Tag: Books

Module 1 – Library Collections

I discovered a new word today. Tsundoku, according to Macmilland Dictionary (2017) is the habit of purchasing and piling up books that never get read.  This seems rather wasteful when most libraries are suffering major budgetary concerns to waste precious funds on resources that are rarely used. Unfortunately in many school libraries the two biggest curriculum resourcing issues are that staff and students under utilise the resources followed quickly by funding pressures  (SCIS 2014).

I know at my school, we have an impressive 100 000 print copies of books plus additional eResources such as Wheelers ebooks, online databases, newspaper subscriptions and access to Clickview for interactive videos.  It is disappointing that even though our library is so well resourced, teachers and students seem to prefer to use google and youtube instead of accessing information from our library catalogue.  It seems preposterous to me that many of the school community were unaware we even had a library management system.  Their ignorance of the platforms we have in place, could extrapolate to acknowledging that lack of resource usage is proportional to the ability of the staff and students to use the OPAC system to identify and select resources.  

Something needs to change.  But what? The library collection development policy at the school endeavours to create a balanced collection that promotes teaching and learning as its primary goal.  Other aspects such as catering to diverse learners and fitting into the budget are also relevant. All the physical and digital assets meet the policy guidelines, which is why we have this policy but what is the point if they are under utilised? What else can we do in the library to promote our resources to the staff and students?  What can we do to remind them that we are not practitioners of Tsundoku?

I was musing about this problem when it occurred to me that many libraries fail in promoting their resources and capabilities.  How were the staff and students going to know about new or fabulous resources in the school library? How would we remind them of what is held within and what can be accessed?  It was then i remembered this post from Hamm (2016) who sends newsletters out to the faculty regularly advising them of the new and popular resources within the library. This idea seems magnificent to me as our school has several teachers who had no idea that we even subscribed to databases.  Their looks of pleasure and interest peaked when I explained how they could access with ease them from both work and home with just their device and password.  A quarterly newsletter published on the staff page of the school intranet would greatly improve our circulation at little cost to the library itself.  

So with these thoughts in mind I thought that for my particular independent high school library in the ACT there needs to be certain parameters necessary before a resources are added to the collection.

Firstly the information source MUST match the needs of the learning community.  It seems superfluous to point out that a resource is unlikely to be used if it is not relevant to the teaching and learning needs and must meet learning outcomes.  The next step is to ensure that the learner traits are accounted for. We have a wide range of student learning ‘attributes’ ranging from varied literacy levels, physical and mental handicaps that need to be catered for in a variety of formats to ensure equity is maintained for the entire student body.  One thing in particular our school library has done is acquire graphic novels of most of the major literature texts.  With many students of varying literacy levels and acknowledging our ‘reluctant’ readers still need to be able to engage with the text, we are trialing out graphic novels in print forms in several titles including classics such as Macbeth, Hamlet, To Kill a mockingbird and the Diary of Anne Frank with the student body.  Our Inclusive Education Team informs the library staff which students have been identified with low literacy levels and then these students are provided with audio books on an iPod as well as the physical text for their class work.  For our reluctant readers, graphic novels are popular as the combination of the text and imagery holds greater appeal. The inclusion of these texts has bolstered up our borrowing rates and appears to help students understand the task ahead.  We have also recently added Wheelers elibrary to our catalogue.  This has not been as popular as predicted but has provided access to resources for our vision challenged students.  Due to the nature of the licensing, only two ‘copies’ of a book can be ‘borrowed’ out at any particular time and this is restrictive with class texts.  The last consideration mentioned by Hughes-Hassel, S & Mancall (2005) is budget. Resources must fit within the budget in order it to be a viable purchase for the school.  We are very lucky in our school to have a principal that values education and our library budget is consistent.

We need a shift in attitude from Tsudonku.

References

Australian School Library Association / Australian Library and Information Services Association. (2001). Learning for the future. (2nd ed). Carlton South, Vic.: Curriculum Corporation.

BBC News (2018) Tsundoku: the art of buying books and never using them. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44981013

Department of Education and Children’s Services, Government of South Australia. (2004). Choosing and using teaching and learning materials: guidelines for preschools and schools. Hindmarsh, South Australia : DECS Publishing

Hamm, S (2016) Library newsletters. Retrieved from https://www.teenservicesunderground.com/library-newsletters/

Hughes-Hassell, S. & Mancall, J. (2005). Collection management for youth: responding to the needs of learners Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=289075

Johnson, P. (2009). Fundamentals of collection development and management [American Library Association version]. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=267756&site=ehost-live

SCIS ( 2014) Survey of school library collections. Retrieved from ://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/issue_88_2014/articles/school_library_collections_survey_2013.html

Resources for School Librarians () School library promotion through advocacy, special events and bulletin reports. Retrieved from http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/promote.html

Lawhimsy.com (2015) Word Nerd: Tsundoku. Retrieved from https://lawhimsy.com/2015/10/14/word-nerd-tsundoku/

