Week 3 Issue and Trend Interview: Interview with a local librarian

After the success of my first blog, I decided to try for another round and see how this one goes. For this post I decided to interview a local librarian (referred to as AS from here on out) from the Grand Forks Public Library. He is the head librarian in the children's department. I sat down with AS and discussed some of the current issues and trends that are taking place in children's literature and well as what it is like to run the children's department in a library.

I started off by asking AS about his job and what is the most enjoyable part of it. He said that he loves books and enjoys working with people, especially kids. And he likes the fact that every day is different, especially true with working in the children's department. We also discussed the issues that arise when dealing with children in the library. AS said that his main concern is maintaining a safe and friendly environment for children and their families. He has set up certain policies to make sure that this happens. A few examples that he gave me were: all children under the age of 8 must be accompanied by an adult while in the library and the staff makes it a point to greet every person or family when they walk into the Children's Department. This is a way for the staff to know which child belongs to which parent.

Next we talked about what kinds of books are popular and how he keeps up with the popular trends. He stated that dinosaurs, fairies, and animals are the most in demand for preschool age children. As the get older and enter grade school, the look more for LEGO, Minecraft, drawing, sharks, humor, natural disasters, mysteries, and sports. As they move into their preteen and teen years, they look for graphic and dystopian novels. I asked Aaron what exactly is a dystopian novel and he explained it to me as an imaginary place where people lead lives in fear and ore often dehumanized. Example of these types of books would be The Hunger Games, The Divergent Series, or The Twilight Series. 

Along these same lines, I questioned about how parent can keep their children actively reading and if the library has any summer programs that help out in the specific area. AS commented that to help keep kids interested in reading, all it takes is one simple step. Just read to them every day. If the parents read to their kids, the kids will naturally develop into readers. He recommends sticking to their age range and making sure to change the book pace and topic as they grow older. He said that is favorite authors, for younger reader, are Mo Williams and Dr. Seuss.

As far as the summer reading programs go, there are a quite a few of them put into place,  The main ones are Story time and the summer reading program. Three days a week, the library holds story time for babies, preschool, and toddlers. These run for 20-30 minutes apiece and include a story, music, puppets, and finger plays. The summer reading program (they also have a winter reading program as well) is put into place to encourage children 12 and under to continue reading during the summer. There are awards and activities to keep it fun and exciting. There are other programs that they library puts on as well; S.T.E.M, Robotics Club, Children's Gardening club, R.E.A.D Dogs program, LEGO Club, and Chess club.

The next topic that we touched base on is how computers and the Internet has impacted children's book choices. AS said that he has noticed the number of non-fiction books that get checked out has declined. He figures this id due to the fact that people have quick and easy access to this kind of information online. Besides that, children and their parent and family members have better access to book reviews and reading lists. This makes the decision making process about what to buy or check out more informed. I asked him if he has noticed that there is more demand for e-books recently. He said that this is a demand that has gone up every year, but recently he has noticed that more and more grade school kids have been asking for the library's e-book collections.

We briefly touched based on Common Core. I asked AS if he predicts a change for the need of informational books and nonfiction books in the future with the change over to Common Core State Standards. He thinks that this will not greatly affect the public library. He remarked how he can see it affecting school libraries and what kinds of books they order. He also stated that the Internet has changed the need the need for informational and non-fiction books more than anything else has. The library purchases books according to what is the best reviewed.




The last topic that we talked about current trends and issues in children's literature. When I asked him about this, he said that he believes that the major point on this topic is that their needs to be more diversity in children's books. The American Library Association put out a call for this and it was reflected in the major award winning books this year. I asked him if he think that this will affect the library and the books that are kept on hand. He answered by saying that he is more aware of the issue when making purchasing decisions., Lastly, we discussed what are the best resources to keep you with this trend. AS claims that the American Library Association, the Public Library Association, the Association for Library Services to Children, state and national library conferences, periodicals such as School Library Journal are the best resources to stay on top if the most current trends.

After doing some research on the topic, I agree with AS that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. In 1986, Walter Dean Myers, a former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, wrote to the NY Times and asked how come there were never any other ethnicity's in children's literature. Almost 30 years later, this is a topic that is still brought up. Even though this has gotten much better, it is still not at an acceptable level.








 

Children's Literature Blog: Favorite Book Share

Do you remember what it was like to read as a kid? Did you enjoy it or was it more of a chore for you to do? Do your kids like to read or is it a struggle for them? No matter which one of those is the answer, recommending a good book is a great idea. Think back to what book was your favorite when you were growing up. What kinds of memories do you have about that book?

Books are a way for kids to be able to use their imagination. It is a way for them to escape to places that they could never go; real or fake. It allows them to forget about reality for a span of time. They can get wrapped up in a spooky story or an adventure. They can read about unconditional love and acceptance or just read something that will make them laugh. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what books can do for children.


I am going to discuss my favorite book from when I was in second grade (roughly); The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. This book created so many great memories for me. I would read it over and over and now it is a book that I love to read to my children again and again. There is a wonder life lesson in this book about love and compassion. It teaches values and how to treat others.



This is a book about a boy who becomes friends with a tree. When the boy is young, they have a wonderful friendship. As the boy gets older, he begins to take from the tree, but not give anything in return. It is a story about the capacity of true love. Not in a romantic way, but in an unconditional way.




This book can be turned into a life lesson very easily, or a school lesson for that matter. It does not take much to teach a child compassion, love, and acceptance. After reading this book, discuss it with the child and see what they take away from it. Talk to them about what they think of it and what they learned from it. This book is a doorway to much bigger and better things.