“Child is father of the man”
~William Wordsworth~
Collection mapping is increasingly popular in schools in response to the demands of standardisation and outcomes-based education. Collection mapping is a selection method used in the development of collections that uses a curriculum map detailing specific year levels and subjects as a framework for assessing and selecting resources to be included in the library. (Johnson,2018) Selecting resources in this way is a collaborative effort that draws on the input and advice of teachers in understanding how to best support the learning intentions and success criteria of their subjects.
While collection mapping presents the benefits of being informed by professional discourse of adults primarily concerned with the development of the young people they teach, it is a process that does not recognise the current emotional states of students and often does not consider the desires of children as users. There is currently an emerging movement in education to not only recognise but champion the child as empowered with the equal rights to information, in both accessing and creating a culture that is increasingly self-determined. (Aggleton, 201?, Willis,Hughes,Bland,201?)
Jen Aggleton of Cambridge University has reasoned that under the legal definitions set by The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (OHCHR) “it is not unreasonable to suggest that children, as a separate cultural group from adults, should be given the right to participate in how these collections are developed.” (Aggelton, 2018) Given the progressive and democratic ethos engrained in teacher librarians since Ranganathan (1957) first proclaimed “Every reader his or her book; Every book its reader” it is worthwhile for Australian Teacher Librarians to reassess the process by which this promise is fulfilled. Currently Australian School Library Association (ASLA) Bill of Rights defines the objectives of school libraries as being concerned with generating understanding of freedom and with the preservation of this freedom through the development of informed and responsible citizens.” What is obscured through the ambition of adults projecting a future self through a constructivist perspective that generates and develops an idealised future citizen, are the current needs and desires in the immediate and actual lives of children. What is needed is a shift in the language used in such legislation to include children in the protection and development of their fundamental rights to information in schools.
There must be a change in the way adults understand their relationship with young people that affords them the same respect in determining the responsibilities and decisions of school libraries. At the moment all of the statements made in the ASLA Bill of Rights begin with the intention to provide. Envisioning and entrenching themselves in the role of providers, TLs are imposing structures of power unto the lives of young people that , by nature ,coddle dependence rather than championing independence and freedom. As such, it is time to open our minds as TLs to mandates of inclusion that are defined by intentions that are more egalitarian. We can do better than considering the varied interests, abilities and maturity levels of pupils served. We can promote them as aspects of their unique culture. We do more than provide materials that will stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values and ethical standards. We guide students in collaboration. We share a background of information which will enable pupils to make intelligent judgements in their daily life. When we speak to young people with the same dignity we extend to colleagues we are more informed on opposing sides of controversial issues through knowledge of the attitudes and opinions of young people.
We can no longer assume that we are informed to be responsible providers when we refuse to acknowledge that our communities include young people whose experiences of childhood are diverse from our own and that their knowledge, representative of the many religious, ethnic and cultural groups and their contributions to our society and heritage, is invaluable to us as a whole. Only when we change the way we view ourselves in the lives of young people and let go of personal opinions that reason we are solely providers can we rise above prejudice in the selection of materials of the highest quality in order to assure a comprehensive collection appropriate to the users of the library.
References
Australian School Library Association (ASLA) Bill of Rights (2018)
Aggleton, J. (2018). Where are the children in children’s collections? An exploration of ethical principles and practical concerns surrounding children’s participation in collection development. New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 24(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614541.2018.1429122.
Ranganathan, S. R. (1957). The five laws of library science. Madras: library Association.