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For me, the Kids Own Australian Literature Awards Inc. website is relevant to the library to encourage reading. The organisation is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers who support children’s literature. Young readers all over New South Wales vote for Australian children’s books that they have enjoyed the most. This is a wonderful site giving young readers a platform to voice their opinions on the books they have loved to read. This program would be a run at minimal cost as, bookmarks are 50 for $15 and stickers 50 for $10, with a joining fee of $100 for four libraries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From this website, I have learned the library can involve young readers who are members of the library to join in the voting, discuss with their peers and debate their views on good literature. At first, I thought the shortlist would be a collection of books that may not be borrowed, but the 2020 list has many books in our collection. There are 4 categories in the voting picture storybooks, younger readers, older readers and fiction for years 7-9.

 

This would give the library three groups with children from infants, primary, or high school age. Dividing the groups into classes is an opportunity for children to collaborate with their own age groups (Colston, 2012, p. 3). A teenager would not like to be in the same group as a primary student. Joining this program, children and young people will have an opportunity to develop critical appreciation skills. In partnership with YABBA (VIC), KROC (NT) and COOL (ACT), KOALA seeks to provide children with a voice within the general Australian children’s book industry and contribute to the annual REAL Awards (Reading and Enjoying Australian Literature) a shortlist is created from these states and territories.

Libraries can get creative and set up their own display to encourage voting to generate excitement and create interest. This project allows the children to become involved in the display and promotion activities. The book’s selection criteria must be Australian, published in the last ten years, must not have been a previous winner, must be a specific title note a whole series. Library members nominate their titles and provide the nominations to the KOALA council to use the nominations to create a KOALA shortlist of 40 titles. This is a fun program to engage with young readers, and the results would be rewarding if their nominations were on the shortlist. When the shortlist is announced, another display can be created by the children for voting. This site has all posters, voting slips, stickers, bookmarks and ideas to ensure the program’s success.

References

Colston, V. (2012). Teens go green!: Tops, techniques, tools, and themes for YA programming. Libraries Unlimited.

Kids Own Australian Literature Awards Inc. (n. d.). Join us in 2021. https://seabass-plums-xfb6.squarespace.com/

This article is a review of ‘Learning to belong: Ordinary pedagogies of civic belonging in a multicultural public library’ by Rebecca Williamson in Journal of Intercultural Studies.

This article refers to the Campsie Public library in suburban Sydney. Having read this article  I have a better understanding of how library spaces can be shared with a mixture of cultures, age and language groups.  Over the years, libraries have evolved from bookkeepers to knowledge portals, community hubs and safe places for all community members. Libraries are the most heavily used public buildings in Australia, offering babies, children and young people programs, but they do not attract many teenagers (Bundy, 2007, p. 173). The library provides a communal, accessible space where people can pursue their agendas which may or may not refer to their ethnocultural identity (Williamson, 2020, p. 543).

Accommodating diverse groups in libraries that do not have separate areas for different groups especially children and young people, can be a problem. For libraries with limited space, the noise level of children and young people can be annoying to other patrons (Williamson, 2020, p. 553).  I have experienced the noise level problem in our library when young people are attending an activity the older people complain about the noise level. To overcome this problem staff warn our regular older patrons about an upcoming event, they are then happy to change the time of their library visit. The library must accommodate all age groups and the spatial and material cues that affect the library experience (Williamson, 2020, p. 546). Children and young people have different needs, the children’s area needs to be bright and allow young children to play, whereas the young adult area requires quiet study areas and some comfortable seating to ‘hang out’ (Williamson, 2020, p. 549).

Children engaging with libraries from a young age are more likely to engage with society as adults, and a welcoming public library is a significant investment to achieve this (Bundy, 2007, p. 175). Baby bounce and storytime are regular library events and are well attended by younger children and their parents or carers. The parents or carers see this activity as a fun and engaging activity, and they lead the program. In contrast, the older age group 12-18, the choice is usually theirs. To encourage young people to the library the negative images of libraries being dull, boring and unapproachable staff need to change to a welcoming library and a chance to be involved with the shaping of the library services (Bundy, 2007, p. 174). Creating a young teen area and organising young friends of the library group would encourage young people to engage with staff and create library programs.

As a public institution, public libraries must balance managing all age groups and accommodate their needs in a shared space (Williamson, 2020, p. 555). Most libraries run regular children’s programs for such as baby bounce, children’s storytime or holiday activities regularly, but the library does not provide programs catering for young adults as often. The library caters for all users in the community and the diverse range age, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. This article stated that ‘teenagers tend to mix from different cultures’ (Williamson, 2020, p. 554), and the library is the opportunity to contact and engage with people from different social and ethnic backgrounds. The library must be a place where diverse groups of all ages feel welcomed and their values respected.

Reference

Bundy, A. (2007). Looking ever forward: Australia’s public libraries serving children and young people [online]. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services. 20(4) 173-182.

Williamson, R. (2020). Learning to belong: Ordinary pedagogies of civic belonging in a multicultural public library.  Journal of Intercultural Studies, 41(5), 543-558. DOI: 10.1080/07256868.2020.1806801