The Role of Libraries in Enhancing Literary Reading

Libraries vs the Reading Comprehension

Traditional literacy refers to the ability of a person to read, write and comprehend written and spoken material. It also involves the ability to express one's self in the same manner. In social contexts, literacy refers to a level of communicative skills that is adequate to function well in society and make meaningful contribution to it. Literacy involves the ability to understand written and spoken materials and relate them to various contexts that allows them to respond accordingly and make informed choices based on the information given them (UNESCO). Basic literacy is taught in school but it is a continuous process that evolves and grows more complex and sophisticated as a person grows. The basic skills of reading, writing, and vocabulary is taught inside the classroom, but enhanced or amplified by real life experiences. Literacy is only valuable if it allows the individual to navigate properly in society and use the knowledge made possible by literacy for self-determination and lifelong learning.

At the heart of literacy is the ability to comprehend information and use it in ways that are meaningful to the individual on a personal level. It also involves the deliberate use of information that enhances the daily lives of a people. Therefore it might be said that literacy cannot exist in a vacuum; it always entails imagination and interaction with the information that people are constantly presented with on daily basis. Reading and the literacy involved in the process follows a cycle of sustained determination and discovery of meaning (Du). It is the ability to make value judgments and critical decisions based on the information that is made available to us. Naturally, the more information people are exposed to, the more they are able to weigh things properly because they are able to see and consider multiple perspectives. As such, reading is fundamental to literacy because literacy is the ability to make information meaningful and useful. In light of modern technology and on demand access to information, this paper seeks to understand the relevance of libraries in improving reading literacy in a generation that seems to be reading less and less.

THE DECLINE OF LITERARY READING

Reading is one, if not the most important driver of literacy. It involves the translation or coding of written words into meaningful sets of information that individuals can decode and make some appropriate answers for. Most of our need for literacy is defined by the world in which we live in and the requirements it sets to live in an acceptable and productive manner. The problem is that while we expect students to be more literate in this day and age, advances in technology have distracted a generation away from reading to surfing the net. Because of the speed with which information is displayed via computers and mobile devices, young people nowadays have less attention span and focus which is key to developing reading sensibilities. The promising news is that young people remain interested in reading even as they keep collections of both digital and print media (Du).

The overload of information platforms have resulted in less people pursuing literary reading on a regular and persistent basis. The signs are everywhere, newspapers are closing their businesses if not changing their model to digital formats due to decreasing readership and circulation, and just recently, Amazon confirmed that they are selling more digital books than they are of actual print, which indicates an integral shift in how we consume reading materials. Of course technology alone is not to blame, the decline has been happening many years before. In fact a study made by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002 show that literary reading has been in in slow steady decline for more than 20 years since the publication was released.

THE ROLE OF THE LIBRARY IN ENHANCING LITERARY READING

How then can libraries help reinvigorate the love for reading? Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist proposed learning and literacy as a function of social needs, an idea that continues to frame most modern researches on learning and behaviour. For example, in the development of reading skills, learners are constantly making sense of the inputs that they get from the material in way that is meaningful to them (Moll, L). Similarly, Bandura's social learning theory argues that learning, and by extension, behaviour is driven by the individual's need to be accepted and acknowledged within his or her immediate social environment and that includes children of very young age. Through the need to socialize and constant practice of skills, patterns are created which in turn give rise to meaning. This meaning allows lifelong learners to be more conscious of their learning strategies and use them appropriately until it becomes automatic.

Vygotsky and Bandura focused on the connections and interactions between people and the context where shared experiences are allowed to take place. Tools, mostly language, are the main venue for this interaction. Vygotsky furthers that learning takes because the child's need to communicate and interact with the people around them. Similar to Piaget's ideas, Vygotsky also promotes a learning environment that engages maximum participation from the learners. Both of them believe that learners construct knowledge through intention and action; thus the education process becomes collaborative, where both teachers and students participate in reciprocal learning.

Given these fundamental facts, libraries can create programs that make reading a more social experience. Stories from literary classics are rich materials to jumpstart such programs. Aside from book reading sessions and panel discussions, libraries can actively engage the public by leveraging popular books such as Harry Potter and making actual comparisons of characters to other literature. Giant posters that prompt discussion and interest in other books are good tactics that can be taken. In fact there are many ways to execute these kinds of programs, but the underlying idea is to understand the nature of people and how to generate their interest and motivate them to read more - that is by connecting books and stories and characters to the more popular materials and creating social activities around them. Classic stories can be made relevant to the modern generation because there is universality in their emotions that every person can relate to. Holding contests and regular book road shows or book marks for the month will also generate interest to these titles. Libraries should redefine itself as not just a repository of books but as gatekeepers to a world of people and places and experiences that lie await for people ready to take on the adventure.

PROGRAMMING

Part of being educators as librarians are, is finding alternative means of engagement programs despite the constraints like budget and time. Librarians must be able to work around the limitations of the system and the realities of a modern world. In order to do this, libraries must become responsive to the needs of a generation of learners whose attentions are constantly being pulled every which way. Libraries should first be aware of their technological proficiency. Since they are integrating technology to make reading interesting, they should be able to effectively apply technology in the presentation of stories and teach students with necessary skills and knowledge such as in multimedia or hypermedia design. They should be competent in both the technical and the instructional domains such as good understanding of specific software operations, models for implementation strategies and even trouble-shooting. Professional development is also an important aspect of effective technology integration. We should have opportunities to examine instructional goals and make sure that reading is always an integral part of every educational activity.

LITERATURE

Libraries should be book agnostic, meaning they should also have stocks of popular books along with the classics. Often, these popular titles would open doors for discovering a love for reading, a love which once felt, can no longer be undone. It only takes one book for a person to become a lifelong reader and libraries should encourage more varieties in materials, in the same way that Amazon creates suggestions based on book choices.

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

The collection department plays a crucial role in championing the cause of reading. Instead of merely accepting books for returns, they should take on the role of curators, asking how readers liked the book and make suggestions based on those answers.

Conclusion

Libraries should take advantage of the latest in information technology in order to best engage the community and encourage readers within an atmosphere of fun and interesting activities. Libraries must take on an everyday journey of questioning, reviewing and analyzing the kind of reading environment that they set for their public. People have a universal affinity for stories, and as long as such affinity holds, libraries will always remain relevant. That being said, such institutions should never be complacent nor create an impression of academic snobs. It should not take much of an effort to libraries interesting and relevant to the times and in the process revive the art of literary reading.

References

Celano, D & Neuman, S.. The Role of Public Libraries in Children's Literacy Development. Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Du, Y.. Librarians' responses to "reading at risk": A Delphi study. Library & Information Science Research 31, 46-53. College of Information, Library Science, and Technologies, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA: custompapers.com.

Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. Research Division Report #46. National Endowment for the Arts.

Moll, L 1990, Vygotsky and Education: Instructional Implications and Applications, Cambridge University Press.

United Educational Scientific and Cultural Education. UNESCO.. Information and communication technologies in teacher education: A planning guide. Texas: Paul Resta.