eBook downloads, eBook resources & eBook authors
In a climate of tightened budgets and severe demands on public literacy resources, Conner and Plocharczyck go to the foundations of social justice in Cultural Studies to show how the means of integrating those with disabilities into libraries and communities can be found in our everyday practices.
Libraries are regarded as hubs that provide literary resources in various forms. This collection of articles draws attention to the needs of learners and students in the 21st century who require more than textbook information to do their school work. It represents an important contribution to research on learners and reading, reading acquisition, and information literacy.
Drawing upon data published in a variety of scholarly journals and monographs, as well as their own research findings, the authors shatter some of the popular myths about reading and offer a cogent case for the library's vital role in the life of a reader.
Reading groups have grown rapidly in popularity and continue to be a significant cultural phenomenon. Reading groups in public libraries, linked to the learning and social inclusion agenda, have expanded to include a wide range of groups within society, including people with visual impairments (VIPs). This under-researched area is the focus of this book. Library-based VIP reading groups are interesting on many levels. Given that these groups predominantly use audio versions of the text (rather than print), this links to debates about the changing nature of reading in a multi-modal age. This book discusses whether contemporary society still defines reading as a visual activity or whether technological developments have led to a broadening of the definition of reading. The author goes on to discuss how policy is translated into practice within the library context and whether the wide range of reading groups linked to libraries suggests that libraries understand and are taking the social inclusion agenda seriously. She also explores how effectively libraries are using reading groups as a tool for delivering on the agenda for learning and how this sits within wider priorities for post-compulsory education and lifelong learning. Finally the book suggests ideas for future development for these groups, outlining ways in which their potential could be maximised for the benefit of both the library and the reading group members. The book will be of great interest to professional librarians as well as students and scholars of librarianship. It will also be of interest to those working on the emerging field of reading groups in literary studies. Those interested in the role of reading in education, as well as disability scholars, will also find the book useful.
For well over one hundred years, libraries open to the public have played a crucial part in fostering in Americans the skills and habits of reading and writing, by routinely providing access to standard forms of print: informational genres such as newspapers, pamphlets, textbooks, and other reference books, and literary genres including poetry, plays, and novels. Public libraries continue to have an extraordinary impact; in the early twenty-first century, the American Library Association reports that there are more public library branches than McDonald's restaurants in the United States. Much has been written about libraries from professional and managerial points of view, but less so from the perspectives of those most intimately involved—patrons and librarians. Drawing on circulation records, patron reviews, and other archived materials, Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America underscores the evolving roles that libraries have played in the lives of American readers. Each essay in this collection examines a historical circumstance related to reading in libraries. The essays are organized in sections on methods of researching the history of reading in libraries; immigrants and localities; censorship issues; and the role of libraries in providing access to alternative, nonmainstream publications. The volume shows public libraries as living spaces where individuals and groups with diverse backgrounds, needs, and desires encountered and used a great variety of texts, images, and other media throughout the twentieth century.
Literacy and Reading Programmes for Children and Young People: Case Studies from Around the Globe presents interviews with over 40 librarians from around the world who tell of their library programs. The volumes are arranged geographically with Volume 1 offering interviews from library professionals from the USA and Europe, and with Volume 2 sharing programs from Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. The volumes highlight the diversity of the types of programs catering to the varying needs of children and young adults throughout the world. Case studies featured in this book outline the details of programs, events, and activities provided by over 40 organizations in the context of social capital and social inclusion. Each interview chapter discusses the contributions made to literacy development and community building of children and teens. With the many variations and examples of best practice, librarians and educators can glean new ideas for their own programs. The interviews reveal the challenges and issues faced and the work being achieved in vastly different environments, in many geographic areas, and in diverse economic, social, and cultural contexts. The programs include those of national and state libraries, public libraries, and mobile libraries carried out by public libraries, NGOs, and commercial organizations in both developed and developing countries. They also feature programs of multicultural libraries, libraries for indigenous people, and libraries for refugees. This publication complements the range of initiatives and activities carried out by IFLA’s Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section that supports library services and reading promotion initiatives catering to children and young adults around the world. These volumes are rich in variety and will provide much food for thought for creating unique and successful library programs.
Drawing on scholarly research findings, this book presents a cogent case that librarians can use to work towards prioritization of reading in libraries and in schools. Reading is more important than it has ever been—recent research on reading, such as PEW reports and Scholastic's "Kids and Family Reading Report," proves that fact. This new edition of Reading Matters provides powerful evidence that can be used to justify the establishment, maintenance, and growth of pleasure reading collections, both fiction and nonfiction, and of readers' advisory services. The authors assert that reading should be woven into the majority of library activities: reference, collection building, provision of leisure materials, readers' advisory services, storytelling and story time programs, adult literacy programs, and more. This edition also addresses emergent areas of interest, such as e-reading, e-writing, and e-publishing; multiple literacies; visual texts; the ascendancy of young adult fiction; and fan fiction. A new chapter addresses special communities of YA readers. The book will help library administrators and personnel convey the importance of reading to grant-funding agencies, stakeholders, and the public at large. LIS faculty who wish to establish and maintain courses in readers' advisory will find it of particular interest.
