For this
professional development activity I have chosen to do a book review on the
title ‘The Little Refugee’ by Anh Do & Suzanne Do. Researching how to do a book review was a
great learning experience. In doing so,
I discovered how different reviews are written, how they are structured and
observing what connections are made with the audience in this process. The book that I chose was shortlisted for the
Children’s Book Council Australia (CBCA), Book of the Year award.
The
activity was relevant to professional practice because in Australia, book award
lists are used for programming in the libraries, as well as a reference for
collection development. Programming
ideas include, decorated library around the theme, workshops on book
illustration, storytelling events, arts and crafts (Buckley & Kirkland,
2010, p.2). National Simultaneous story
time is one such collaborative initiative whereupon, each year, a picture book
written and illustrated by an Australian is read in libraries, schools,
bookshops and communities’ nation wide (McKerracher & McDowell,2010,p3). To illustrate, the 2013 book chosen is
shortlisted for early childhood CBCA, The Wrong Book by Nicholas Bland. Held during National Literacy and Numeracy
Week according to ALIA (2013) promotes:
·
Value
of reading and literacy
·
Value
and fun of books
·
Australian
writers and publishers
·
Story
time in libraries and communities
·
Providing
opportunities for community participation
The
biggest gap in my knowledge was learning about the book awards process and the
role that libraries play in supporting these national literary awards. By participating in this professional
development, I have a learned how to write a book review and that supporting
book awards and fostering literacy is something all library professionals
should be involved with. Most
interestingly, I have learned that due consideration must be given to the
collection development and developing a collection just based on this award
merit is not enough to meet the plurality of our young users in libraries.
Specifically
in Australia, there is a multitude of book awards given for quality books
written and illustrated by Australians.
The most prestigious being Children’s Book Council Australia(CBCA),
Australia Book of the year awards (CBCA,2009) with the selection criteria
including literary merit as well as quality illustrations. On a national scale, the advantages of using
awards lists in libraries for programming are that they are an excellent
marketing opportunity to foster literacy in the community. A celebration is
held of the winning books, with activities and promotions being held around the
nominated theme, with the 2013 theme being ‘Read across the Universe’. Alternatively, state based children’s choice
awards have been developed to give children a voice in the selection process
for each state. For example, in New
South Wales, Kids Own Australian Awards (KOALA, 2012) is run by volunteering
librarians and teachers who encourage libraries state wide to connect with
children. The awards are used as an opportunity to foster literacy and an
interest in books by voting for their favourite book.
With
reference to collection development, acquisitions of books that have been
shortlisted or won a literary award are generally part of the standard ordering
process for public libraries (Yarra Plenty collection development policy,
2009). The apparent advantages are that
it is an effective mechanism in the collection development process. This raises the question of selecting books
solely on this merit that the collection will not meet the diverse needs of the
young users (Rawson, 2011). What is
more, Sullivan (2005, p.14,) contends that consideration needs to be given to
boys information needs because they are inherently different than girls. Collection
development should be driven by what the young users want to read as well as
reflecting the diversity of the local community (Cerny, Markey,Williams,
2006,p.42).
References
Buckley, T., & Kirkland, M. (2010). The Children's Book Council of Australia. Access (10300155), 24(3), 16-19.
Cerny,
R., Markey, P. & William, A. (2006). Outstanding library service to
children: putting the core ,competencies to work. Retrieved from Ebook
Library.
Kids Own Australian Literature
Awards
(KOALA).(2012). Retrieved 10 May 2013, from http://www.koalansw.org.au/
McKerracher, S.,
& McDowell, D. (2010). What are you
doing in 2012? Start planning now for the National Year of Reading. Access
(10300155), 24(3), 24-25.
Rawson,
C.H. (2011). Are all lists created equal?
Diversity in award winning and best selling young adult fiction. Retrieved
from http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2011/06/are-all-lists-created-equal-diversity-in-award-winning-and-bestselling-young-adult-fiction/
Sullivan,M.(2005).Fundamentals of children’s services(2005).
Chicago: American Library Association.
Yarra Plenty Collection
development policy.
(2009). Retrieved 01 May 2013, from http://filestore.yprl.vic.gov.au/policies/YPRL-Policy-Collection-Development-2007-2012.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment