Young Readers and New Literacies
Enchantment, Nostalgia, and the Reinvention of the Library in Children’s Fiction
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tanya Radford
Contemporary technologies have changed the ways that children encounter information and narratives and also changed attitudes towards books, reading, and libraries. This paper will examine works of contemporary children’s literature that attempt to reimagine the library and convey its value. Children’s books attempt to enchant the library, representing it as a place to find refuge, escape, adventure, and magic. While this motif of the enchanted library is by no means new to children’s literature, it has achieved new poignancy in the twenty-first century as writers reinvent the library and encourage young readers to reimagine libraries, reading, and the act of research. This paper will focus primarily on Chris Grabenstein’s "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library," employing a close reading of elements of the narrative alongside theoretical and historical discussions of the ideological import of the library, books, and librarians. Grabenstein’s novel takes place in a library completely reimagined by a genius of game design. Combining Lemoncello’s nostalgic recollections of the library of his youth with game theory, interactive computer information systems, and futuristic technologies (including the helpful presence of holographic librarians), the new library once again becomes a space of adventure, excitement, and magic.
New Design Framework for an e-Book in Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tom Chan
An electronic book (e-Book) is a text-based publication in digital form. Major publishers recently reported that sales from digital textbooks now surpass prints. e-Books are increasingly adapted in classrooms. e-Books are innovative because of their interactivity and multimodality. Current e-books are merely clones of their paper counterparts, constrained by their linearity and passivity. Thus, a new design approach is necessary to harness the full power of the digital medium. e-Book design should be structured using concept mapping to connect between concepts and ideas, approaching a subject matter non-linearly. Assessment should be formative and embedded with contents, not summative at chapter ends. Presentation should be adaptive and personalize. Assessment evaluates comprehension, then push learners forward to advance topics, or remedial helping one to catch up. It should allow query in natural language and generate dynamic responses. e-Books will be breathing and growing with each interaction, a product of the learning community instead periodic edition by authors as in prints. e-Books will be a disruptor in the educational industry. It will revolutionize connections between knowledge and learners, blurring the lines between authors and teachers, publishers and schools, redefining education, its infrastructure and relationship.
Teaching Information Literacy in Elementary School: An Analysis of Current Practices
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jasmine Sykes Kunk
In today's climate of "fake news" and advertorials, the ability to identify, evaluate, and use reliable sources effectively is a mandatory skill for readers and writers. Plagiarism continues to be a problem in higher education. The fields of Library Science and Education have approached these issues, but no consensus on how to teach source evaluation and citation has been met. The school librarian synthesizes Education and Library Science approaches to source reliability and information literacy. A role of the school librarian is to teach source evaluation and citation skills to children, as well as to provide support to administration and faculty when collecting resources that they can share with their students. My paper will be an interdisciplinary examination of current research and case studies on effective instruction of these twenty-first century literacy skills in elementary schools. This cohesive evaluation of early education information literacy instruction will identify the next course of research needed to ensure that children are learning these elemental tools that will further enhance their reading and writing.
Early Childhood Literacy Education in Public Libraries: How Life Before the Library Matters
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alvina Mardhani Bayne
Amongst the many roles of the public library is that of the literacy educator, as evidenced by the many public libraries that offer literacy-focused programs for children under the age of five. Those who work in this realm often have varied and complex educational and professional backgrounds, which influence their work as early literacy educators. Using preliminary research findings from my doctoral research project, this themed paper explores the various perspectives that library-educators have on their work, asking: How do library-educators describe the ways in which their previous work and educational experiences inform their literacy programming practices? Specifically, my research focuses on a Western Canadian public library which employs a group of library assistants (LAs) to design and implement original literacy programs for children under the age of five. These LAs are not required to have any particular educational background beyond a Bachelor’s degree in any subject or a library-related diploma. My paper discusses how differences in educational and professional background are associated with shifting understandings of literacy, library-educator training, and work in the library. In particular, the notion, purpose, and consequences of gate-keeping in the library profession are examined, highlighting competing roles within the world of public libraries and the intricate ways in which approaches to literacy education change over time.
