Assessment item 2
Professional development blog
Value: 60%
Due
date: 02-Jun-2014
Return
date: 23-Jun-2014
Length: 2500
words
Submission
method options
EASTS (online)
Peer Reviewed Article: Diversity in Public
Libraries
Bourke, Carolyn Library Youth Spaces vs. Youth
Friendly Libraries: How to make the most of what you have, Australasian Public
Libraries And Information Services Journal, which is peer reviewed.
The author is an outreach and marketing librarian
at Fairfield Library.
She
says an emerging trend in libraries is a focus on library space dedicated for
youth as a place for them to identify and own. This is important for diversity
in a multicultural area as Fairfield Library has 55% of users who are youth. The
youth space promotes a safe place for youth to hang out, socialise and to
study.
The Youth Space can provide
a safe place for socialising and promoting harmony within a diverse community,
free from fear of discrimination and racism. The youth space is important too,
as it can help establish identity and create friendships. Bourke’s approach was a formal investigation of
how Fairfield library serves the youth of its area and whether it provides
adequate space and resources for its users (Stages of Adolescent Development,
2004).
The article focused on what the library currently
does within constraints of budget by making the most of what they already have,
including using available space.
Bourke looked at different tactics to attract youth
to the library, but battled whether recreational or educational activities were
the right way to achieve this.
Bourke found that youth identified the library as a
place to call their own, if the facilities were available. This includes youth
collections such as graphic novels, Internet and online database access. This
is than recognising diversity and adapting to it and recognising digital
materials and adapting to them. Youth have particular needs for 'their' space
as part of their development, which is different to adults or kids and therefore
a diverse use.
The most important aspect, I believe, that Bourke
identifies is concerning staff and how they interact and respond to the youth
in the library. The way a staff member responds or interacts can make or break
how one youth or a group of youths will feel, respond and but especially
interact with the library. This reflects my experiences at Bankstown Library
where youth from diverse cultures and backgrounds require a different approach.
Bourke’s article is one of self-experience and she
has a good grasp of her local community youths needs. I found this article
helpful in approaching youth in my library and how to make it a positive
experience (Bourke, 2010).
I
learnt that Fairfield is a vibrant multicultural area found that the library is
trying to meet its biggest potential user group by interacting and providing a
dedicated library space where they feel comfortable to hang out and to interact
and study. This is a means of the library recognising and accommodating one
area of diversity and an area of digital technological change. Stages of
Adolescent Development (2004) notes that “Movement Toward
Independence”
including an ability to compromise, self-reliance and greater concern for
others and a stress on personal
dignity and self-esteem, goal setting and follow through with the acceptance of
social institutions and cultural traditions are a feature of teen development.
I
like that Fairfield have listened to their community’s needs. Other libraries
can do the same by holding user focus groups, surveys and looking at Australian
Bureau Statistics to see who makes up their community and what they want.
Observe and document a program delivered for
children or young adults at a
local library, reflect on the experience: Diversity
in Public Libraries
I visited Marrickville Library, to observe and
record Baby Rhyme Time, a service the library offers babies to toddlers up to
the age of 2 and carers.
To begin the Baby Rhyme Time, Rose introduced
herself and also introduced Ted, the soft toy bear, which she used as a prop to
bounce on her knee and to interact with the babies.
Rose performed 20 rhymes and songs including Incy
Wincy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Rose used hand actions and Ted
for some songs and rhymes so the carers could copy them with the babies. At the
end of the songs and rhymes, Rose read a small board book, and then passed
around musical instruments such as maracas and bells for the babies to play
with. Rose then proceeded to blow bubbles near the babies as they interacted
and played together. There were 15 babies at this Baby Rhyme Time session that
went for 25 minutes.
I learnt Rose loves her job, showing passion and
enthusiasm and the babies responded in turn by smiling, using their voice and
interacting with their carers and each other. I also observed the effectiveness
of the process in crossing cultural and age boundaries.
Marrickville is a very diverse community and this
was evident in the 15 babies in attendance as half were from a non-Anglo
background.
Baby Rhyme Time does break down, language and
culture barriers as the songs and rhymes are easy to learn and fun to do. For
the parents and carers, it provided a great opportunity for social engagement.
While I was in attendance, Toni from NSW Playgroups talked about the
possibility of parents to join a playgroup, evidence of an external partnership
with the library.
