Blogs are written for a variety of reasons. Some are personal diaries; others impart information and opinion perhaps on politics, goods or services; others are a reflection on life and still others to elicit a discussion.
eMarketer reports that in 2008 there are now 25.2 million bloggers in the U.S. and 104.7 million readers. This is over 50% of internet users. Reading blogs is something I thought just the younger generations did, but surveys indicate that most readers are older than 30, are educated professionals and have good incomes, but 80% of readers are male. That last piece of information may provide insight into my concern here at FCPL.
Evidence is that many more people read blogs than comment. Some reasons given for not commenting are shyness, the fear that the comment is not worth the effort of posting, that others may have already conveyed the same response or that the response will not be anonymous.
I have hoped to engage the library community in discussion on a variety of issues and products related to our work and our future. It would be great to hear from you.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
Summer Reading Programs
According to ALA, summer reading programs began as far back as the 1890s. Children who continue reading through the summer become better readers by increasing reading comprehension and vocabulary and hopefully learn to love reading; those children who do not read during the summer may lose reading skills. In Summer Learning and the Effects of Schooling, Barbara Heyns states that the number of books read during the summer is consistently related to academic gains.
Libraries across the country offer summer reading programs. What those programs seem to have in common is the reading log, which children fill in as they read the required number of books. Some children take the progress of their reading very seriously, others simply fill in the log with books they have recently read in order to collect their “prize.” Engaging the finishers with discussions about their favorite titles or the genre they have chosen is what we try to do, but staff are often too busy to spend quality time with each child.
I would like to see a more progressive program that offers intermediate prizes along the way say after the first 5 books, then at 10 etc., and encourages readers to keep reading throughout the summer for some grander prize. Alternatively it would be great to find ways for readers to share with others the books they have particularly enjoyed, in writing or in an online forum or best of all in small groups. The New York Statewide Summer Reading Program offers readers the opportunity to nominate their favorite book for the 3 Apples Book Award. A ballot of 15 of the most popular titles is chosen and those who have read at least 3 from that list may vote.
In a time of budget constraints this is probably not the best time to make more work, but I do like the idea of engaging children further in thinking and sharing what they liked about the books they read. When our program does a land office business, I suppose there is no need to fix what isn’t broken.
What do you think?
Libraries across the country offer summer reading programs. What those programs seem to have in common is the reading log, which children fill in as they read the required number of books. Some children take the progress of their reading very seriously, others simply fill in the log with books they have recently read in order to collect their “prize.” Engaging the finishers with discussions about their favorite titles or the genre they have chosen is what we try to do, but staff are often too busy to spend quality time with each child.
I would like to see a more progressive program that offers intermediate prizes along the way say after the first 5 books, then at 10 etc., and encourages readers to keep reading throughout the summer for some grander prize. Alternatively it would be great to find ways for readers to share with others the books they have particularly enjoyed, in writing or in an online forum or best of all in small groups. The New York Statewide Summer Reading Program offers readers the opportunity to nominate their favorite book for the 3 Apples Book Award. A ballot of 15 of the most popular titles is chosen and those who have read at least 3 from that list may vote.
In a time of budget constraints this is probably not the best time to make more work, but I do like the idea of engaging children further in thinking and sharing what they liked about the books they read. When our program does a land office business, I suppose there is no need to fix what isn’t broken.
What do you think?
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