Market Models and The Middle Layer

I am glad that we are going to be discussing Pawley’s article, “Beyond Market Models and Resistance: Organizations as a Middle Layer in the History of Reading,” because I am not sure I fully understand it.  I understand the distinction between the two models and what each is suggesting… but I feel there is a disconnect between the first descriptions of the models and the rest of the article.  Which is why I purpose -- I don’t understand it.  I think I am missing the relation between the two models and the “organization” that Pawley describes as a middle layer.  Is the “organization” the library?  Pawley discusses that we want to bridge the gap between individual and society… but what is the “organization” that is bridging it?  Then, I think I understand the final section concerning reading, writing, and control.  Many of these topics seem to be ones we have discussed through previous articles.  Somewhere in the midsection of the article, I feel like I lose focus of what Pawley is describing.  As I was reading the last section, I couldn’t help but wonder… do we still have literary elite?  Is there a group that feels they are better than other literate people that decide what constitutes quality literature? I guess some could argue that the literary elite would be educated individuals- perhaps at the collegiate level… but I don’t really know. 

        Another area of slight confusion for me was the metaphor of the “reader as a poacher.”  Is this metaphor suggesting that readers are stealing the ideas of others who wrote them (writers) and filling their heads with this information, opposed to creating their own?  If so, then why would a writer ever write anything down?  Isn’t the point of writing to share your ideas with others?  If that is seen as “poaching,” then I suppose I don’t see why anyone would publish anything.  Again… am I missing the metaphor?  I will be interested to hear others opinions on these issues in hopes of understanding them a little better.

The Company of Readers

                So much to talk about regarding “The Company of Readers,” so little time!  I am not even joking here.  I think we could easily spend 4 or 5 class periods discussing aspects of this chapter.   There was a lot of information, and specifically, a lot of information that I found extremely relevant to my own life.   One of the most important aspects of my job is to teach children how to read.  In fact, that is one of the main reasons I love teaching first grade.  When students enter the school year, they do not know how to read (or at least fluently and proficiently); when they leave most of them are little reading machines.  Yes, it is a long process, and yes, it can be quite frustrating.  But this aspect of teaching may be one of the most rewarding. 

                The chapter discussed how importantly it is for children to enjoy reading.  Every day at school I try to make reading that much more enjoyable for students.  I read aloud to students, they read books, they look at books, we watch animated versions of books, we act out puppets with books, we write our own books using well known characters.  That is exactly what kindergarten and first grade is: exposing children to books and making them want to read.  Not to toot my own horn, but I am pretty much a master at read-alouds.  It is fun to see that when students go to library hour, they often choose books that I have read to the class.  But getting kids excited about reading is really only half the battle, teaching them the nuts and bolts of how to read is another whole beast.

                In this chapter, in section 1.6 “Reading as a Transaction,” they discuss the different models of reading—the “outside-in” model and the “inside-out” model.  To become proficient readers in school, students need a mix of both of these two models.  As in the “outside-in” model, readers do need to be able to decode the physical words on the page.  They need to understand sounds, blends, general phonemic awareness, and quick recall of high frequency words.  However, this alone does not make a proficient reader.  A large part of reading comes from the “inside-out” model where readers make connections to their everyday life or to books they have already read.  The words on the page need to make sense in a context for beginning readers, or they are not going to retain the message of the print.  This is the comprehension piece of reading.  The chapter does not necessarily state that these models do not co-exist, but I am here to tell you that they NEED to co-exist, if they don’t-  the beginning reader is going to have major gaps in their learning.  

                Perhaps the reason I found this chapter so enjoyable to read is because most of it deals specifically with my daily profession (which I happen to love as well).  But oodles of other topics of discussion caught my attention as well.  This entry is getting long enough, but I wanted to point out just a few other tidbits from the chapter that I found intriguing:

·         Can you imagine a time when libraries were trying to curb the amount of fiction being circulated among patrons?  Not ordering new books until 6 months after their publication?  Isn’t this pretty much the basis of an anti-library?  Comparing reading fiction to cholera?  A little extreme to anyone else?

·         94% of Canadians read for pleasure on a daily basis?  I am all for pleasure reading, but this statistic seems rather high.  I LOVE pleasure reading, yet I am also a pretty busy person and would not say I do it on a daily basis.  Is this suggesting Canadians have no life?  (Just kidding… but seriously, doesn’t this seem high to anyone else?)

