Reading Matters What the research reveals about reading, libraries, and community

1. ReadingMattersWhat the research reveals about reading, libraries, and community • Ana Devine, Erin Sloan, Venetia Williams

2. Core Value: Education and lifelong learning • ALA promotes the creation, maintenance, and enhancement of a learning society, encouraging its members to work with educators, government officials, and organizations in coalitions to initiate and support comprehensive efforts to ensure that school, public, academic, and special libraries in every community cooperate to provide lifelong learning services to all.  2

3. Introduction • The authors examine and review numerous research findings on the library's role in fostering reading and draw connections between reading for pleasure and reading success. This easy to read handbook is a useful resource for librarians, administrators and anyone who is involved in the promotion of literacy and reading. 3

4. Organization • The book is divided into four chapters. Each chapter is sprinkled with interesting case studies and comments that help illustrate key points. At the conclusion of each chapter are practical suggestions outlining What Libraries Can Do including extensive bibliographies on further reading and resources. 4

5. Authors • Catherine Sheldrick Ross • Education • Written Works • Research • Lynne McKechnie • Background information • Written Works • Research http://www.fims.uwo.ca/peopleDirectory/faculty/fulltimefaculty.htm 5

6. Authors Continued……. • Paulette M. Rothbauer • She is currently a Assistant Professor at the University of Western Ontario • Education • Written Works http://www.fims.uwo.ca/peopleDirectory/faculty/fulltimefaculty.htm 6

7. Chapter 1 • The company of readers 7

8. Sounding the alarm! • Endangered Minds by Jane Healy (1990) • The Gutenburg Elegies by Sven Birkerts (1994) • The Death of Literature by Alvin Kernan (1990) • “Reading of all kinds is becoming a lost skill in a time when more and more • information is available on the electronic screen.” (147) 8

9. On the other hand – compelling evidence that literacy is holding its own or improving. • 95% of people in nationwide North American surveys say that they read something in the past week. • North Americans spend an average 7 to 10 hours a week of leisure time on reading. • Reading is their second most popular leisure activity after television watching. • Book production and book sales are at an all time high. • (Statistics Canada 1996) 9

10. Chapter 4- Adult readers Overview • The Who, What, Why, Where, When of reading • The Reading Experience • What Role Does Reading Play in the Life of the Reader • Better Than Life • Reading high and Low • Best Sellers , Prizes, Lists, and the Manufacture of Taste • How do Adult Readers Choose books to Read • Advising Readers • Reading as a Social Activity 10

11. In 2000, the book industry published 122,000 new titles and sold a total of 2.5 billion books, a number that has tripled over the past 25 years (National Education Association 2004, 1). • Who should we believe? • Is there a crisis or isn’t there? 11

12. So much is at stake. • “To lack literacy skills means begin shut out of jobs and opportunities; conversely, being able to read and write is a ticket to ride”. (4) • Practice is continually required. • It is not an inoculation. 12

13. Let’s not take a Henny Penny approach. • Expanded definition of reading and readers. • Reading is a complex and variable behavior. • Reading is not a single activity. • Special emphasis on reading for pleasure. • Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) • Stephen Krashen (2004) 13

14. Let’s celebrate! • A major function of public libraries is the circulation of books for leisure reading, and it always has been. • % of total circulation that is Adult Fiction • 1950 - Public Library Inquiry in U.S. 60-65% • 1980 - United Kingdom 59.9% • 1990 - Australia (? date of survey) 66% • 2001 - Kentucky, New York and NC 60-70% 14

15. 2010-2011 Fiscal Year • Gail Borden Public Library • Elgin, IL • 65.9% 15

16. 1.2 The “fiction” problem • “. . . that it is no part of our educational system to provide people with flabby mental nutriment” • Herbert Putnam (1890, 263-4) 16

17. Efforts to reduce fiction reading • William Kate, Friends’ Free Library, Germantown, PA • Banned ALL works of fiction - 1876-1900. • William M. Stevenson, Carnegie Free Library, Allegheny, PA • Weeded only the most popular fiction books – 1896. • “Two-book system” • “Six-months rule” • Always recommend non-fiction 17

18. The Public Library Inquiry - 1950 • Things hadn’t changed. • ALA objections emphasized the public library as an educational institution, but research showed libraries were in the entertainment industry. • Bernard Berelson (1949) Libraries should refocus its efforts on providing high quality materials to the “serious” and “culturally alert” minority who are the core of library users. • Majority of librarians agreed BUT there were dissenters. • It is clear the DISSENTERS has gained ground. 18

