Can you think of any ways you could incorporate social networking sites for literature organisation and access, such as GoodReads or LibraryThing, or other online communities such as #BookTok, into your practice? How do you think your students would respond?

For my students’ demographic (the primary years) use of social media and networking such as TikTok and Instagram as a teacher librarian would be more to promote what we are doing in the library to parents and connecting with authors, illustrators, and publishing houses than directly encouraging students themselves to participate in library and reading culture.

That said, we know that higher levels of parent literacy correspond with higher levels of student literacy (Banaszak, 2023). Additionally, the higher a parent’s engagement with books alongside their child the better the child’s foundations are in terms of setting up reading routines and developing a positive attitude towards reading (Kucirkova & Grover, 2022), as well as increasing phonemic awareness, vocabulary exposure, and content knowledge (Ece Demir-Lira et. al., 2019).

Therefore, it is possible to surmise that promoting on platforms such as GoodReads and Instagram the school library’s collection and how it is being used would support parents to get involved as well. I would hope that the response (albeit indirect) by my students to this movement would be favourable, and stand as evidence of the school building a positive culture of reading as it has in other instances (Applegate et. al., 2017).

References

Applegate, M. D., Turner, J. D., & Applegate, A. J. (2010). Will the Real Reader Please Stand Up? Reading Teacher, 63(7), 606–608. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1598/RT.63.7.9

Banaszak, P. L. (2023). Academic Impacts of Intergenerational Trauma: Assessing the Relationship Between ACE Scores of Parents and the Language and Literacy Development of Their Elementary-Aged Children (Order No. 30572964). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (2871722793). https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/academic-impacts-intergenerational-trauma/docview/2871722793/se-2

Ece Demir‐Lira, Ö., Applebaum, L. R., Goldin‐Meadow, S., & Levine, S. C. (2019). Parents’ early book reading to children: Relation to children’s later language and literacy outcomes controlling for other parent language input. Developmental Science, 22(3), Article e12764. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12764

Kucirkova, N., & Grøver, V. (2024). The Importance of Embodiment and Agency in Parents’ Positive Attitudes Towards Shared Reading with Their Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 52(1), 221–230. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1007/s10643-022-01415-1