·         With the stereotype of readers being a “bookworm” I did find it interesting how they characterized readers as highly social people.  It makes sense when you think about all reading leads to… but then where did the “bookworm” image originate?

·         Reflections on reading: what was the first book you remember reading as a child?  I remember reading “Some things Go Together” with my mom, having my older brother read “Treasure Island” to me, and “Pat the Bunny.”  My dad used to make up bedtime stories and I can remember writing them in school.  I also remember my brother and I used to pretend to read the encyclopedia.  We used to make up what the entries were about based on the pictures.  Looking back… that is slightly bizarre. 

Odds and Ends from Week 3

              “Librarians and Party Girls: Cultural Studies and the Meaning of the Librarian.”  After class the other day, I opted to not devote too much blog space to this article.  Let’s just leave it as this: Opposed to the plot of that early 90s movie, a ‘party girl’ could be a librarian, and a ‘librarian’ could be a party girl.  I can be a librarian.  I can be a party girl.  There are negative stereotypes to both; we know this.  But not all are necessarily true.  Every other article we read this week talked about not stereotyping and looking at the injustices plaguing libraries.  This article seemed to more reference personal transformation through a movie.  Interesting, but not all that relevant to other classroom discussions.

                I liked the title of Wiegand’s article “Tunnel Vision and Blind Spots: What the Past Tells Us about the Present,” and I liked the article even more! (Side note:  I read this one after I read “Party Girls,” and I really don’t see how “Party Girls” was in response to this well thought out piece)  To describe mistakes of the past as ‘tunnel vision and blind spots’ is very poetic and paints a vivid picture of problems libraries faced in the past.  Is it true that librarians are in charge of shaping the minds of their patrons?  At first, it seems as though that is a huge overstatement of the responsibilities of librarians.  But, after thinking about it more, it is true that it is the librarian of a certain library that decided what materials are chosen for the public.  So, in essence, librarians do choose the material that is available for patrons to read.   I enjoy reading about historical events and the way that life has evolved over past years.  Because of this, I loved how this article was divided into different year periods and there were discussions of libraries during that time.  Does anyone know if there is a log that documents all of the materials in a library during a given year, say 1920?  This log would be fascinating to look at in present day.  I am interested to see how the collections specifically changed after World War I and then again after World War II.  Collections were smaller and less global, and thus less objective.  It would be a huge undertaking to analyze, but how interesting to investigate this information!

                Another facet of this article I found fascinating was the discussion of “good,” “bad,” and “harmless” reading.  Fiction books make up such a large amount of a library collection, I can’t imagine there being a time when “entertainment” reading was seen as less desirable than reading non-fiction.  Especially in terms of children’s literature!  If children do not have books that they enjoy, they will see reading as a chore and not progress as readers.  If they do not progress as readers, then they will not be able to read the “good” material in the library.  I know that the article was referencing more adult fiction than children’s, but the same still holds true.  People do not want to continue to read if they don’t find it interesting.   I could blab on and on about how interesting I found this article, but that could get redundant.  But how come the last stretch of years was 1965-1990?  I feel that that is a large amount of years and more probably changed in libraries during that time than was mentioned.  The other eras were described in such detail, and then the final era seemed to just fly by.  Whoosh!  Anyone else feel this way too?  All in all, really interesting article concerning the history of libraries and the “tunnel vision and blind spots” they faced throughout the past century. 

               I am actually very glad that the SLIS Program Planning Guide was included in our class readings.  I searched for this on-line this summer when it came time to register for classes.  (Couldn’t find it, and ended up meeting with my advisor instead).  I really had no idea what the scope and sequence of the program was, what classes to take, what was required…  I felt almost as if I was blindly going into my first year of grad school.  However, maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t find it earlier in the summer…  I think this program guide would have freaked me out.  It is a lot of information thrown at the reader all at once.  Now that I have started taking classes, I find the information less overwhelming, but not entirely crystal clear.  Not that I plan on getting any BC grades or lower, but doesn’t two BC grades resulting in automatically being dropped from the program seem a bit harsh?  I could understand a probationary program of some sort, but getting dropped from the program is an intense measure.  I am currently working full time as a kindergarten and 1^st grade teacher while going to graduate school part time.  After reading through this planning guide… I realize I have a long winding path in front of me.  Just take one step at a time and hopefully I’ll finish this degree before the turn of the next decade.   But again, good suggestion as to reading this program guide for class.