19. 1.3 Which of the following statements about reading do you think are true? • Books and reading are being killed off by television and film and the Internet? • People don’t read as much as they used to. • Young people don’t have the reading skills of previous generations. • The quality of materials that people read is sinking. • The surfeit of junk reading, too much television watching, and too much Internet surfing and video-game playing is killing off people’s ability to read high-quality books. • Men don’t read. • Boys don’t read. • Men don’t read fiction • Women don’t read science fiction. • Book readers are introverted bookworms who are antisocial and not very well rounded. • Real reading is a solitary affair. 19

20. None of these claims are entirely true, and some are just plain false. • Men do read fiction, just not to same extent as women. • Male and female make different reading choices. • Over last 100 years there has been a dramatic expansion in reading and in the market for books. • - Universal education • - Efficiency of distribution system 20

21. TV watching is the most popular leisure-time activity in what ever country it is studied. • ECONOMY OF ATTENTION • Multi-tasking • For most activities except sleeping, people are doing two or more things at the same time. • Relationship between various media and readers. • In comparison to nonreaders, book readers report doing everything more – except take naps. • Readers are highly social people. 21

22. Histories of reading • Will reading from a text make the user forgetful? Does text act more as a reminder than anything else? • Socrates thought so. • From when Guttenberg invented the printing press in 1456 to the year 1500, more than 15,000 titles and over 20 million books were printed. • The advent of the internet has brought about many doomsayers about the printed text—similar things were said about the advent of radio, film, and television. • Binaries presented through histories of reading • Reading of the ear vs. the eye, elite vs. masses, intensive vs. extensive, solitary vs. social, linear texts vs. nonlinear, linked texts that may include sound and images 22

23. 1.5 Introduction to reading research • Number of studies has increased because of the “threat of distinction” • Researchers come from a variety of backgrounds • This leads to assumptions made in one field that are challenged in another • To the average person, the results seem to contradict each other • Most studies deal with the teaching of reading • What do children need to become good readers? What children are most at risk? • Few studies focus on reading for pleasure • Common questions asked that have solid findings: • What do our eyes do as we scan? What are skillful readers like? What factors of type, line spacing, and line width make reading easier? What are the gender differences in reading? 23

24. 1.6 Reading as a transaction • Inside-Out” Reading: • The reader is seen as an active participant of the text—reader uses their knowledge of the world, language, and other stories to make sense of the work • “Good Readers” are those who understand that reading is used for enjoyment and who have acquired a long list of meaningful books. • “Outside-In” Reading: • Meaning resides within the text and it is the reader’s job to decipher what is on the page and take it in. • “Good Readers” can interpret words on a prescribed list 24

25. 1.7 Reflecting on reading • Developing a reading autobiography: • What’s the first thing you can remember about reading? • Recording thoughts in a reading diary can help you remember what you thought when reading a text for the first time • Matches materials with experiences 25

26. Chapter 2 • Becoming a reader: childhood years 26

27. 2.1 What We Know about Children and Reading • United States (2005) Youth 8 – 18 spent 6.5 hours/day using media and 43 min./day reading • Australia (2001) 74% of parents with children under age thirteen had read to their children in the previous week (Avg. 5 – 7 days) • Canada (1991) – Parents reported reading to their children age thirteen and younger an average 1.6 hours per week. • England (1998 - 2001) Reading and reasoning tests suggest that standards have remained unchanged. • International (2001) Compared the reading literacy of Grade 4 students across 35 countries. Sweden, the Netherlands and England had the highest scores, with Canada and US scoring in the top quarter. In all 35 countries, girls outperformed boys. 27

28. More tests, surveys and research . . . • Attitudes towards reading • Children of immigrants • Reading preferences • - Most children like mysteries, adventure and ghost stories. • - Grade 5 – 7 like fantasy, science fiction and sports stories. • - Interests vary by gender – one study noted that across all ages • boys dislike love stories and girls dislike war stories. 28

29. Margaret Meek states that helping a child learn to read is fundamentally an uncomplicated task. • Donald Fry states that the central issue in becoming a reader is to see oneself as a reader. 29

