Connecting School Libraries and Literacy Programs

1. Connecting School Libraries and Literacy Programs Ray Doiron, Ph.D. ALA/CLA Joint Conference Toronto, June 2003

2. Overview of Session • Set the context for connecting literacy and school library programs. • Explore current understanding of literacy. • Relevance of school library programs in an enriched literacy world. • Share examples of literacy/school library connections

3. Current Views of School Libraries • Service that provides access to resources. • Language Arts teachers are expected to: • Provision the classroom –classroom libraries • Promote reading • Celebrate success • School library provides “extra” resources. • No need for a “teacher” in the school library. • School library plays a role in information literacy and information technology – but CT has the major responsibility here. • Loss of collaborative role between classroom and school library.

4. Reactions of School Library Community • Reject, and then accept, role of ICT in school libraries • Management and Collection Development • Re-thinking traditional reference tools • Internet and WWW became #1 resource • Embrace information literacy as ours.

5. More than Information Literacy • Role of school library has been reduced to Information Literacy and Information Technology. • Reduction of our traditional influence in visual and media literacy. • Removal of our role in developing cultural heritage and national identity. • Removal of our role in literacy development, promotion, motivation and celebration.

6. From One Literacy to Multiple Literacies • Traditional Literacy • Multiple Literacies • A meta-literacy view

7. Traditional Literacy • an individual's ability to write her/his name • Movement for Canadian Literacy: "The ability to understand and use printed material found at home, at work and in the community - to achieve one's goals and develop one's knowledge and potential. • The US Workforce Investment Act of 1998 defines literacy as • "an individual's ability to read, write, speak, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual and in society.

8. Multiple Literacies • Various constituents define literacy for their discipline, context or political view. • Workplace literacy • Family literacy & Adult Literacy • Visual literacy & Media Literacy • The “new” Literacy • Information Literacy

9. Family Literacy • Family literacy: International Reading Association definition: • All the ways parents, children, and extended family members use literacy at home and in their community. It occurs naturally during the routines of daily living … • Social issue in most governments – connected to lifelong literacy and rooted in social reform and alleviating future problems.

10. Visual & Media Literacy • Visual Literacy: Based on the idea that visual images are a language, visual literacy can be defined as the ability to understand and produce visual messages. • Media Literacy: the ability to understand how mass media work, how they produce meanings, how they are organized, and how to use them wisely.

11. The “New” Literacies • The New Literacies …. becoming fully skilled in the new literacies of information and communication technology (ICT) such as word processors, web editors, presentation software & e-mail. • As ICT has increasingly shaped our society, the skills we need to function successfully have gone beyond reading; • literacy has come to include the skills associated with the use of ICT.

12. Information Literacy • Information Literacy - consists of skills, strategies, and ways of thinking that are essential to success in a knowledge-based economy. • Information literacy is the ability to find and use information with critical discrimination in order to build knowledge. • An information literate person is a lifelong learner expert at using complex cognitive processes with diverse technological tools in order to solve problems in personal, social, economic, and political contexts. (National document- CSLA/ATLC)

13. A Meta-literacy • Beyond traditional and context-based literacies – higher order framework for understanding it. • Howard Gardner (1990) “…regardless of the discipline, one must be able to read and write the symbolic forms present in one’s culture.” • Elliot Eisner (1991) “ … the ability to encode and decode meaning in any of the forms used in culture to represent meaning” Such as… print, visual signage and symbols or icons, oral traditions music, art, dance, media, natural rhythms (the tides, the seasons, the weather)

14. School Libraries: The meta-literacy environment • In effective school library programs, students develop their: • Traditional literacy • Information literacy • Visual literacy • Media Literacy • The “New Literacies” …… • The school library becomes an expanded literacy space (a meta-literacy space) where literacy is applied into real world contexts and into reader’s personal contexts.

15. Applying literacy into ‘real world’ contexts • Learning how to learn • Critical evaluation of visual images, media products and information sources/resources • Inquiry into “essential questions” – or Beyond “trivial pursuit”

16. ‘Real World’ Context 1- Learning how to learn • Resource-based learning – resource-based teaching • Thornburg- The Future Ain’t What it Used to Be www.tcpd.org • Content/context – Just in Case to Just in Time • Earning a living to Learning a Living

17. ‘Real World’ Context 2 – Critical literacy • focuses on how and in whose interests knowledge is produced; • gives us ways of looking at written, visual and spoken texts to question the attitudes, values and beliefs that lie beneath the surface. • Helps us recognize faulty arguments, over generalizations, assertions lacking evidence, truth claims based on unreliable authority; • uses the enabling power of literacy to change the world.

18. ‘Real World’ Context 3 – Inquiry • Asking questions – the essence of inquiry. • Jaime McKenzie – www.fno.org • Beyond “trivial pursuit” • Why, How and Which – Essential Questions

19. Applying literacy into learners’ personal contexts • Reading Motivation & Promotion • Accessing Resources • Diversity, Equity & Freedom • Involving students in SL programs

20. Learners’ Personal Context 1 – Reading motivation & promotion • If you build it, they will come (maybe). • If you promote, they will read. • I read; you read; we all read. • When you show reading matters, then reading matters. • Readers’ advisory

21. Learners’ Personal Context 2 – Accessing Resources • Open, flexible access. • Any book, any time. • Readers like to choose their own books. • Readers like to talk about what they read.

22. Learners’ Personal Context 3 – Diversity, Equity & Freedom • Diverse languages, beliefs, cultures • Other perspectives for understanding the world – fiction and information texts. • Equity in learning needs and styles • Equity in access - • Do I see myself in the various resources? • Freedom to choose – freedom to read.

23. Learners’ Personal Context 4 – Involving Students • School libraries need to empower students to play a larger role in school library programs. • Student monitors. • Student consideration file • Student control of displays and special events. • Student use of the SL for their clubs & extra-curricular activities. • Student sanctuary and peaceful centre.

24. Repositioning School Libraries • Cultural Heritage and National Identity • Beyond Simple Access to Resources • The Values of Equity, Diversity and Freedom of Choice • Strike a better balance in explaining and justifying the role of the school library. • Not just Information literacy. We play a role in “full literacy for all” & “Every Child a Reader.”