(PS... I am not happy with the spacing of this entry... but I can't seem to fix it!  Erg.)

Loss of a profession?

As I read Harris’ article “Information Technologies and the De-Skilling of Librarians,” I feel as though I had many contradictions to her points.  This, however, may have been because I am a female looking to enter this profession which led me to become slightly defensive.  I read each paragraph and then created a “Yes… but what about…” statement in my head.   I found it interesting that she categorized the work in libraries into gender roles, with men acting as more managers and women as replaceable worker bees.  Yes, I do agree that aspects of librarianship are changing.  Some tasks are able to be computerized, and completed quicker than by hand.  However, I think as with any profession, the evolution will create a different standard of work for its workers.  Will all women lose their worker bee library jobs?  No, I tend to think not.  Yes, there may not be a need for as much clerical staff in a library, but the demand is still there for human help and interaction.   But not according to Harris.  She states that “the changes underway in librarianship are likely to lead to the demise of the profession.”  Oh joy.  That is stellar news.  Luckily, I don’t necessarily see it that way.  And for others that may have been distraught by the article… think of this: the article was written in 1992.  Twenty years later women are still working in libraries and there has yet to be a “demise of the profession.”  Good thing I didn’t read this article when I was in 2^nd grade… my career dreams may have been shattered.    

Race, Multiculturalism, and Libraries

Okay, okay, I know I talk about school libraries a lot.  Seeing how I am a kindergarten/1^st grade teacher, and my professional goals include becoming a school librarian… it’s on my brain quite a bit as I am doing these readings.  So- bear with me.  However, Pawley’s article “Unequal Legacies” directly references school libraries.  I would agree that there has been a push specifically towards multicultural children’s literature in schools.  The children’s genre is still largely overrun with “whiteness” but each year it seems that increases in multicultural texts make their way into our school library.  The school I teach at is quite diverse.  We have roughly 25% African American students, 25% Hispanic students, 25% Asian students, and 25% white students.  Last year, each classroom teacher was given $250 to spend on creating a classroom library full of books that represented the diversity in our rooms.  This grant was pretty phenomenal.  Students noticed right away that the characters in the books looked more like them, and students returned to the book time and time again.  Now granted, this was a one time deal, but nevertheless, a step in the right direction.  I would be interested to see the ratio of multicultural books in our school library, and then even expand that to the ratio of multicultural books in our local public library branch.

Pawley also makes many interesting remarks concerning the terms “race” and “multiculturalism.”  I liked her quote “I contend that substituting multiculturalism and diversity for race allows the library community to evade confronting racism” (153).  I read that statement and I thought, “Well, that is bold.”  But what I liked best about her assertion is that she continued on discuss ways to change these proposed ways of thinking.  Many authors suggest we need change, but do not offer solutions as to how we can achieve them.    She suggests that ultimately, we need to prioritize race as a matter of urgency and separate multiculturalism and specifically look at issues of race.  Is it possible to make a “race neutral” library?  I personally don’t think it is.  There could be a library that specializes in many different races, but I don’t think there is a way to necessarily eliminate it from library collections and/or patrons.  Perhaps it is the phrase “race neutral” that is perplexing; it seems that we want all races represented and to feel welcome.  Not recognizing race does not eradicate it, it merely ignores a major characteristic of the people and literature that can be found in libraries.

Ugly Side of Librarianship

This week I found many of the topics in the readings  quite interesting.  I was enthralled with Musmann’s article “The Ugly Side of Librarianship.”  It was interesting to see the history of libraries dating back all the way to the 1900s, and the restrictions that were placed on the patrons coming into libraries.  I was not at all surprised when it mentioned how many libraries followed segregation laws and would not allow African Americans inside their doors.  History reveals many flaws of the past, this being one of them.  But then all of a sudden it dawned on me… of course African Americans were not allowed in libraries- they were seen as inferior and uneducated!  Where do people go to educate themselves?  The library.  And if we want to restrain people from educating themselves… naturally they are not allowed in libraries.  Thinking back to days of slavery, African Americans saw literacy as freedom.  Sadly, according to the article, in 1870, only 20% of African Americans were literate.  If a population is only 20% literate, chances are they are not spending much time in a library. 

