Library = Literacy
Saturday, March 15th, 2008Literacy is about reading…right?
Libraries overflow with things to read, on paper and on-screen. What is ‘not to get’ about school libraries and literacy?
Perhaps we are blindsided in the scramble to attain higher reading comprehension scores while avoiding the fallout of the” information explosion”. Or we are distracted by the sound of grinding axes anxious to cash in on the definition - just add the word literacy to the following terms: functional; cultural; multicultural; information; media; visual; computer; mathematical; scientific; new media; digital; technology; and global. We feel the pressure to provide Band-Aid solutions; send in the literacy troops, buy more laptops.
Is the library - literacy connection too obvious?
It is hard to separate the process of reading from the reading material itself.
But simply put…Kids + books = literacy.
Now, kids can be led to books, and they can decide to watch hockey instead. Let loose in the most beautifully-designed library with comfy chairs and volumes of age-appropriate, enticing reading material - they can still choose to zone out. There is no shortcut to literacy. We learn to read by reading. Non-readers become readers by reading beginner books, which enables them to read books just a bit harder, which allows them to grasp more sophisticated writing and concepts.
We need inspired teachers and teacher-librarians to lead us on the path to literacy, but books are perhaps the more subtle, and throughout our lives, the more powerful teachers. Without knowing it, we, as readers, absorb not only the phrases and vocabulary, but also the thoughts, images, values and visions of the writer. To a literate person, the library is a world of collective wisdom, a map to everywhere. No wonder it is the cornerstone of our schools, society, and institutions.
Further reading
A Call to Action: What We Know About Adolescent Literacy and Ways to Support Teachers in Meeting Students’ Needs; A Position/Action Statement from NCTE’s Commission on Reading
May 2004
http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/read/118622.htm
Judith Comfort
Teacher-librarian
Dr. Charles Best Secondary School Library, Coquitlam