The old adage says, “You learn something new everyday”. I certainly hope so. Learning should be continuous. In the information age, society makes learning so easy, if you desire. Generally speaking, our hunger and thirst for knowledge is only superseded by physical hunger. Not only is information everywhere,intellectuals understand the life changing power of knowledge; it fills the belly. At the City of Houston’s 15th Annual Meet the Buyer Forum, a session presenter stated that “we don’t read anymore”, but I beg to differ. Sadly, reading may not take the traditional form on the printed page of a book to the eye of the reader to the mind of the reader to the thoughts of the reader, but our society reads labels, directions, websites, signs, emails, mail, notes, cards and more–all the time in innumerable formats. There is no famine of information.
In my latter education career as a librarian, my goal was to ignite students' love of reading. Working at lower performing campuses quite often, the focus of reading tended to be towards comprehension to pass state mandated tests first and secondly to read for lifelong learning. Reading teachers focus on curriculum, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), and strategies to bring students who read two or three grade levels below their actual level as close to their grade level as quickly as possible in time for the spring testing season. It is grueling and stressful work filled with regular meetings, weekly planning sessions, monthly and sometimes quarterly professional development training, and sometimes after school tutoring sessions or in school accelerated learning sessions. Although challenging in its endeavors, exceptional teachers find the work rewarding and fulfilling. In addition to all these activities, teachers also collaborate with librarians to help students to think critically about the information they are reading in class. The goal is to increase students' appetite for learning.
Librarians are master educators capable of cultivating a ravenous zest for all things literacy; library specialists first and foremost are champions of reading in its pure form. Librarians nourish collections of books that they believe students desire to chew over and over again. They are not restricted by curriculum constraints as classroom teachers may be; librarians love to guide students to their ‘just right book’. There is no one perfect method to peek the reading interest of students beyond their required test passages and assigned classic canon literature. One of the primary tasks of the librarian is to engage students and children as a reader, but first students must identify himself or herself as a reader. Far too often youth do not even see themselves as a reader because of the test driven education world. Although testing has its place, as librarians our joy is to enlighten youth and lift the negative stigma associated with reading because of testing and comprehension deficits. Last year one female student sitting at the computer during her technology makerspace told me, “I can’t read.” I politely told her not to say that, then I proceeded to ask her to read a few sentences on her screen out loud to me. She read them (not with great fluency, but she read them) and I told her “see I told you–you can read”. She smiled; that was a bon appetit win.
One appetizer librarians cook up is serving confidence as students’ learn. A reader is not a reader until she or he believes she or he is one. In Masters programs, librarians are taught about literature and book selections. (Oh yes, we do have a graduate level degree, some of us have more.) In the coursework, one memorable piece of information learned is one of Ranganathan’s Laws of Library Science–“Every reader his/her book”. A good librarian strategically plans, prepares, and promotes books including digital books and other resources. The library’s gourmet menu must have enough resources to get students interested in reading at least one book on a good day and the reader may choose more than one book on a miraculous day.
As an elementary librarian, we often see classes regularly for book checkout, but that does not necessarily mean the child will read the book he/she checkouts out. That’s why programming and events play a vital role for libraries. Winter Ornament Story, a writing promotion during the holiday season gained a lot of traction on my campuses; students enjoyed writing the stories, drawing art to go with their writing, and making ornaments to hang on our library reading tree. The period after Thanksgiving Break and before the Winter Holiday Break was the best time to introduce this schoolwide campaign; principals, teachers, and students adored it. The whole school craved the artfully crafted student ornaments and writings; one year a teacher even submitted a story and that year during morning announcements stories were read live on air. Not only did this reading-writing campaign help students see themselves as readers but they also had an opportunity to see themselves as writers. In addition to this, each student who turned in a story and/or illustration also received a mega eraser of his/her choice: a mitten, cocoa cup, or Santa’s head. Another year student participants received pencil top erasers in the form of Santa, reindeer, snowmen, or trees. The urge for reading and writing grew with those individuals and each sweet tooth of learning was satisfied.
Librarians have an abundance of wisdom and ‘tricks of the trade’ to move students’ reading and writing forward; some may be the traditional book club but others may be fun, engaging methods to get students’ reading without them sometimes realizing that they are learning, and that’s what it’s all about. So, the next time you hear the word library; think about what engaging, fun event or program is happening to help our students learn. Today’s library is not one of yesteryear; it is alive and it is vibrant and the only thing missing is you. Libraries–public, academic, school--need people. People provide the ‘secret sauce’ needed to provide a flavorful meal.
During a meeting with the Houston Veterans Chamber of Commerce, one of its members shared a touching story of how his daughter really wanted a book, but their budget did not allow the purchase of the approximately thirty dollar book. So, he brought his daughter to the library. (Yes, go to libraries). His teenage daughter was able to check out for free the book she had been wanting; ironically enough after reading a few chapters he stated his daughter did not even finish the book because she did not like it. (smile) That happens too, and it is ok. The primary purpose of the library institution is access; each individual–young or mature–is free to discover what works for their reading life. Each of us has a reading life. It may be academic. It may be professional. It may be leisure. It may be functional. The important aspect is that we feed our appetite for learning and we eat good information well and we include dessert, too. What will you learn today or did you just learn it?
Lighting the way,
Fiya Librarian
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