30. 2.2 Becoming a reader • Roots of literacy are grounded in childhood. • Readers are made, not born. No one comes into the world already disposed for or against print (Chambers 1973, 16). • Emergent literacy – onset of literacy acquisition at birth rather than formal reading instruction in school. • Hearing stories read aloud. • Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading • (Anderson et al. 1985, 28) • “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” 30

31. Factors that Foster Early Reading • Hearing stories read aloud by a parent • Having the opportunity to do emergent story readings • Having ready access to reading materials at home, at school or through the public library. • Having free choice of reading materials so that stories are enjoyed and the experience is pleasurable. • Having both the space and time for shared and individual reading. 31

32. Factors that Foster Early Reading (cont.) • Being part of a “readerly” family in which parents, siblings and extended family act as role models. • Having opportunities to talk about reading while both being read to and in other contexts such as at the family dinner table. • Having a sense that reading is a valuable activity. • Having access to an enabling parent. • Lev Vygotsky – Zone of Proximal Development • Children learn new cognitive skills by practicing them in social interaction with a more experienced person until the skill is mastered. • (read Case 8) 32

33. 2.3 Series Books • A few reasons why children LOVE series books: • are attractively packages, with appealing covers, clever titles and intriguing blurbs. • are inexpensive and can be purchased by children. • involve characters and situations with which children can readily identify. • feel familiar, comfortable and safe. • leave the reader with a sense of accomplishment and success as a reader. • When you begin a new novel . . . it is like gong into a room full of strangers, but reading the latest book in a series which you already know is like going into a room full of friends. • (Watson [2000,6], interview with an 11 year old boy). 33

34. What Libraries Can Do • Actively acquire and manage collections of current and popular series. • Purchase collection development and reader advisory tools. • Enhance reader access to series. • Encourage professional journals to review series using criteria appropriate to the genre. 34

35. 2.4 boy problem • It used to be the girls were thought to be the problem in reading and school achievement, but times have changed. • Girls have improved on almost all performance indicators, while boys have not. • So what does the research say? 35

36. U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Education Progress (NEAP) surveys 1998 – 2000 found 4th grade girls scored higher in reading than boys, with boys lagging 1.5 years behind girls (Sommors 2000). • United Kingdom – Dept. of Education and Employment (1999) national testing of 7, 11 and 14 year olds. 86% of girls reached level two or higher in reading, only 77% of boys did. Similar scores for writing. The gaps widened with increasing age. • Australia’s Dept. of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (1998) 66% of boys and 77% of girls met national benchmark for reading in year three at school with similar numbers in writing. • Cross-cultural study of 32 countries (including Canada, US and Great Britain – The International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement found that girls do better than boys in standard test of reading at age nine (Wagemaker1996). 36

37. More bad news for boys…. • Boys are two to three times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with a reading disability (Sullivan 2003,1). • Five out or six children and adolescents diagnosed with ADD and ADHD are boys according to the American Psychiatric Association (1994). • 85% of special education students in US are boys (Phillips 1994). • 59% of boys are more likely to fail a grade than girls (Kleinfield 1999). 37

38. What’s Going on with Boys and Reading? • The Essentialist Approach • - Boys are just different – nature and genetics. • - Boys favor reading for information rather than for • communication and cooperation. • The Construction of Literacy as Feminized • - Boys are taught to think reading is for sissies. • - Almost all early childhood educators are female; the same • is true for elementary reading and writing teachers. • - Problem exacerbated by the lack of boy-friendly books. • The Rejection of Schoolish Forms of Literacy. • - Separation from immediate uses and functions. • “Reading don’t fix no Chevys.” • (Smith & Wilhelm 2002) 38

39. What can libraries do? • Find out what boys like to read. • Book lists; surveying boys in your community • Build collections with interest to boys, including information books and • non-book media such as magazines, graphic novels, music and video • recordings. • Libraries are well positioned to address boys’ interest in nonfiction. • Information books are less frequently published in paperback editions • and less frequently stocked by bookstores. • Include male images on publicity and promotion materials. • Plan programs that will attract boys as well as girls. • Encourage fathers to help their sons choose library materials to borrow. • Hire male children’s librarians. This will help boys identify reading as a • masculine as well as a feminine activity. 39

40. Recommended Websites • http://www.guysread.com • Jon Scieszka • http://www.geocities.com/talestoldtall • Michael Sullivan 40

41. The public library is the ONLY local government-funded, educational, and social service freely available to children from birth through adolescence. 41

