This subject inspires me to explore a broader range of topics in relation to children’s services. I have learned new knowledges and developed new skill throughout the entire learning journey. I would like to reflect further in my understandings of diversity, professional position and collaborative learning.

• Diversity in children’s collection and services

Librarians shall consider the diverse needs of their users so as to design suitable programs and deliver proper services. It is true that “children’s librarians have been on the forefront for diversity from the beginning, striving to serve all children” (Horning, 2015, p.7). Before I learn this subject, I may regard the academic outcomes as the first priority. However, young people also need support in their social skills, communicating manners, mental health and so on (O’Connor etc., 2020, p. 224). In addition, they may have distinct needs because of the diversity in their age, religious background and personality. Therefore, it is a complicated progress for the librarians to analyse the characteristics of the targeted group and plan thoroughly. It requests frequent examinations of the contemporary issues and continuous update with the latest researches.

• Personal preference vs Professional position

It is important to remember that personal preferences should not override the professional position. It is very common for adults to choose what they believe to be good for children. Take myself as an example, I am a traditional Chinese parent with my own house rule of restricting my children in accessing certain type of resources. As a result, it may possibly influence my professional judgement in the library’s acquisition. During this learning journey, I discover that “powers of censorship are legally vested in state and federal governments” (Library Council of New South Wales, 2020 p. 13). Correspondingly, professionals need to provide support to the intellectual freedom, and do not intervene young people’s choices.

• Collaborative learning experience

This subject also demonstrates me an effective learning experience in a collaborative way. When writing my own blog posts, I may omit some important opinions and suggestions. As the assignment encourages us to read and comment on each other’s blogs, I can obtain additional ideas and learn precious real-life experiences. Just as Sarah Sullivan (2022) reminds, learning new things contains numerous trails and fails. That is exactly what information professionals would expect when developing new skills. Moreover, I also learn new ideas and receive encouragement from the comments on my posts. It is true that librarians throughout the world should “look outside the box”, exploring different form of perspectives and practices (Boelens, 2018, p. xxi). Although this recommendation is created for school librarian, I believe it is suitable for all information professionals who dedicate to serve children in a superior way.

Despite the topics that I mention in the previous part of this reflection, I have tried so many new things throughout this subject. Take the first assignment as an example, I really enjoy the designing progress. Although it is a tough project to me, it provides me an opportunity to consider various aspects so as to deliver an effective library program for young people. In summary, this subject provides me a wonderful learning experience to explore diverse topics in regards to children’s services. In order to provide professional services, librarians need to continuously improve their skills and keep themselves updated with the latest technologies and researches.

Reference

Boelens, H. (2018). Preface. In L. Patrick, R. Heather & D. K. W. Chiu (Eds.), Effective school librarianship: Successful professional practices from librarians around the world (pp. xvii-xxiv). Apple Academic Press. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1201/b22444

Horning, K. T. (2015). Milestones for diversity in children’s literature and library services. Children & Libraries, 13(3), 7-11. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.13n3.7

Library Council of New South Wales. (2020). Children’s policy guidelines for NSW public libraries.https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/childrens_policy_guidelines_1.pdf

O’Connor M, Chong S, Quach J, Goldfeld S. (2020). Learning outcomes of children with teacher-identified emerging health and developmental needs. Child Care Health, 46(2), 223-231.https://doi.org/10.1111/cch. 12737

Sullivan, S. (2022, May 17).  Diversity within children’s library collections. Spread the World.https://sarahannesullivan.wordpress.com/2022/05/17/diversity-within-childrens-library-collections/

Activity:

Explore, compare and review different websites designed for young people’s book awards.

The first book award website I explored is the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA, 2022a), which is particularly designed for Australian publications. The prizes are categorised into six groups, including older readers, younger readers, early childhood, picture book, Eve Pownall Award and new illustrators (CBCA, 2022a). This classification is useful for finding relevant books based on children’s age. In addition, CBCA not only includes the publisher’s recommendation, but also shows their judges’ opinions for all the winning titles (CBCA, 2022b). Some of them contain the video from the author discussing the theme and characteristics of their books.

Another type of book award is granted by genre. Take the Best Indie Book Award (BIBA, 2022) as an example, there is a particular section designed for children’s book awards. Librarians could also find other children’s book winners under different genres or topics. This type of classification is helpful for all children’s libraries, including public libraries and school libraries. It provides additional opportunities for a book to win a prize.

Reflection:

• What do I learn?

This activity provides me many insights in relation to the book awards for children’s literature. To be honest, I have never seriously examined a book award website before. To me, a book award is commonly identified as a marketing ploy because it helps to increase a book’s publicity. It is understandable that the winner will deserve increase in reputation and obtain extra income. After exploring some book award websites, I started to think the purpose of establishing book awards for children’s literatures and its usability for information professionals. Obviously, official book award prizes can be used for acquisition procedures. Librarians could use the notable list to build up their collections. Other than CBCA and BIBA, there are many other types of awards for young people, such as religious book awards, Cybils Awards, and Young Adult Library Service Association Awards (Stewart, 2022). Similarly, the University of Melbourne library (2022) summarises a list of children’s book awards websites which are useful for selections. Each award has its own specific focus and provides instructions on stocking children’s literatures. It is recommended for professionals to examine different book award websites so as to maximise their purchasing options. The book award lists can serve as fantastic resources for libraries to find and purchase quality literatures for children.

Although children’s librarians could simply use the book award list to build up their collections, they still need to critically analyse the suitableness of each item as different user’s group may have diverse needs. For example, the library in a boy’s school may have different focuses in comparison with a girl’s school. A Christian school will purchase more books in relation to bible stories. Accordingly, librarians in Christian schools may explore the Christian book award websites for recommendations. Thus, information professionals are required to evaluate the books from the award lists with thorough consideration of their users’ needs and preferences. That is why the judges’ reviews are important resources in providing objective opinions.