In my profession today, we deal with an achievement gap between African American students and students of other races in our school.  Our school is not unique; it is a prominent national trend.  One of the areas in which African American students struggle the most is reading. We continually talk about how we need strong African American role models for these students in the school.   After this article it got me thinking, how many African American librarians are there?  Sure, our school library is decorated with READ posters with African American basketball players and movie stars telling kids to read… but the effectiveness of an African American librarian would be huge.  The lack of these librarians is not surprising; African Americans were not universally invited into libraries for many formative years of the history of libraries.  I found this article to be one of the most interesting we have read in the class so far.  I would be interested to see a piece written on the segregation of library services from 1950-2000. 

Technology in Nevada Libraries

               While searching in the daily newspapers of major Nevada cities, I found many articles surrounding budget cuts, circulation numbers (it appears circulation is up in most areas!), integration of new computers into libraries, and schedule upon schedule of story hours and community events that are taking place in public libraries.  I admit, I had to delve a little deeper to find articles that popped with interesting library themes relatable to class readings. 

                Perhaps the most prominent theme that I found throughout the articles was the integration of technology into “traditional” libraries.  For instance, one article from Carson City entitled “Technology at library helps increase hours”, explained how new radio frequency identification check-out services were helping to increase hours of operation at the Carson City Library.  With this new service, multiple materials can be checked in and out at the same time, making it a faster check out system for librarians and patrons.  Patrons set all the items they want to check out on the scanning table and then just swipe their library card. 

                When I first read this article, I thought to myself, “Well there goes the personal interaction with the librarian!”  It seemed as though the librarian became obsolete with this new technology.  However, the article later explained that with the machine checking patrons in and out, there was more time for librarians to be out in the library helping people find what they are looking for.   The article also stated that circulation was up 18% and library attendance was up `10%.  I have to wonder, is circulation and attendance up because of the quicker method of getting in and out of the library?  Are people more apt to breeze in to pick up materials?  Or is it because the librarians are able to work closely with patrons and help them to successful locate items? 

                Another article from Las Vegas, “Libraries urging patrons to check out digital collections” discussed how Henderson Libraries brought a digital bookmobile to their buildings to show people the “growing collections of digital media available for free download.”  The company is called OverDrive and it is a library open 24 hours, 7 days a week where patrons can download music and books from local libraries at home using their library card.  Patrons can check books out for 21 or 14 days.  After the allotted time is up, the files become locked to that user, and they are available to another user to download.   While many people are enjoying this service due to its convenience, many other library users may be skeptical and not understand how to correctly download materials.

This directly relates to articles we have read for class about the going trend towards digital and electronic libraries.  This digital library could potentially house more material than the library building could, and it would be readily accessible to patrons from their own homes.  But as the article states, this is an expensive service.  If people are unsure of how to use the service, the costs could potentially outweigh the benefits.  Plus, some people still enjoy a tangible book to read, not just the audio files of a book.  This article was written in April of 2009 and stated that downloadable material was up 30% from January of that year.  I searched to find more recent information on how circulation has been since, but unfortunately could not find anything directly related to this story.  Does that mean circulation continued to improve?  Or did the digital collection fad disappear in Vegas?

                For my final article, I wanted to find something related to school or academic libraries in Nevada.  I began to search the University of Nevada-Las Vegas  and University of Nevada, Reno student newspapers and before too long I stumbled upon the article,  “Know the Knowledge Center” from the University of Nevada-Reno.  After reading this article about the new (well, new in 2008) Matthewson-IGT Knowledge Center, I did momentarily think about transferring schools.   This ‘Knowledge Center’ does not classify itself as just a ‘traditional library’ for students to use.  Feel free to read everything that this Knowledge Center offers, but my personal favorite is how to retrieve a book: “students can enter the book they want through a computer and a large mechanical hand will find the book according to its bar code, pick it up from a three-story shelf and deliver it to the circulation desk.”

                A large mechanical hand!?!  Again, I am curious of what the impact of this technology has upon the librarian.  Are the librarians freed to help students search and locate items?  Will they move to the reference desk area?  Or are their hours cut and their jobs being replaced by this mechanical hand?  In all three of these articles, there is a growing trend of technology surfacing in libraries.  With this upswing in technology, the role of the librarian is changing.  Hopefully librarian patrons will still see the benefits and need for librarians even in this library technological shift.  After all, according to the opening quote in Marliyn Johnson’s book, “This Book Is Overdue,” Patricia Wilson Berger, former president of the ALA, states, “show me a computer expert who gives a damn, and I’ll show you a librarian.”