Where are the children in children’s collection?

Libraries are champions of information independence and freedom of information. This even applies to children, in which their rights are recognized. In public libraries, children have the same rights to privacy and the same ability to check out materials as any adult. However, children are not truly represented in children’s literature because these materials are made by adults and chosen by adults. Is it really the adult’s interpretation of childhood?

There is a distinct lack of involvement by minors in collection development. However, it has been shown that children prefer recommendations from siblings, friends, and other children over those of their parents, teachers, or librarians. They are active participants in literature but do not actively participate in collection development as other age groups do such as teen coalitions or adults. It may be possible to recognize the competence of children and hear their opinions. Librarians should understand that while children may not be fully independent, their collective experiences are still valuable.  

Aggleton, J. (2018). Where are the children in children’s collection? An exploration of ethical principles and practical concerns surrounding children’s participation in collection development. New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 24(1), 1-17. Doi:10.1080/13614541.2018.1429122

Selecting While White: Breaking Out of the Vendor Box

Dager, Katey

Couillard-Smith, Chelsea. (2017, October 3). Selecting While White: Breaking Out of the Vendor Box. Retrieved from http://readingwhilewhite.blogspot.com/2017/10/selecting-while-white-breaking-out-of.html

Reading While White is a blog about diversity and inclusion in children's and YA literature. This post is emblematic of the site, since it is by a white librarian who wants to ensure that her collection is as racially inclusive as possible. As she addresses, there is not a lot of diversity in the traditional publishing world. Her suggestions are to advocate for diverse books, ask more of your vendors, and consider purchasing from small presses, independent authors, and local booksellers. Even amazon can be a source for great self-published authors that are not carried by major vendors.

I think this is a really important topic to cover. It is well-known that major publishers don't have enough diversity, but I think many people wouldn't consider going down these routes to get better representation in their collection. Independent authors and small presses are not going to be carried by large vendors, but they can be a valuable addition to a collection, and I think librarians should look into these options whenever they can.

The Common Core and Children's Literature

Martinez, Evelyn

Wadham, R. L., & Young, T. A. (n.d.). Integrating children's literature through the common core state standards. Retrieved October 19, 2016.

Summary Notes: In the first chapter, the authors discuss the Common Core State Standards generally and how they were created.  They also discuss what it is and commonly held misconceptions about the state standards.  In chapter two the authors discuss how reading fiction and non-fiction texts along with other foundational skills such as writing, speaking, language and listening is the centerpiece of the standards and integrating these skills across all content areas and subjects including math, science and social studies.  In chapter three, text complexity is examined as well as qualitative and quantitative measures that should be understood to provide students with appropriate texts.  They also discuss the importance of considering the dynamics of readers and tasks when considering appropriate texts.  Chapter four examines the importance and centrality of children’s books in teaching across the curriculum.  Children’s books are very versatile because they include all genres and a variety of formats which can be used in all content areas.  Selecting appropriate children’s text is also discussed as well as the importance of assessing the text complexity in children’s texts.  In chapter five, the importance of Inquiry Learning, the process of learning through a process that is student centered, collaborative, active as well as well scaffolded and structured.  The authors also discuss the need for students to have “21 Century Skills” meaning being college and workplace ready.  They discuss the importance of students to be able to do close and critical reading which means to be able to decipher complex text independently.

Evaluation: This is an important resource for classroom teachers, Teacher Librarians and Librarians working with children.  The Common Core State Standards are central in public school education and the information provided will be extremely helpful and beneficial in order to assist and support children on an academic level.  The text offers background information that is helpful to understand curriculum needs of teachers.  The text also offers additional links to resources that will further assist readers to better serve readers and user of children’s texts.

"The Uncomfortable Truth about Children's Books" - from Mother Jones Magazine - Sept. 2016

Christopher Fluetsch

Slater, D. (2016, September 9). The uncomfortable truth about children’s books. Mother Jones. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/08/diversity-childrens-books-slavery-twitter

    I started reading Mother Jones magazine back in high school, partly for the articles, but mostly because if you were in high school in Lodi, CA, in the late-80’s, reading Mother Jones was the second-most rebellious thing you could do, right after coming out, and was a lot less likely to get you beaten up on a regular basis. Plus, it always felt like an adventure to drive to the one magazine store in south Stockton that stocked Mother Jones, right next to the latest issue of Pravda.

