Source: https://www.cbca.org.au

Recently, I had a meeting with two other staff members to review our annual Book Week play, based on the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards. We discussed what worked and what didn’t with the planning, the play itself, the bookings, time allocations, and expectations from management. We also reviewed feedback from schools, which was generally positive.

What I learned

When we wrote the play, I was worried about how to perform Sorry Day sensitively, and worried that it might be too heavy for some of the children, but we decided that it was an important story to tell. We worked closely with staff who have aboriginal ties to present the story without leaning on stereotypes. I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the children to that story, particularly the many votes it received as the students’ favourite. I was therefore disappointed to learn that some teachers questioned our choice to include the story in our play, even when they appreciated our presentation of it.

I was also disappointed to learn that management are questioning the benefit of our play for the library. While we do try to keep our set and costuming costs to a minimum, the staffing costs of 13 hours for planning and rehearsals plus eight days for two staff performing is a significant outlay. I had not considered the cost/benefit aspect of our play before, and had taken it for granted that the positive feedback from schools and the increase in demand for bookings was indication that the play was worth the effort and expense. I was unaware of any other aims or objectives, and hope to have a meeting with upper management to discuss further, so that we can align our expectations, aims and objectives. We have written mini library advertisements into the play in previous years, and could easily do so every year.

Relevance to my work

Review and evaluation are an important part of any library program, though it should always be done for a purpose (Flowers, 2012, p. 41). As Flett, Grace, Kinleyside, McAllister, and Newton (2010) suggest, our evaluation was to assist in improving our play writing, performance and time management, and to resolve potential problems for future programs (pp. 3-4). It became clear that we need to have a larger evaluation, to ensure the program aligns more closely to the The Library Strategy (City of Newcastle, 2019). As Martin (2015) suggests, we should involve all stakeholders in developing the aims and objectives to be used in the evaluation.

Book awards themselves are also highly relevant, as they provide ready made reading lists for appropriate age groups, sometimes within specific genres (such as the Nebula Awards for science fiction and fantasy). The CBCA Book of the Year Awards provide a great list of Australian fiction and non-fiction for young people, and highlight new illustrators as well. I have also noticed that most of the shortlisted books end up on the next NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge list. I agree with Kidd and Thomas Jr (2016), that book awards do tend to homogenise the literary landscape, but perhaps these can be mitigated by children’s choice awards, such as the Kids Own Australian Literature Awards (KOALAs).

Knowledge gaps

During our meeting, we discussed how disappointed we were that particular notable books did not make the shortlist, and our surprise at some of the winners. The conversation made Karen and I realise that although we knew the selection process,  neither of us knew the selection criteria for each category. This is easily remedied, by reading the full CBCA Book of the Year Awards Policy (CBCA, 2019). In finding this document, I was surprised to learn of the $99 entry fee, and the requirement to provide five copies of the book for each category it is entered into (CBCA, n.d.). I’m not sure I would personally pay that much to be considered for an award, and wonder how many great books are missing out because of this entry criteria. I plan to contact our local sub-branch of the CBCA for more information, to find out if it is usually the publishers or the creators who submit the entries.

References

Children’s Book Council of Australia. (2019). The CBCA Book of the Year Awards policy.   Retrieved from https://cbcacloud.blob.core.windows.net/documents/National/PL_007_08%20BOTYA%20POLICY%202020%20final%20version%20(1).pdf

Children’s Book Council of Australia. (n.d.). Entry information for publishers and creators.   Retrieved from https://www.cbca.org.au/entry-information

City of Newcastle. (2019). The library strategy 2019-2029.   Retrieved from http://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/getmedia/fa46ce9f-d76f-4fe6-8a70-479b580c4530/3489-Library-Strategy-WEB-APRIL-19.aspx

Flett, S., Grace, J., Kinleyside, M., McAllister, C., & Newton, V. (2010). Strategic evaluation of programs toolkit for public libraries. Paper presented at the Shared Leadership Program 2010. http://www.libraries.vic.gov.au/downloads/200910_Shared_Leadership_Program_Presentation_Day/strategic_evaluation_toolkit_final.pdf

Flowers, S. (2012). Evaluating teen services and programs. Chicago: Neal-Schuman, an imprint of the American Library Association.

Kidd, K. B., & Thomas Jr, J. T. (2016). Prizing children’s literature : the cultural politics of children’s book awards. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Martin, A. B. (2015). Plan for program evaluation from the start. NIJ J, 275, 24-28.