42. Chapter 3 • Young adults and reading 42

43. 3.1 what we know about young adults and reading • The “Reading Problem” • Recent surveys by various groups all seem to say YA reading levels are on the decline. • “[S]tudents make the grade in math, writing; reading skills a concern” (Canadian Press Newswire 2002). • The “reading problem” myth makes 4 basic assumptions: • Young adults don’t read • Young adults don’t like to read • Young adults prefer TV, computers, and music to reading • Real reading means reading a certain kind of books 43

44. Proving the myth wrong • The popularity of magazines as reading material has proven in multiple studies not limited to the United States • Manga reading is huge in Japan, but downplayed by the readers because they believe it is too “easy” to be considered actual reading. • In reality Manga can be very complex with multiple kinds of script, variance in presentation and layout, symbolic image systems, and diversity of point of view. • Popular genres, such as series novels, horror, and romance, are often considered trivial. • In 2002, around 36 million books were purchased for 14-17 year-old age group. 44

45. Young Adults do read • A Statistics Canada survey revealed that more than 71% of Canadians between the ages of 15 and 19 read books regularly. • Almost 27% read at least one book a week • YA Library Services Association of the ALA and SmartGirl.org Teen Read Week surveys show that both male and female young people do read and say they would read more if they had more time. • In the 2002 survey, 30% said that they read to stave off boredom • 2001 National Education Association poll on reading habits results: • 56% read more than 10 books a year • 41% read more than 15 books a year • 42% read for fun 45

46. Why teens read • In a study, adolescent (ages 13-17) women were asked what reading for pleasure means: • Magazines were read less for escape and more for content that dealt with the realities they were currently facing. • Romance genre was read so that the women could live vicariously through the heroines. • The research predominantly shows that teens read as a leisure activity—for fun and for pleasure. • However, most educational surveys try to relate the questions back to school reading, and so make no mention of reading materials such as comics or magazines. • The notion of reading for pleasure is rarely fully explored in a study. • When researchers focus less on education and more on the actual interests of young people, the studies show: • Young adults read regularly, they like to read for pleasure, they like to read both books and magazines, and reading relates to other leisure activities of young adults. 46

47. How reading relates to other activities • Reading is usually set up in an antagonistic relationship against other leisure activities • “Reading versus TV,” “Reading versus computer games,” etc. • In a study performed by Pauline Heather, she discovered that just over one-third of participants read books that related to their interests • “Young people interested in air training, army cadets, or war-gaming, read war books (Ross 106).” • Although many teens prefer movies to books, this does not make them non-readers • Many YA readers chose to watch movies of the books they read and vice versa, in order to create a more complete experience for the film and text. 47

48. 3.2 young adults and fiction reading • Historical ideas on YA fiction reading • A 1931 Canadian study performed by Lewis Terman and Margaret Lima surveyed children, aged 6-16, showed that boys had a preference for adventure stories and girls liked domestic dramas • The authors warned of the perils of “worthless” reading and reminded educators to foster good reading habits as a way to fight against “objectionable reading”. • Forty years later the case was made by George Norvell that book selections should be made by popularity. • He thought any sort of reading should be promoted, however, because there was little research done on what sort of materials YA’s liked, he was unsure where to begin. • Decades of research shows that teens of all genders enjoy reading mysteries, thrillers, humorous stories, fantasies, adventures, and various popular series. • Gender differences: boys avoid romances, a genre that appeals to many girls, and choose instead books that have suspenseful-action driven plot 48

49. Young adults and the library • A 1998, a survey of 10 U.S. urban libraries showed that teens feel: • Libraries are not cool; they are used by dorks and nerds • Libraries need to provide better books and materials • Teens need welcoming spaces, not morgues • Library hours of service are not convenient to teens • Libraries need to get rid of restrictive rules and fees • (Ross 112) 49

50. 3.3 reading and Identity • Reading as an ally • Synthesis of reading studies: • Allows young people to envision and create potential futures • Means gathering and organizing information about the wider world, how it works, and how one fits in it • Enables young people to mediate competing claims for truth in their lives • Is an escape from the pressures of daily life • Transforms lives • “Researchers, librarians, teachers, social workers and parents…agree that reading is an ally in the construction of both personal and social identities at a crucial time in a young person’s life” (Ross 114). • Reading helps all people understand who they are and what their place is in the world. • Reading allows young people to “try on” other identities. 50