Library reference work with children

In my readings this week concerning children and their information needs, some considerations that especially stood out for me were the need for preliteracy or bibliographic instruction, the importance of approaching each child as an individual, and the fact that a third-party adult is often part of the reference equation — either through being physically present, as in the case of a parent/caregiver, or having imposed the child’s query e.g. through a school assignment.

Bullying, a cultural ‘norm’ that I hope to eliminate

As I’ve previously mentioned, I am taking a child development course, and this week, the class has been discussing the influence of culture on children.

Asked what value or cultural practice that we would like to eliminate, my answer is that I’d like to eliminate bullying in all spheres of society.

Love of libraries, a value that I hope to pass on

In our class discussion of “culture,” we were asked this week, what aspects of our culture do we want to keep alive by passing on to the next generation? My answer is that, through my work in a school library, I hope to instill a love of reading in the young people I serve. I hope to create library “repeat customers,” and encourage students’ lifelong learning through support and use of libraries. This directly hearkens back to the benefits I’ve gained from libraries, and what I consider the “advantage” of being raised by a person who considered it important that I be given access to the library.

Child development class at Santa Rosa Junior College

The Association for Library Service to Children identifies a Commitment to Client Group among its Librarian “Core Competencies.” To better serve my young customers, I’ve enrolled for this Spring in a child development course at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Children’s books for resistance to climate of empowered bigotry

The current U.S. President, with his expressions of prejudice, uniquely empowers people to engage in bigoted behavior openly — and the worst and longest-lasting legacy of the “Bully-in-Chief” may be lessons in how-to-hate that adults are passing on to children. At Bustle, contributor Aisha Saeed recommends six picture books she is reading to her children to help them navigate current events.
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Trump’s speech to Boy Scouts ‘toxic beyond rhetoric’

Bullying takes on especially-high priority with a U.S. President in office who’s been dubbed “Bully in Chief.” One recent incident concerns interjection of “political rhetoric” by U.S. President Donald Trump into a speech that he delivered during Boy Scouts of America’s 20th National Jamboree. An invitation to the current president to visit has been a long-standing Jamboree tradition according to “ScoutingWire.”
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Bullying: Young age comes as no surprise

My ‘No Bully’ mugshot

In a piece for the Wall Street Journal (summarized by A Mighty Girl), Laura Barbour observes that children as young as 2 1/2 engage in relational aggression.

That is, they deliberately shun or withhold friendship in order to punish another child.

This revelation came as zero-surprise to me, as I was a school-wide outcast. I remember my first day of kindergarten at Calistoga Elementary; I felt completely awkward and alone, like an absolute alien — a visitor marooned on an unfamiliar planet with no guidelines to relate to its inhabitants.

This feeling of separation continued through my time at Calistoga Junior-Senior High. If friendship was offered to me, I had difficulty recognizing it; I have too-vivid memories of playground taunts, of being shoved in hallways, and of being told by one classmate that she would only be my friend in-secret, when no one else was around.

I could only react with suspicion when classmates showed interest in me — for example, inviting me to talk about a subject I cared about. I was convinced they were only doing it, so they could laugh about it behind my back.

With its summary of Laura Barbour’s article, A Mighty Girl recommends several excellent books about bullying; some (by Tracy Ludwig) were already familiar to me, but I look forward to reading some of the others through my crusade to speak out against bullying.

Why isn’t bullying an ‘Adverse Childhood Experience’?

As featured by PBS’ Next Avenue: a survey of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) finds that effects of childhood trauma can persist into 50s and beyond.

As a survivor of bullying, I can corroborate that the effect lasts well into adulthood. But ACES focuses exclusively upon trauma committed against children by adults. Systemic ostracism and bullying by a child’s peers can also be devastating, but the questionnaire makes no mention of it.

Bullying and ‘zero tolerance’

Cartoon image created with Bitstrips

A keyword search on the phrase “zero tolerance,” performed July 22, 2016, returned 14 usages in reference to bullying among writings on my blog.

Children’s books ‘hard to come by’ in high-poverty areas

An examination of access to children's books in six urban neighborhoods has determined, in the words of Susan B. Neuman, that “Children’s books are hard to come by in high-poverty neighborhoods.”

‘Commitment’ shouldn’t obligate children to stay in abusive friendships

A 2014 article by writer Amy Joyce for The Washington Post showed up this week in my Facebook feed. In it, Harvard psychologist Richard Weissbourd and his colleagues with the “Making Caring Common Project” offer five strategies to raise moral and caring children.

Imagination Library arrives in Lake County

I realized an ambition for my community on Friday, with the announcement that a partnership between the Lake County Office of Education, the Lake County Literacy Task Force and Sutter Lakeside Hospital had brought Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Lake County.

According to the joint press release, the first 100 babies born at the Sutter Lakeside Family Birth Center will receive a scholarship for a one-year enrollment in Imagination Library.

I learned about Imagination Library last year, reading an article in the Ukiah Daily Journal: that since April 2009, First Five Mendocino had distributed more than 50,000 books free of charge to children ages 0 to 5 through its role as fiscal champion for Imagination Library.

Parton launched Imagination Library in 1996, to benefit children in her home county in East Tennessee.

According to www.imaginationlibrary.com/, Parton’s vision was “to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month. By mailing high quality, age-appropriate books directly to their homes, she wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.”

According to the website, Imagination Library became so popular that in 2000, Parton announced that she would make the program available for replication to any community that was willing to partner with her to support it locally.

“Since the initial program launch in the United States, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has gone from just a few dozen books to nearly 40,000,000 books mailed to children in the United States, into Canada and across the proverbial pond into the United Kingdom.”

Reading the article about Imagination Library, I thought it would be wonderful to duplicate in Lake County: for Lake County to take its place among more than 1,600 communities that provide books to more than 70,000 children each month.

I wanted Lake County children to grow up in homes where books were familiar and accessible. I believed that was the reason why I avidly read today.

As it turned out, my view was shared by people who could actually make it reality. It was with gratitude on Friday that I received a press release announcing the program's arrival.

Now that it is here, I would like to see this program flourish and continue -- beyond those 100 babies, beyond enrollment for one year. I would like Lake County children to continue receiving books each month until they are 5. 

Lake County residents can support Imagination Library by sending a donation of $25, Attention: Imagination Library, to the Lake County Office of Education care of the Literacy Task Force, 1152 S. Main St., Lakeport CA 95453.

For more information, contact Stephanie Wayment at 707-262-4163 or swayment@lakecoe.org. For more information about Information Library, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com/.