Monthly Archives: August 2015

IFLA School Library Guidelines Approved

dition

IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd editionThe IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd edition, was endorsed by the Professional Committee on advice by the Committee of Standards in June 2015. The standard was revised and written by the School Libraries Section over a period of more than two years and replaces the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines which were published in 2002.

The guidelines have been developed to assist school library professionals and educational decision-makers in their efforts to ensure that all students and teachers have access to effective school library programmes and services, delivered by qualified school library personnel.

The drafting of these revised guidelines involved input and discussion at various workshops, events and meetings, some of which received funding support from the IFLA Professional Committee, and through ongoing writing and review in person and online.

Göteborg Book Fair

Several international reading promoters will visit Sweden and Göteborg Book Fair on September 24-27. This year’s laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the South African organisation PRAESA, and Daniel Goldin, publisher and Director of the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City, will participate in seminars and programs at the Swedish Art Council’s Young Stage (Ung scen).

“We are excited about this year’s Book Fair,” says ALMA Director Helen Sigeland. “We hope that many visitors will be inspired by PRAESA’s amazing work, which focuses on encouraging children to read for enjoyment, building their self-esteem and helping them connect to their native language through reading and stories, which is highly topical issue today.”

PRAESA is represented by Arabella Koopman, Content Manager for the national reading promotion project Nal’ibali, a network of reading clubs that uses media campaigns to encourage children to read and inspire parents, grandparents and teachers to read with them.

“Daniel Goldin is one of the world’s foremost reading promoters, a brilliant inspirer,” says Helen Sigeland. Daniel Goldin is the publisher who discovered the 2013 ALMA Laureate Isol’s talent for illustrated children’s books.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of our work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.

Call for applications for literacy innovation award

The EIFL Public Library Innovation Award for public library services contributing to literacy in the community is now open.

This call for applications is open to public and community libraries in developing and transition countries that use information and communication technology (ICT) in creative ways to improve literacy of children or adults.

They are seeking excellent examples of library services that use digital technology: 

  • To teach non-literate people how to read and write, and / or 
  • To improve people’s existing literacy levels.

The services can target people of any age and gender (including children, youth, adults or seniors) who have literacy needs. 

The prize includes US$1,500 and wide publicity through EIFL’s global communication channels and networks.

The deadline for submitting applications is 12 October 2015. Applications will be accepted in English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Dutch Reading Promotion

The Dutch Art of Reading program supports reading aloud, free voluntary reading, and information literacy for children. Strategies include BookStart, the Public Library at school, and strategic reading promotion networks. Public libraries work with various organizations and agencies. The Dutch Reading Foundation and the National Library oversee the initiatives.

BookStart promotes early reading, story telling, and family reading experiences. The National Reading Coalition  is especially interested in combatting illiteracy, and Dutch ministries are addressing language issues.

The Public Library at school professionalizes reading approaches through long term collaboration in developing policies, collections, portal, and activities.This program is showing their impact through digital monitoring. Data may be viewed at several levels: from national down to classroom.

The digital editions of related documents are found on the English section at   www.kunstvanlezen.nl.

Literacy Matters! Credo

I can read, therefore I am.

I can:

  • be smart and become smarter;
  • communicate with others;
  • solve problems, understand and connect with new challenges;
  • participate in family, workplace and community life;
  • use a range of technologies;
  • think for myself and with others;
  • keep my culture alive;
  • share with others;
  • be creative and laugh.

I have the world and beyond at my feet.

I can read, therefore I am empowered and can learn lifelong.

I can read, therefore I am part of the present and the future.

I can read, therefore I am,

Because …….. LITERACY MATTERS!

IFLA 2014-5 country reports: United Kingdom

UK Literacy & Reading Initiatives 2015

Prepared by Annie Everall for IFLA Literacy and Reading Section, Cape Town

 

Summer Reading Challenge

The Summer Reading Challenge is the UK’s biggest reading promotion for children aged four to 11. The 2015 This year’s Summer Reading Challenge theme is Record Breakers, and it is being done in partnership with the champion of record-breaking achievements, Guinness World Records. At the beginning of July, thousands of children and families pledged to use their local library over the summer and helped libraries set a new Guinness World Records™ title for Most Pledges Received for a Reading Campaign. The SRC was started in 1999 and is run annually by The Reading Agency in partnership with the public library network (98% of UK libraries take part).In 2014, 839,622 children took part, a 3.6% increase on participation in 2013. 81,908 children joined the library to take part, up 22.7% from 2013 approximately 18,000,000 books were borrowed during the summer. The Summer Reading Challenge also offers young people aged 12-24 the opportunity to volunteer. The volunteers support the children taking part while increasing their employability as they gain useful life skills and confidence. In 2014 a record 8,126 volunteers got involved at their local library, representing a 43% uplift from 2013. http://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

