.

Misha Ketchell explained how The Conversation came about, what its aims are, and how accurate the articles and references are. The Conversation is supported by numerous Australian universities and some philanthropic donations. Every day at least twenty people discuss the latest news/topics. Once decided on the topic, an expert is approached to write an article. This article is then blind checked by another expert for accuracy and reliability before publishing. ABC factcheck is also involved.

As part of Information Literacy Lessons this year, year 8 and year 7 students have learning how to spot fake news and choose relevant resources. They have also learnt how to search effectively for information. This included reverse image search, Boolean searching, keywords and quotations. They also learnt about fact checking sites and reliable news sources. Hopefully they also learnt to also double, triple check their sources and facts! They have also looked at the difference between headlines, news and the Fourth Estate (investigative journalism) = truth, facts and trust. One of the sites they looked at was the Edelman Trust Barometer. This showed the survey undertaken on Australian trust by respondents on NGOs, government, business and the media.

It is quite a while since we've published our In the Know Blog, but with libraries, especially school libraries currently in the spotlight with the campaign #StudentsNeedSchoolLibraries we thought it timely to re invigorate this blog and let you know what has been happening in our libraries at Gippsland Grammar.

We will also share innovative ideas happening throughout the library world.
In the meantime have a read to see what the author Nick Earls says about libraries and librarians...

IT’S NOT ABOUT SHELVING THE BOOKS AND KEEPING KIDS QUIET

This post was originally published on Nick Earls' blog on 21/09/2015.

Some schools no longer have teacher-librarians and, the more I see of teacher-librarians, the less sense that makes to me. What’s next? No teachers? Kids turning up to the classroom each morning and inventing the day ahead? Maybe there’s a note on the door about what the curriculum has in mind, maybe there isn’t …

Each time I’m told that a school no longer has a teacher-librarian, I’m told that the school still has a library, as though the building does the job all by itself. I imagine, as usual, classroom teachers are expected to take up the slack and add the library to their already overcrowded list of duties. And kids are taught how to check books out, as if they’ve suddenly been up-skilled, and as if that’s what it is that teacher-librarians do (along with putting them back in the right place, and stopping things getting too noisy).

Some news for schools thinking of going librarian-free: having some books on shelves in the school’s second-biggest building – along with a chillout zone with half a dozen lunch-stained beanbags – does little for your students lives without a well-trained passionate human or two in there to wake the place up and get the most out of it.

Read more...

Artist Uses 100,000 Banned Books To Build A Full-Size Parthenon At Historic Nazi Book Burning Site

This article came up on my newsfeed recently. In term 4 the ISC has also been running a Challenge for students to read some of these banned/challenged books. A number of students have taken up the challenge and have read titles from the 52 books we have on offer, such as The Color Purple, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Perks of being a Wallflower. 

Students were surprised at why people try to have these books banned and enjoyed reading them immensely. They also felt enriched by reading books of great writers such as Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck , James Joyce and Harriet Beecher-Stowe.

I was very excited to read this article on the weekend MacManus:A Digital Future for Libraries and reflect on the last couple of years in the ISC. Our library is gradually incorporating more digital platforms, while retaining our core value of providing quality literature for our students.

Turanga Library, Christchurch, NZ

Recently the ISC has had the use of a 3D printer and ISC team members have been learning and teaching the associated 3D software to scan, print and manipulate people and objects. An Otto robotics club has also begun. "Otto" is a  3D printed robot, students can design various fun add-ons, build the robotics component of Otto and then learn how to program him/her!

Teacher-Librarians have been working with year 7 history teachers to implement Adobe Photoshop and year 7 science teachers to implement Adobe Illustrator for posters. Year 8 history teachers also implemented scatter charts with excel spreadsheets. The ISC also has a number of greenscreens for students to use for their presentations. Our first VR headset has also created excitement.

The ISC also has the ebook platform Wheelers, as well as the audio book platform Borrowbox. Borrowbox is proving very popular with students and staff.