Macmilllian Dictionary (2027)  https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/tsundoku

 

 

#IWD2019 #Balanceforbetter

#IWD2019

This years theme is #BalanceforBetter, a summon to seek equal rights for both sexes in in all aspects of life.  Notionally, Australia does have significantly better equality among the sexes compared to countries such as Yemen or Saudi Arabia (Haines, G. 2017).  But out of the top twenty countries listed, Australia does not get a mention but oddly enough Rwanda is in the top 5, which one could speculate that both sexes suffer equally in this war torn nation.  Before I digress too much from the reliability of this source, in land down under, we as women are encouraged to hold gainful employment, permitted to vote and drive as well as have access to health care in comparison to Jordan and Pakistan.  All reliable indicators of an equal opportunity. But as the Australian Human Rights Commission image in Figure 1 illustrates, women are still trailing behind in wages and in positions of power. The AHRC (2018) and Haines, G (2017) depict women in Australia at a high risk of personal safety. AIHW (2018) finds that that biggest risk factor for illness, injury and death for Australian women aged between 25-44 is not childbirth or war crimes, but rather just the presence of a partner in their lives.  This fact is horrendous and continues to be a major issue across all Australian states and territories. One only needs to recall the tragedy of Dr Preeti Reddy’s brutal murder in Sydney this week as a frightening reminder of the brutality that can occur behind closed doors ( Gooley G., & Stewart S., 2019).

Figure 1 – Infographic AHRC (2018)

I was musing these thoughts as I was setting up my display for #IWD2019 and one of my regular lunch time visitors interrupted me.  *Rick (name changed) could not understand why I was setting up the book display as “I had it good”. Whilst I was inclined to roll my eyes and tell him to shuffle off, I refrained.  For those that know me, tact and discretion ARE NOT one of my strong suites so this was an unusual occurrence for me. Instead I asked him to help me with the rest of the display and racked my brain with what I was going to say.  

#IWD2019 display

It then occurred to me that out of the roughly ten thousand items we have in our library, I struggled to find biographies of modern women to put in my display.  Granted we have a few books about Elizabeth I, Boadicea, Mary MacKillop, Cleopatra and Florence Nightingale; but our collection of biographies about strong successful MODERN women was limited.  Even though the majority of our regular readers are girls and young women, we seem to have a plethora of books about male sports stars, political leaders, heroes and inventors, but scanty sources solely dedicated to women and their successes.  

I recalled this video I saw a few years ago that illustrated the lack of book choices for our girls that portray strong female protagonists aka rebellious girls.  Then it made me realise that unless our young girls are given the option to imagine being intelligent and tenacious, they will continue to shoebox themselves into the roles of damsels in distress or tire women of great men.  Magras, D (2019) in her article  surmises that strong female characters in books and movies show our young girls that their voices matter and that gender stereotypes can be challenged. It is common knowledge that books stretch the imagination, and it would amazing if books could challenge and inspire our girls.  

Back to Rick* and his statement… Well in true Trish form, I plonked him on my chair, showed him the infographic I had put aside for this blog and then played him the youtube clip.  Once it was over, I asked him what he thought of the video. He hummed and tried to vacillate but eventually settled for “guess you may be right Miss”. I have not have convinced him to become a feminist but maybe I challenged a stereotype in his mind about the need to push for a #BalanceforBetter future.

 

References

Australian Human Rights Commission (2018) Face the facts: Gender Equality 2018.  Retrived from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/face-facts/face-facts-gender-equality-2018   accessed 6/3/19

AIHW (2018) New national statistical report sheds light on family violence.  Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia, 2018 Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/2018/february/new-national-statistical-report-sheds-light-on-fam accessed 6/3/19

Gooley, C & Stewart, S., (2019) Sydney dentist Preethi Reddy’s body found in suitcase, ex-boyfriend dies in fiery car crash. ABC News.  Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-06/body-of-sydney-dentist-preethi-reddy-found-in-suitcase/10874212 accessed 6/3/19

Haines G., (2017) Mapped: The best (and worst) countries for gender equality. The Telegraph UK.  Retrieved from  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/mapped-the-best-and-worst-countries-for-gender-equality/ accessed 6/3/19

Magras D., (2019) Feminist AF: Hearing Their Voices: Supporting Female Empowerment in Middle Grade Fiction for Tweens and Teens. School Library. Journal.   Retrieved from http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2019/03/feminist-af-hearing-their-voices-supporting-female-empowerment-in-middle-grade-fiction-for-tweens-and-teens-a-guest-post-by-author-diane-magras/ accessed 6/3/19

Rebel Girls (2017) The ugly truth about children’s books.  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Jbd4-fPOE&t=10s accessed 6/3/19

Saner E., (2017) Books for girls, about girls: the publishers trying to balance the bookshelves. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/17/childrens-books-for-girls-publishers-writers-gender-imbalance accessed 6/3/19.