I never really considered that 3 decades later I’d still be reading it. It just goes to show that you never can tell where literacy will take you.

This article is a well-written overview of some of the problems facing librarians, parents and others in creating a diverse collection of children’s literature. It discusses the business of publishing, the negative feedback loop created when multicultural books are published but don’t sell, leading to few such books, leading to non-white potential readers ignoring books that are available and so forth. It also touches on some of the recent controversies in children’s publishing, including the withdrawal from sale of A Birthday Cake for George Washington.

An important aspect of the article for library science students is the section that looks at gatekeeping. We are gatekeepers, whether we like it or not, and the decisions we make affect what our students read. Keeping this in mind through the entire process, from collection development to in-library marketing, will help us better serve our clients.

Including books that represent and appeal to a diverse patron population is an important challenge for librarians of all types. I find this is particularly true in my elementary school library. I try to select a wide array of books, and I try to encourage students to read outside their own personal comfort zones, but locating and acquiring a variety of such books is difficult. The article does not offer any major solutions, but it does a good job offering an overview of some of the problems.

The Multiracial Population is Growing, But Kid Lit Isn't Keeping Up

O'Brien, Sarah

Brown, Monica. (2014) The Multiracial Population is Growing, But Kid Lit Isn’t Keeping Up. School Library Journal.

When a girl in Meolida’s class referred to her as “white,” Melodia corrected her only to be told, “Your white to me. During a conversation on race between school kids, Melodia says, “That’s the way people are. They have to label everything and if they don’t know you, they have to make stuff up.” When it comes to race in our society, our culture is definitely quick to label, exclude, bully and judge. And for those who do not necessarily fall under the right label, we’re quick to exclude or question authenticity. With the multiracial population growing and this country being described as the ‘tossed salad’ instead of the melting pot, racial identity is no longer black or white. In the example of the conversation between school kids in the beginning of this article, it is especially hard for children to identify as only one race. Multiracialism is an important identity in our culture now, therefore it’s time that children’s literature should develop more complex and realistic representations of race. Children’s books need to represent the biracial or multiracial experience, and not only black and white.

In all the courses I’ve taken on Children’s Literature, (from college and graduate school) the exclusion of race seems to be one of the biggest problems we face. Unless we’re reading history books, why is race often left out in what we are reading to our children? As someone who has worked in libraries for five years and exclusively in the Children’s Room for three of those years, I have seen little improvement in trying to fix this. We need to include diversity for many reasons, having an accurate portrayal and representation of other ethnicities as well as learning from different cultures. Don’t we want our children to be curious about different cultures, different people? In developing juvenile collections, it is imperative to include all backgrounds of life to be a part of not only the nonfiction collection but the fiction collection as well. How many culturally diverse picture books can you count and chapter books? It’s not many and it’s something that needs to be changed and quickly.  

Children's Services Today, J. Larson, Chapter 3: The Children's Collection

Tatarakis, Kelly

Larson, J. (2015). Chapter 03. The children's collection. In Children's services today: A practical guide for librarians [EBL Reader version]. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Retrieved from http://www.sjsu.eblib.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1983586

Summary: 

           This chapter deals with development of the children's collection, particularly for public libraries. It covers selection, diversity in materials and subjects, supporting intellectual freedom, and how to promote reading and using the library among children. Suggestions for how to evaluate and select materials in all formats are given, including audiovisual and digital materials. Formats specific to the children's collection - board books, picture books, etc. - are considered separately as the author outlines evaluation methods and gives tips for developing selection criteria. Emphasis is put on understanding your library's collection development policy, and in making a needs assessment of the community and target users before planning acquisitions. A portion of the chapter reviews selection tools including review sources, catalogs, and websites. The different Awards for children's literature are summarized as an additional consideration in the selection process. The chapter also discusses how collection development can be affected by representations of diversity, and the impact that the concept of intellectual freedom has on acquisition policy.

