Providing Support Through the Good Times and The Bad! - Blog #2 SLIS 754

Providing Support Through the Good Times

 and The Bad!

Over the last two weeks, our reading has been extensive and diverse in content.  Week three's storytime topics immediately caught my attention due to my experiences working with preschool aged students and sharing quality literature through hands-on and visual experiences.  It was interesting to see that the felt board is still alive and well, as noted in Krueger and Lee's article "Storytime-Palooza! Racial Diversity and Inclusion in Storytime".  They point out the importance of selecting quality selections throughout the year, in which children can see themselves depicted.  It is not enough to only have a variety of different felt colored faces, but we must go deeper.  As with teen library selections, our libraries cannot just highlight diverse literature around holidays and highlighted months, but also to "consider that diversity is about more than just skin color; many books with anthropomorphized animals are still culturally depicting whiteness".  This was one of the those "ah-ha" moments that hit hard!!  When selecting books on dragons, we must also consider dragon stories from all cultures, as well as non-fiction titles.  

Diverse StoryTime Resources:

50+ Diverse Video Read Alouds

The Best Books Featuring Everyday Diversity for Babies and Toddlers

StoryTime - Diversity in Stories

As I continued to read and skim over the plethora of articles, Renate Chancellor's article, "Libraries as Pivotal Community Spaces in Times of Crisis" jumped out at me after the horrible tragedy suffered at Robb Elementary School.  The library must take a stand to support the community in that town, but across our country.  As teacher librarians and public librarians, we must support our community in times of crisis, but also work to build relationships before times of crisis.  Librarians have responded without thinking twice about how to assist students and patrons during the COVID crisis, and librarians will be there through this new crisis to provide SEL lessons and a "safe space" within our school buildings.  The article presents challenging questions about where exactly our responsibility lies, but it must lie with the communities we serve and support.  Whether it's 1876 or today, "libraries have been considered a safe place for public engagement and public discourse", but we must also be the place where healing can begin.  Check out this library in Uvalde, Texas. 

This article may not have been directly on topic with what has happened, but it is connected.  Through times of difficulty, the library cannot sit back or close their doors.  As public servants, we need to face the tragedies with compassion and offer resources to begin healing and provide social/emotional guidance with community leader assistance.  This is where our community partners can play a big part in providing outreach, translating materials, etc.  

As a future librarian, I need to focus on my community and families everyday.  Working with community partners will provide me with what will be needed in the times of crisis and struggle.  This is the greatest take-away for this week.  To provide the best quality education, build relationships of trust, and support my community in times of difficulty.  

References

CGTN America. (2022, May 27). A local public library helps Uvalde families after

          the school shooting [Video]. Youtube. 

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?  v=8C5qShyrYxs 

Chancellor, R.L. (2017). Libraries as pivotal community spaces in times of crisis. 

         Urban Library Journal, 23(1). 

Krueger, A.H. & Lee, T. (2016). Storytime palooza! Racial diversity and inclusion in

         storytime. Children and Libraries, 14(3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.14n3

The Developing Brain - Blog #1 SLIS 754

The Developing Brain

The human brain is a miraculous organ that requires tender love and care to grow and develop into a well developed and well-oiled information center.  Without understanding the stages of development from birth to adulthood, there will be gaps in education and learning that will be closed off and required bridges to be built later in life to cross these ravines.  These gaps in learning will not only affect literacy, but social, cognitive, and emotional development.  

It seems that most often, we focus on the development of the young brain once it is time to start preschool, but as Patricia Kuhl points out that there is a "celestial openness" to babies brain. This openness does have an expiration date that must be tapped into before a babies' first birthday.  Her studies show that babies from around the world are "citizens of the world" and "can discriminate all the sounds of all languages" (Kuhl, 2013).  The key is the social interaction with direct human interaction.  This is supported by Dickinson, et.al. in their article when they state that "between birth and age three are critical for children's long term language, cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal development" (Dickinson, et al, 2011).  

Dickinson's article hit close to home with me when they discussed how "book reading has a special power" and how it "impacts parents' patterns of interpersonal interactions with their children" (Dickinson, etal, 2011).  I found this especially true with the relationships that I have with my own children.  We read continuously from birth and beyond.  To this day, we still have our own little "book club", where we share books with each other and then discuss. Our love of reading has given us a special bond that may not be accessed by all citizens.  It is so important for libraries to build programs that supply families with not only quality books (English and in their own languages), but with quality parenting education, guidance, and modeling for good reading interactions. This is something that I plan to focus my attention with my own library.  I would like to have Parenting Nights or Parenting Breakfasts to bring families into the library and provide the support they need with a supportive and guiding hand. 

What must be remembered is that brain development does not stop until around age 25 and that this population must also continue to have exposure to programs that meet their specific needs.  Nicki Blair's article states that teen services need "a comprehensive approach to offering young adult services that include dedicated leadership from staff, the development of strategic plan[s], and the consideration of young adult development" (Blair, 2010).  Libraries and librarians have to take the time to understand the teenage brain and "understand as much as possible about the ground they stand on" (Blair, 2010).  I agree with this whole-heartedly, especially with the reluctant teenage reader.  It is imperative to meet your readers where they are and to understand  their interests, their background experiences, and the best method for stimulating their love of reading.  This could mean providing access to graphic novels, audible selections, or even teen read-alouds.  As Gaiman stated, "literate people read fiction" and that this is a "gateway drug" to reading (Gaiman, 2013).  Reading builds a bridge to understanding, communication, and life long enjoyment.   

The take-away from these articles is that development and the programming librarians provide begins a birth and doesn't stop.  Our program needs to grow and change as our patrons grow and change.  Our programming in the early stages must be focused towards not only children, but their parents.  These early years set the stage for the rest of their lives and the relationships they will form with others, but it doesn't stop there.  We must provide programming for all the stages of growth, including the once overlooked teen years.  Libraries are about access and freedom, which provides the gateway to a brighter and more creative future.

References

Blair, N. (2010). Raising the bar in public libraries: Literacy, adolescent development, and young adult services. B Sides: U of I SLIS Journal. http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/2.

Dickinson, D., Griffith, J.A., Golinkoff, R.M., and Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2012, February 7). How reading books fosters language development around the world. Child Development Research. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/602807

Gaiman, N. (2013, October 15). Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

Kuhl, P. (2010, October). Linguistic genius of babies [Video]. TedTalk Conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2XBIkHW954