Sunday, September 9, 2007

Putting the Right Book in the Hands of Each Student

I have been surveying students about their favorite books, authors and book characters and this information has raised some questions for me. I have also asked students what they want to see purchased or changed in the library.

1. Why is it that younger students favorite books are about TV shows and movies or movies stars? Is it because they are not aware of other books? Are the books I want students to be reading more of to hard for them to read?

2. How do you move students into reading more "literature"? Are author studies one way of introducing students to other kinds of books?

3. Does our library collection contain the kind of books that older students want to read? How do we include the kinds of books they want to read in a library which is used by younger students? Should I create a young adult section for older students and if I do, am I censoring what younger students read?

I certainly want to support students reading regardless if they are reading books that are not my favorites. In fact I am looking forward to learning about authors and books I don't know. This week I hope to start putting out containers of books by series. Geronimo Stilton is a favorite character and author. I also need to make sure we have the complete sets of these series and let students know when new books have been published and have arrived in the library. This will help met the requests of students in what they want changed in the library.

I need to explore the books which older students are reading. Deltora Quest looks like an interesting series.

1 comment:

Donna DesRoches said...

Amy,

I really like the idea of immediately putting in their hands the books that students themselves have requested. It is one way of ensuring that they have some ownership in the library - they can begin to feel that it is theirs.