• To think further

What else can information professionals do with the idea of book awards? In fact, many public libraries and school libraries are holding their own book award events to encourage reading. It is also a wonderful idea to invite young readers to be the judgers so that they can make contribution to the final decisions of the prizes. According to Williamson (2020), the book award activities not only introduce and promote new literatures to children, but also encourage them to participate in writing a review (para. 3). As a result, children need to visit the library frequently to borrow and read more books. It is an efficient way to increase their interests to read books and express their perspectives in writing. When they participate the evaluating progress as judgers, they can also practise their critical thinking and writing skills.

In conclusion, this activity inspires me to learn and explore further about the usage of the book awards for children’s services. The book award lists are very useful for providing valuable recommendations for building up children’s collection. It can also be functioned as an incentive to improve children’s reading behaviours in the library’s programs.

Reference

Best Indie Book Award. (2022). Award details. https://bestindiebookaward.com/submit/award-details/

Children’s Book Council of Australia. (2022a). About the CBCA book of the year awards.  https://cbca.org.au/about-the-awards

Children’s Book Council of Australia. (2022b). Previous winners. https://cbca.org.au/previous-winners

Stewart, A. (2022). How to use book awards to find great children’s books. Brightly. https://www.readbrightly.com/use-book-awards-find-great-childrens-books/

The University of Melbourne. (2022). Children’s book awards collection – Gilblin Eunson Library.https://unimelb.libguides.com/c.php?g=402843&p=2741236

Williamson, S. (2020, October 6). Library book award: bringing books to young readers. Arts Council England.https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/blog/library-book-awards-bringing-books-young-readers

Activity:

• Review the children’s services of Bundaberg Regional Libraries

I attended the Virtual Study Visit last month to explore the operations of different information agencies. The guest speaker from Bundaberg Regional Libraries delivered a great presentation, demonstrating diverse library programs they provided to local children and young adults. Bundaberg Regional Libraries shows a great example of offering a wide range of various programs to encourage children’s participation. It not only provides traditional services such as the Storytime and the Reading session, but also offers Lego and Chess clubs so that kids could play with new friends (Bundaberg Regional Libraries, 2022a). Moreover, the library’s manager includes many advanced technologies into their program designs. For instances, there are Virtual Reality devices and computers provided for children to play as a game group (Bundaberg Regional Libraries, 2022b). As a result, local children can develop their digital literacy skills and build up friendship with other community members.

Reflection:

• My learning from this activity

This presentation inspires me to review librarians’ role in leading a culture of diversity in children’s services. In order to perform diversity, information professionals should not be restrained by traditional perceptions. Just as Hildreth (2019) illustrates, libraries must provide programs, collections and services in consideration of the key priorities of the community, not their personal believes (p. 2).  For example, video game playing is a disputable issue and is still not widely accepted as other learning tools. Thus, it is not very common for a library to offer a particular space for children playing computer games. However, just as Naidoo and Park (2014) advice, the new digital media is not provided to children for the sake of replacing physical books and activities; it can be functioned as interactive, educational and team building tools to supplement the existing services (pp. 59-60). Therefore, information professionals need to consider what kind of resources can be offered to the children, rather than thinking of what their parents may like or dislike. There are, in fact, many wonderful games designed for children’s recreational and developmental needs. Take the Minecraft game as an example, children need to be creative in designing their world and be cooperative with their friends (Dezuanni, 2018, p. 246). According to Baek et al. (2020), Minecraft can be adopted for educational purposes with proper instruction from the educators (p. 12). Therefore, it is a great reminder to myself that I shall not use my previous notion or experience to make judgements on new trends and ideas. Instead, it is recommended for librarians to read professional research articles in relation to disputable issues so that both of the benefits and drawbacks will be taken into consideration.

Moreover, in order to perform diversity, information professionals need to be at the forefront of learning and using modern technologies. Bundaberg Regional Libraries have many innovative facilities such as 3D printers and Virtual Reality devices. The library’s management team present a positive attitude in teaching new things to their community. It is especially meaningful in serving children as they are growing up in such a rapid changing environment. As a result, librarians are urged to expend their skills to provide sufficient support to the young people (Stavridi, & Hamada, 2016, p. 30). It is important for information professionals to keep pace with the changing world.

What is the traditional impression of a children’s library? Most of the parents may expect a librarian talking about a story book or leading a reading session to a group of children. However, when the new technologies arrive, libraries have to change its operation accordingly so as to satisfy the diverse needs of their users.

References

Baek, Y., Min, E., & Yun, S. (2020). Mining educational implications of Minecraft. Computers in the Schools, 37(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/07380569.2020.1719802

Bundaberg Regional Libraries. (2022a). Kids & Youth. https://www.artsbundaberg.com.au/homepage/156/kids-and-youth

Bundaberg Regional Libraries. (2022b). Gamers Group. https://www.artsbundaberg.com.au/libraries/online-programs/4

Hildreth, S. (2019). The library as community anchor: An open perspective. In Mills, J.E., & K. Campana (eds.), Create, innovate, and serve: A radical approach to children’s and youth programming. American Library Association.

Naidoo, J. C., & Park, S. (2014). Diversity programming for digital youth: Promoting cultural competence in the children’s library: promoting cultural competence in the children’s library. ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Stavridi, S. V., & Hamada, D. R. (2016). Children and youth librarians: competencies required in technology-based environment. In J. Yap, M. Perez, M. Ayson, and G. Entico (Eds.), Special Library Administration, Standardization and Technological Integration (pp. 25-50). IGI Global.