Evaluation:

            This book is a great help to public librarians working in the children's department, and this chapter in particular is highly useful to acquisitions librarians focused on children's materials. I found it a helpful guide in planning selection criteria and procedure for a children's collection.

Diversity on My Mind

Lederer, Haylee

Johnson, A. (2015). Diversity on My Mind. American Libraries, 46(3/4), 82.

Summary: This article really stresses the importance of diversity in a library's collection. And more specifically, in a children's library collection. Children's librarians have a lot of power over what information and resources are available to their patrons, and Johnson argues that diversity should be a top priority. She advocates for setting goals when it comes to creating and maintain a diverse collection, as well as working with local community groups that push for diversity and acceptance. She pushes for children's librarians to do a lot of reflection, on themselves and their collection. She asks this question to end the article - does your collection adequately reflect the needs and wants of your community?

Evaluation:As an elementary school librarian, diversity is something I thrive for. Budget cuts and constraints make it difficult to achieve, but it is a goal of mine. So this article really resonated with me. I feel that it is a subject that deserves more research and space in academic journals. One page is hardly enough to really make an impact on librarians. Step by step guides and anecdotes from other librarians could really have given this article some much needed context, as well as providing the reader with some real life inspiration. Besides that, it does get the conversation and mind going on issues such as diversity. I know that I started thinking about even more ways to approach it after reading this short blurb.

Diverse population, diverse collection? Youth collections in the United States

Kimura, Camden

Williams, V. K., & Deyoe, N. (2014). Diverse population, diverse collection? Youth collections in the United States. Technical Services Quarterly, 31, 97-121. doi:10.1080/07317131.2014.875373

Summary: In this article, Williams and Deyoe present a study of diverse titles in youth literature (ages 0-18) in 5,002 public, academic, and school libraries. Their research consisted of building three lists of books with ethnic/racial minority characters, characters with disabilities, and LGBTQ characters. All the books on the lists were published between 2000 and 2009, had positive reviews or been recommended, and had been vetted for “cultural authenticity and avoidance of stereotypes” (Williams & Deyoe, 2014, p. 104). They then searched OCLC for libraries’ collections that contained books from the checklists.  Among other findings, they found that more than one-third of libraries spending over $100,000 per year on materials did not meet Williams and Deyoe’s minimum level for titles on the racial/ethnic minority and disability checklists and half did not meet the minimum level for LGBTQ titles (in fact, 15% of all libraries surveyed did not have any titles from the LGBTQ checklist.) Williams and Deyoe recommend that librarians assess their youth literature collections for diverse representation, paying particular attention to books with LGBTQ characters as these books seem to be the most under-represented.

Evaluation: Williams and Deyoe present an important study of diverse literature in youth collections. However, it is only a beginning; I think that this study serves as a very good starting point for further research into the area of diverse youth literature in libraries. The data are interesting and it is disheartening to read that there are so many libraries with materials budgets of over $100,000 that don’t meet the minimum level Williams and Deyoe set for good representation. I take issue, however, with their decision to only include books that had good reviews or were on recommendation lists. While I absolutely think that including books that have been vetted for cultural authenticity is necessary, I do wonder how many books did not make the cut simply because they had not been reviewed well. Their checklists of books were not terribly long, all things considered; the race/ethnicity checklist had 964 titles, the disability checklist had 334, and the LGBTQ checklist had 116 titles. Surely there were, for example, more than 116 titles with LGBTQ characters with suitable cultural authenticity published between 2000-2009, including books that hadn’t been reviewed well or recommended. I assume that Williams and Deyoe did not have the page space to fully detail their selection process but I am curious to know why they chose to use books that had only been reviewed well or recommended. (I know that there is probably a lot of overlap between well-reviewed books and books that have vetted for good portrayals of minority characters and this could be the reason why they only chose well-reviewed books.)

In sum, this is a good article with interesting data, but it is only the beginning of what is possible for studies on diverse youth literature in libraries.

Edited to Add: I've just discovered that a review of this article has already been posted on the blog. I'm going to leave my review up for anyone who is interested, but I won't count the article as part of my 300 pages. My apologies for double-posting and I am very sorry that I did not see this article had already been reviewed before submitting my own.