Cultural diversity is really important to library
programs. Naidoo (2014) suggests running Baby Rhyme Time has the potential for
babies to make cross-cultural connections and develop social skills.
Libraries
are more than just books. Libraries have changed a lot recently with a push
towards information literacy. As recently as the 1970’s libraries did not cater
for children under 4 years of age (Cerny, Markey & William, 2006).
Piaget's
theory on the Sensorimotor cognitive stage from birth to 2 years of age indicates
a really important stage in brain development of a child. Babies pick up on
tones of voices, shapes, colours, actions and movement and can start to learn
social skills at even this early age. 80% of a baby’s brain development occurs
in the first 3 years of a child (Cerny, Markey & William, 2006).
Baby Rhyme
Time helps provide the stimulus that a baby needs as well as providing a social
platform to interact with other babies and help with coordination through
musical instruments and give an opportunity for carers and parents to interact
(Cerny, Markey & William, 2006).
Marrickville local government area is a vibrant a
multicultural rich area with 42% people that were born overseas (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011).
I observed that a lot of carers or parents did
not know these rhymes or songs and the actions that went with them. Future Baby Rhyme time sessions may include the use
of an interactive TV using YouTube as a learning and training tool while
performing the session so that carers and parents can pick up the tune, words,
hear the music and participate more readily.
Analyse and evaluate a website designed for
children or young adults: focus - Censorship in a Public Library
Cybersmart is an Australian Federal government
initiative dedicated for kids and teenagers to provide help on cyber bullying.
Censorship is important part of libraries, but it is
a two edged sword. Libraries have to protect the vulnerable - like children
finding inappropriate material such as pornography. At the same time libraries
need to be careful not to take it too far. For example if users search for
breast cancer and not be able to find anything because the security settings
have blocked the word breast (Reitman, 2013).
This website is child friendly, with dedicated tabs
for young children, kids and teenagers which direct the different age groups to
their own dedicated pages.
The difference in age group websites is vast. The
young children’s website uses games, such as puzzles, colouring, drawing and
use of videos. The kids website gets a bit mature while retaining, a cartoon
feel in the interface while offering comics, online games and more education on
cyber bullying such as “How Cybersmart are you?” The teenager’s site is
designed for teenagers and this is evident by the content such as the dangers
of sexting, trolling and social networking.
The Cybersmart website is a great source for both
kids and teenagers to make them aware of the dangers of cyber bullying. It
offers help, via email and a phone hotline to report if someone is cyber bullying
them. It also has links for parents, schools and libraries offering advice,
resources and what to do if their kids are in danger (“Cybersmart, “2014, para.
1). As a librarian it provides a thoughtful, well-researched resource for
library policy and protocols.
The Cybersmart website is also an excellent
resource for kids and teenagers on problems regarding censorship. I learnt that
while it provided lots of information for its target groups it also provided
information to parents concerned about their children.
The website did a good job in breaking up the
different age groups into their own separate webpage’s within the site through
language, colours, size of text, games, the use of photos and videos to break
up text and to try and keep it exciting and fun while discussing an important topic.
I found, the website informative yet fun, perfect for children and
teenagers.
The website provides different social media
platforms like YouTube and Twitter to communicate with its audience on a level
they feel comfortable communicating with relative anonymity.
Cyber
Bullying affects 1 in 10 young Australians aged between 14-17 (5 Current issues
of ‘Internet censorship’: bullying, discrimination, harassment and freedom of
expression n.d.). Therefore libraries have a responsibility for providing education
and information literacy to all users. The emergence of technology especially
the Internet in libraries has made it important to provide a safe environment
where kids and teenagers access the library computers or use the WiFi without
fear of cyber bullying and other inappropriate content on the Internet.
There were not any major gaps that I identified, or
needed to improve. I found that cyber bullying is an issue not just for the
individual but for organisations like libraries. It’s a library responsibility
to provide a safe physical space for our users but this extends to the virtual
platform. The website provides comprehensive information on the dangers of the
Internet and where to find help.
Book Review: Young people's book
awards
Tom the Outback Mailman by Kristin Weidenbach Bunting, Illustrated by
Timothy Ide.
