Supporting a Culture of Reading through Access and Education

 Ready access to a wide variety of reading materials increases the chances that learners will become readers and choose to read (Krashen 2004 as cited in Reading Position Task Force, 2020, p.1). 

I’m fortunate to work in a school with a strong culture of reading. The library is a highlight during new family tours and, pre-covid, our space was very busy after school with families checking out books or reading together. Our students in the primary school have weekly scheduled Browse and Borrow times every week, starting in EY1 (our three year olds) and it is rare to have a student that doesn’t want to check books out. 

When I first joined the library team, this was not the case. There were a lot more policy restrictions in what and how students were able to borrow materials from the library, and we often heard class teachers asking students if they could read the book they chose or telling students to put a book back because it was ‘too hard’ or ‘too easy’. While there are many different things we do to promote a culture of reading, in this post I am going to focus on our work in changing the culture through education and how we let students access the resources.

Over the last few years, there were three books in particular that really changed my opinions on book access and made me reflect on my own practices as well as the policies we have in place in the library.  Krashen (2004), Miller (2012), and Ripp (2016) all emphasise the importance of providing students with choice and variety when choosing their books.  

 

It is my role as an advocate for my students to educate staff and parents on the role of the library in offering students free choice with regards to their books. This has meant discussions with community members about the library being a space for students to choose books that they are interested in. It may mean pointing adults towards our levelled book room to find books for this purpose and sharing articles like 'Thinking Outside the Bin',  or working with individual students to find authors or series that meet their reading interests and needs.  It also means listening to the students and purchasing books based on their interests and requests. 

Developing our section of books in different languages has also allowed more access to our students, particularly our beginner EAL students.  These students need to develop their language skills in their home language as well as in English, and by providing rich literature that reflect their own cultures, we are providing them with another way to connect with books.

 

Books in different languages are marked with flags so they can be easily found by the students

“Providing students with the opportunity to choose their own books to read empowers and encourages them. It strengthens their self-confidence, rewards their interests, and promotes a positive attitude toward reading by valuing the readers and giving him or her a level of control” (Donalyn Miller, 2009, p.23).  

As a member of the Future Ready Librarians and Int’l School Library Connection groups on Facebook, I am able to see many perspectives and ideas surrounding best practice for my patrons. As a result of ongoing discussions in the group and with my team, we’ve looked at the reason why some students are not able to take books home and adapted our policies to ensure we are getting books in the hands of our students making the library a place that feels safe and positive for our students.  Some of these changes have included:

• increasing the number of books our youngest student and families can take out at one time

• adding notes to accounts of students with multiple homes to allow them to take out books for each household in case books are left in a different household one week

• saving books for students for 48 hours in case they have forgotten their books so they can come and change them the next day

• allowing students to take out one extra book in German or their home language to support the development of non-English language skills

• encouraging students to check out a book for the classroom if they have forgotten their books 

By ensuring our policies allow for some flexibility, while still teaching students accountability, we have seen a big increase in circulation amongst the students that would not have taken books in the past.  We do not want library visits to be a negative experience, but the rigidity of some of our rules was creating this environment for some of our students.

Another change I have made is in developing independence for our patrons.  A big issue for some of my students was with regards to finding books that interest them.  If my students can’t find what they want independently, there is a good chance they are not going to find something. The last thing I want is for a student to go home empty-handed, or with a last minute book grabbed off the nearest shelf.  A very simple change I made was through the labelling of my shelves so that they can easily find what they are looking for.  Visual labels and brochures to guide students towards different types of books has allowed them to gain that independence and find books that interest them with ease. Even our youngest students are able to locate the shelves holding the books that interest them, without the need for adult support.

Pictorial labels on the shelves, along with the written description support student independence and success

So now What?

I am constantly reflecting on my practice and looking for ways to improve student access to books. I have begun to look at the organisation of our fiction section and am looking at whether or not genrefying the books would further help student independence and success in finding the books they want. 

I am also thinking about how I can share the students' interests with one another and offer more storytelling and reading opportunities for them during Browse and Borrow sessions. Some things I am considering are:

• how can I share student recommendations with the others in a more dynamic way than a photo display- I'm currently considering recorded book talks with a QR code and photo display
• Using storysacks and storyboxes to provide more storytelling/story re-enactment experiences in the library
• Creating Kahoot quizzes for the classes based on books for the 'Golden Cowbell Award', our Swiss reading award
• As we are beginning to open up, I need to think about how I can get families back into our space after school - maybe through some formal family story times
• I want to completely re-think our summer reading program. We have used a gameboard for the last few years, but it is time to bring some new ideas in to get some excitement back after waning interest in the last couple of years.

I’d love to hear your ideas on any of these points, especially the summer reading program. What are you doing at your school?

References:

Future Ready Librarians. Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved February 11, 2022. https://www.facebook.com/groups/futurereadylibrarians.

Int’l School Library Connection.Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved February 11, 2022. https://www.facebook.com/groups/SLAsia

Krashen, Stephen D. (2004). The power of reading: Insights from the research. Heinemann.

Miller, Donalyn. (2012). Creating a classroom where readers flourish. The Reading Teacher, 66(2), 88–92. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23322715

Miller, Donalyn. (2009).  The Book whisperer. Jossey Boss.

Parrott, K. (2017). Thinking outside the bin. School Library Journal, 63(8), 42. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=thinking-outside-the-bin-why-labeling-books-by-reading-level-disempowers-young-readers

Reading Position Statements Task Force (2020). The School librarian’s role in reading. American Association of School Libraries. 1-4. https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/advocacy/statements/docs/AASL_Position_Statement_RoleinReading_2020-01-25.pdf

Ripp, P., & Miller, D. (2018). Passionate Readers: The art of reaching and engaging every child. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.