Focus on the Child: Libraries and Literature
This short course is designed to give an understanding of the child and the child's world, and will provide a critical appreciation of the wide range of library collections available to the young. The contribution which public libraries make to the development of literacy amongst the young will be demonstrated and an insight offered into the range of services provided by libraries and other organisations for the young.
Since the nineteenth century, library services to children and young people have constituted one of the most important branches of the public library profession. Collections and services have evolved to support the emerging social, cultural, educational and recreational needs of young people as well as the fundamental requirement for literacy.
The promotion of reading and writing literacies has long been viewed as a fundamental tenet of the philosophy of children’s librarianship, and librarians must be apprised of the latest developments in education, reading and writing methodologies, as well as the reading habits of young people. In the past decade, as a consequence of the influence of the media and electronic publishing, especially e-books, and the emergence of social networking, significant electronic and virtual collections have been established, and access provided to networking systems and the Internet for young people. Consequently, public libraries have had to revaluate their understanding of the term ‘literacy’, and they are establishing broader definitions to include, among others, media and computer literacies; even our definition of ‘reading’ has been widened to embrace hypertext. In the twenty-first century, library collections and services are being shaped by these new literacies, and the development of electronic collection of formats, such as e-books, present the librarian with new and highly complex management and promotional challenges – all of which this short course aims to introduce and explore.