Tom the Outback Mailman is the winner of the 2013
Children's Book Council Awards Book of the Year, Eve Pownall Category. The picture
book is based on the real life of outback postman Tom Kruse (Book of the Year
2013 Winners, 2014). The audience is for preschoolers up.
Tom the Outback Mailman storyline is about Tom
Kruse who is a postman who delivers mail to people in outback Australia along
the Birdsville track. What we discover is that Tom delivers more than just mail,
including beer.
There is great interaction between Tom and the harsh
Australian outback for which he has a great sense of love and affection, such
as when he can’t deliver by truck due to a flood so he uses a boat to deliver
the post.
This
is the perfect read out loud story time book, where kids can learn ocker
Australian words like gibber, tucker and odd sounding places like Dulkaninna.
Kristin Weidenbach has written an interactive story where kids can imagine
being a tough knock around bloke driving an old truck delivering all kinds of
goodies.
I learnt that a picture book is a powerful
information literacy tool that can break down
language diversity through words and
Illustrations. The oral stories
form, helps serve as a bridge between oral and written styles. Children learn
differently some are theory based and some are practically based.
Some children will like the words and some like the
Illustrations; tone of voice of the reader can help develop the cognitive
skills of a child’s brain. Illustrations can enhance children’s meaning and
understanding and provide a different Interpretation of the book (Sung &
Son, 2011, p.9 & Schneider & Hayward, 2010).
Libraries provide information literacy for all
ages. Picture books are often the first experience children have listening to verbal
and viewing illustrations, which can help provide kids and parents from
non-English backgrounds with information literacy to help break down cultural
and language barriers (Johnston, Bainbridge, Shariff, 2007, p. 75).
Illustrations can be just as powerful as words, adding to the reading
experience for a child especially if they do not understand fully what is being
read to them (Sung & Son, 2011, p. 9).
There were not many shortcomings with regards to
Tom the Outback Mailman. The theme of the delivery of beer could put off some
storytellers and parents off.
The illustrations were wonderful, they were
interactive and provide and develops the reader’s imagination of what it was
like to deliver the post.
The role of book awards is a mixed one, It is
really useful for a librarian who may not have time to research what to read to
an age group. Choosing from experts in the field who have the knowledge of what
a good book is beneficial to a librarian.
The negative side is that any books that miss out
on awards or that are not nominated may be ignored but does not mean that these
books aren’t good.
Personal Learning Network
Anne Milford - Ebook and eLending
I agree with you
about eBooks and how many people actually use it compared to the physical book.
I think it will take time and perhaps as the next generation comes through
(Milford, 2014).
I do believe the
library plays an important role in providing information literacy programs, one
on one training or offering “How to download an eBook” video via their
catalogue/website.
The library also
needs to make sure that downloading is easy. My local library at Marrickville
has several vendors, which require individual email and passwords to access.
This can put users off from using eBooks and their library. Having one email
and password to access all of the eBook vendors would be more convenient.
The advantages of
an eBooks are excellent. The convenience of accessing hundreds of eBook titles
on your mobile device is a huge draw card. I believe it comes down to personal choice. Some prefer the
feel of a book compared to a hard case device. It’s a challenge for libraries
to have a balance of physical and eBooks for the immediate future (Liu, 2010).
Susan
Kane - Diversity - Attend and document an event
I enjoyed your report on the Youth
Aloud event to celebrate all types of diversity such as age, disability,
culture and socio economic background at Billabong High School, Culcairn.
I learnt how Libraries have difficulties to engage with Youth. Younger people are not interested in borrowing. I loved that you came up with a plan to create positive relationships with the youth at your library by implementing literacy workshops and using technology could help libraries engage better (Kane, 2014).
Having worked in libraries I understand the difficulty for staff to engage with youth especially from different cultural and socio economic backgrounds. Having a dedicated youth space is great for social engagement but you also need to have friendly and helpful librarians. If this is not the case this can create a negative experience for the youth (Bourke, 2010).
I learnt how Libraries have difficulties to engage with Youth. Younger people are not interested in borrowing. I loved that you came up with a plan to create positive relationships with the youth at your library by implementing literacy workshops and using technology could help libraries engage better (Kane, 2014).
Having worked in libraries I understand the difficulty for staff to engage with youth especially from different cultural and socio economic backgrounds. Having a dedicated youth space is great for social engagement but you also need to have friendly and helpful librarians. If this is not the case this can create a negative experience for the youth (Bourke, 2010).