 

2015 Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Awards

Real-life historical adventures have inspired both winners of the 2015 CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest and most prestigious children’s book awards, Tanya Landman’s Carnegie winner, Buffalo Soldier, was inspired by the true story of former slave Cathy Williams, who was the only known African-American woman to enlist in the US army, under the guise of a man, serving for three years before her true identity was discovered. The Kate Greenaway Medal, awarded for an outstanding illustrated book for children, was won by debut author and illustrator William Grill for his non-fiction account of Ernest Shackleton’s epic crossing of Antarctica in Shackleton’s Journey. www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk

 

Children’s Laureate 2015 – 2017

Chris Riddell was appointed as the new UK Children’s Laureate, succeeding Malorie Blackman. Chris is an award-winning writer, illustrator and political cartoonist and has also one the Kate Greenaway Medal twice. As the new laureate Chris’ focus will be to, use the immediacy and universality of illustration to bring people together and lead them all into the wonderful world of books and reading, whilst championing creativity in schools and beyond. http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk

 

Literacy for Life Program

The Reading Agency has launched the Literacy for Life program. The aim is to narrow the attainment gap between pupils who are eligible for free school meals and their peers by addressing the language and literacy deficit that many children from disadvantaged backgrounds bring to secondary school. The program will equip pupils with the academic language they need to succeed, while building reading for enjoyment. The program has received £1m funding from the JJ Charitable Trust, is being piloted by six schools from the Aldridge Foundation and the Ormiston Academies Trust. It will be evaluated by the University of Durham and Literacy Leaders will be accredited in partnership with the University of Exeter. http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/literacy_for_life

 

National Literacy Trust Hubs: Understanding the role of literacy in public health

A new report from the Literacy Trust ‘Understanding the role of literacy in public health’, found that literacy is directly related to health because it enables people to understand and act on information about their own health, treating ailments effectively and preventing disease. The research highlighted that families with low literacy are more likely to be in poor health and improving literacy skills can empower individuals to take control of their own health, leading to reductions in health inequalities and the pressure on public services. http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/nlt_research/6713_national_literacy_trust_hubs_understanding_the_role_of_literacy_in_public_health

 

Read On, Get On Campaign

Read On. Get On. is a national campaign to get every child in the UK reading well by the age of 11. At the moment far too many children are leaving primary school without this key skill – including, in England, one in three of the poorest children. The ROGO mission is to change this for good so that all UK children start secondary school as confident readers. On behalf of the ROGO coalition in England, the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce) has been commissioned to develop a national reading strategy for England. This work will provide analysis of the problem, identify key objectives and set out the strategic action needed over the next decade to achieve the following target goals for 2020 and 2025:

  1. All children achieve good early language development by age five by 2020
  2. Every child is able to read well by the age of 11 by 2025, with good progress made so that we are at least halfway towards this goal by 2020

As part of the process of developing the national strategy, submissions based on a series of questions were invited from all individuals and organisations with an interest in promoting children’s reading and early language development. These will support identifying key issues and strategic priorities for action, to help achieve the 2020 and 2025 target goals. http://www.readongeton.org.uk/

IFLA 2014-5 country reports: Sweden

IFLA 2014-5 country reports: Sweden

Prepared by Linda Willander

 

The most significant news is that The National Library of Sweden has been given a mission to place a suggested plan for a national library strategy. The purpose of the strategy is a long term commitment and a will to keep and develop the libraries in Sweden. In 2015 the government gave 5 million Swedish crones for this mission and in 2016-2018 thefinancial appropriation will be 6 million crones annually.

 

The Libraries is a meeting point with literature in focus. At the same time they are also rooms for conversations and therefore a central building block in our democracy. The recent discussions on libraries reflects the need for a national library strategy, says Alice Bah Kuhnke-the Minister of Culture and Democracy in Sweden.

 

The mission for the National Library includes suggesting longtime goals and strategies, from the library law and to facilitate collaborations and partnerships in the public library system. And also to look at the libraries roll in enhancing the position of literacy and the democratic conversation. The mission also includes the librarians roll, school libraries and e-media.

Discussions and debate

  • What kind of places should the Swedish libraries be? A discussion started since some libraries in suburbs with social challenges debated on the issue of being social workers or librarians. Interesting debate in relation to the new mission for the National Library.
  • How can we live up to the goals in the library law? For example provide good service in different languages since we have a mixed community in the larger cities.
  • Continuing debate on how to give access to ebooks in collaboration with publishers (now very expensive for libraries and must limit the service to patrons)

 

Existing projects regarding literacy

  • Daddy and I – the project works with dads as reading role models to enhance reading skills.
  • Preschool-libraries – show good results in the south of Sweden.
  • More-open libraries – accessible before and after staff hours.
  • Libraries as culture houses-not only libraries.