Debbie
Williamson - Young People Book Awards
I found your peer reviewed article
“And the winner is…?: Thinking about Australian book awards in the library” by
Erica Hateley a great read (Williamson, 2014).
I did not know the Children Book Council Awards were that old. I found it interesting that Hateley says “an award winning title influences acquisition, meeting collection development policy selection criteria for the very reason that it is an award winner”. This would be great for selection of books for librarians and libraries if they have budget and time restraints. A negative is if this is the only criteria for selection than there is the possibility other great titles might not be selected. Having community input such as user driven selection mediated by librarians would be best in selection of books (Stowell-Bracke, 2010).
I did not know the Children Book Council Awards were that old. I found it interesting that Hateley says “an award winning title influences acquisition, meeting collection development policy selection criteria for the very reason that it is an award winner”. This would be great for selection of books for librarians and libraries if they have budget and time restraints. A negative is if this is the only criteria for selection than there is the possibility other great titles might not be selected. Having community input such as user driven selection mediated by librarians would be best in selection of books (Stowell-Bracke, 2010).
References
5 Current issues of
‘Internet censorship’: bullying, discrimination, harassment and freedom of
expression (n.d.). Retrieved 4 May 2014, from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/background-paper-human-rights-cyberspace/5-current-issues-internet-censorship-bullying
Age structure – five year
age groups. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12 2014, from http://profile.id.com.au/fairfield/home
Australian Bureau of
Statistics. (2011). Country of Birth. Retrieved from http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/LGA15200?opendocument&navpos=220:
Australia.
Book of the Year 2013
Winners , (2014). Retrieved May 12 2014, from http://cbca.org.au/winners2013.htm
Bourke, C. (2010). LIBRARY
YOUTH SPACES VS YOUTH FRIENDLY LIBRARIES: HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF WHAT YOU
HAVE. Aplis, 23(3), 98-102.
Cerny, R., Markey, P. & William, A. (2006). Outstanding library service to children: putting the core ,competencies
to work. Retrieved from EBook
Library.
Cybersmart. (2014.) Retrieved from http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Kids/Get%20the%20facts/Cyberbullying.aspx
Johnston, Bainbridge &
Shariff. (2007). Exploring Issues of
National Identity, Ideology and Diversity in Contemporary Canadian Picture
Books. Papers:
Explorations into Children's Literature,
Vol. 17, No. 2, Dec 2007: 75-83. Retrieved from http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/search;res=IELHSS;search=FTI=yes%20AND%20IS=1034-9243%20AND%20VRF=17%20AND%20IRF=2%20AND%20PY=2007%20AND%20PG=75
Kane, S. (2014, May 13). Activity 4: Diversity –
Attend and document a conference/workshop/presentation/event [Web log post]. Retrieved
http://inf330skane.wordpress.com/
Liu, K. (2010). When Ebooks Are the Only
'Books'. LOGOS: The Journal Of The World Book Community, 21(3/4),
123-132. doi:10.1163/095796511X560015
Milford, A. (2014, May 25). Digital materials/resources and emerging
technologies
Naidoo, J. (2014). The
Importance of Diversity in Library Programs and Material Collections for
Children Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/ALSCwhitepaper_importance
of diversity_with graphics_FINAL.pdf
Reitman, R. (2013). The
Cost of Censorship in Libraries: 10 Years Under the Children’s Internet
Protection Act Retrieved from https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/09/cost-censorship-libraries-10-years-under-childrens-internet-protection-act
Schneider,
P., & Hayward, D. (2010). Who Does What to Whom: Introduction of Referents
in Children's Storytelling From Pictures. Language, Speech & Hearing
Services In Schools, 41(4), 459-473. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2010/09-0040
Stages of Adolescent
Development, (2004). Retrieved from http://www.actforyouth.net/resources/rf/rf_stages_0504.cfm
Stowell Bracke, M (2010)
Science and Technology Books on Demand: A
Decade of Patron-Driven
Collection Development, Part 2, Collection Management, 35:3-4, 142-150
Sung, Y.
K. & Son, E. H.(2011). Rediscovering cultural diversity in Korea through
song and poetry picture books.Bookbird: A Journal of International
Children's Literature 49(2), 9-16. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Retrieved March 11, 2014, from Project MUSE database.
Williamson, D. (2014, May 9). Young peoples book
awards [Web log post]. Retrieved http://inf330libserv.blogspot.com.au/
