ESTABLISHING THE FOUNDATION OF LITERACY FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN: THE ROLE OF THE YOUNG PEOPLES SERVICES LIBRARIAN.

   Research has proved that children who are introduced to books in their
   preschool years have a considerable advantage over those who are not.
   Consequently there is an increased awareness of the value and lasting
   impact of early literature experiences for children and the importance of
   the parental role in providing these experiences. Introducing literature to
   children and parents should be a primary role of the young peoples services
   librarian. By doing so public libraries are investing in their own future.
   Edited version of a paper given at the Alia national public libraries
   conference Perth WA 14-17 November 1999

   Hey Diddle Diddle The cat and the fiddle The cow jumped over the moon The
   little dog laughed to see such fun And the dish ran away with the spoon

Nonsense? Perhaps, but nursery rhymes are an essential part of our childhood. Dorothy Butler, mother, grandmother, teacher and long established icon in matters of books and reading for children says of nursery-rhymes

   If children are to love poetry later, they need to discover early the
   peculiar satisfaction which comes from experiencing form in language. This
   is not something that can ever be taught; how can a sensation be taught?
   But it will be there, in their repertoire of response, if it has been
   kindled in babyhood ... Patterns are being laid down here; patterns into
   which every sort of later literacy and musical experience will fit.[l]

All parents want their children to learn to read and write for this is the foundation of success in life. For most parents it is seen to be the job of the school and the teacher to make this happen. However there are many experiences in a child's preschool years that will lead towards reading and provide the basis upon which formal instruction at school can be built. Educationalists generally recognise that children learn more in their first five years than they will learn at any other time in their lives. A recent study by South Australian, Victorian and Western Australian academics, reported in The West Australian newspaper[2] found that children as young as three are learning to read and write. Preschoolers of three and four years of age are developing literacy skills. This is two years earlier than previously recognised. Children who are read to from an early age learn new sounds, increase their vocabularies, stretch their imagination and understanding of concepts more than other children and find learning to read by themselves easier. Mem Fox is Australia's most successful author of books for young children as well as being a former professor of literacy studies at Flinders University in Adelaide. She has this to say about reading for children

   It is so important because literary language has a large vocabulary. Kids
   don't pick it up as well from reading it silently as they do from hearing
   it. I think an enormous amount of teaching can be done, without teaching,
   through reading aloud. Reading aloud is the most important tool in literacy
   education.[3]

Studies, such as that outlined by Myers,[4] have shown that reading and library use are key factors in a child's intellectual development. Children who read are more likely to be successful at school and in later life and getting an early start by having stories read or told to them is vital in this process. Spreadbury states that

   ... my study of 25 Brisbane families in 1993 showed that the amount and
   kind of parent-child talk about such aspects as the illustrations in the
   book, the story, characters and values correlated positively with the
   children's reading ability at school at 6, 8 and 10 years of age.[5]

Obviously a child's parents or other primary care givers are instrumental in how this learning takes place. Children who have varied and stimulating preschool experiences are more likely to fit easily and competently into life at school. Much has been written on providing the right kind of experiences for parents to give their children. However, many parents need encouragement and support in providing early learning experiences for their child.

The Western Australian experience

For many years public libraries in Western Australia have been particularly successful in delivering services such as storytime programs and resources for preschool children. This has developed to provide an increasing number of services to foster language development in young children. For many public libraries a weekly preschool storytime session is seen as a core activity. This will generally consist of a session of between 30 and 45 minutes where picture books are read to children, followed by a simple craft activity. Sessions are usually planned around a theme and offer children exposure to a wide range of quality books suitable for their age level. Songs, finger and action rhymes, story telling, felt board stories and puppets are used to enhance and vary the program. However, reading aloud is the focus of the session.

Some libraries take bookings for sessions, but most establish a group of children who come back every week as well as having some casual attendance. This informality encourages parents to join in at a level with which they feel comfortable. The main aim of these programs is to bring books of literary merit and artistic quality to children and to have them view books and reading as a pleasurable experience. This early contact with books fosters a positive attitude towards books, libraries and reading in preschool children. Attendance also enables children to socialise as well as develop concentration and listening skills and enrich and extend their vocabulary and imagination. Parents and care givers are encouraged to join in the session with their children and some librarians give handouts with ideas to encourage extending the program at home.

Some library programs

Libraries preparing community profiles and looking at the demographics of the population that they serve often find a need to increase services to preschool children. For example, the A H Bracks Library in the City of Melville is a newly built library in a recreation centre complex. The library services an area with a large population of young children. Two years ago, when the library was housed in an outdated and overcrowded building, the young peoples services librarian offered two storytime programs each week. Demand for this service has grown greatly and the young peoples services staff now offer three programs weekly, each catering for around 35 preschool age children. Casual staff, with specialist knowledge of library services to young people, are employed to meet this demand. Staff assert that they could fill as many as five sessions each week.

Many libraries now offer two or more storytime sessions each week, while others offer short or continuing programs for very young children. The Shire of Swan and the City of Stirling both regularly offer programs for babies aged twelve to eighteen months and for toddlers aged between two and three years old. These programs are used to stimulate interest in reading to babies and toddlers, encourage library membership and lead to regular participation at storytime sessions. Some libraries also offer seminars on books, literacy and reading for children. For many years the City of Stirling Libraries offered an annual program of lectures, to parents and other interested adults, on literacy and reading issues.

Central support

The Library and Information Service of WA is in the process of developing storytime kits to send to small country libraries to encourage library officers and volunteers to begin regular programs. These will include a wide selection of books, including those in a 'big book' format; props, such as puppets and felt boards; full thematic programs for sessions, including rhymes and craft ideas and instructions on how to start a regular program and run a session.

Wherever these programs have been introduced the community has enthusiastically embraced them. Nonetheless young peoples services librarians often have to repeatedly justify the need for staff and resources to run the sessions. When cuts are made to library services these are often the first to be targeted. Yet they are surely the most valuable we offer, for children and parents and for public libraries, for these services are establishing the readers and the library supporters of the future.

Public library services to children in Western Australia have developed to reflect the changes that have taken place and are continuing to take place in society, especially in families. The traditional nuclear family has changed. There is a rising number of divorced and nontraditional families. An increase in the number of working and single parents has created new and different configurations of families, and we are already seeing an increase in the number of grandparents and family day care providers bringing children to the library. Fewer children are being born per family, and increasingly children's days have hectic planned schedules. Formal education is beginning earlier. Twenty years ago, when I first began work in public libraries, the four and five year olds who attended my storytime sessions had not begun formal schooling. Today, the same storytime sessions are attended by two and three year olds in the year before they enter kindergarten. The challenge for public libraries is to provide services that are convenient and are seen as being of sufficient value to be worth the time that preschool children and their parents invest in them.

Outreach and family literacy programs

We need to continue to develop outreach and family literacy services, for surely public libraries and young peoples services librarians are amongst the best equipped and able to foster in children and parents the skills and ideas necessary to stimulate and provide an awareness and knowledge of books and reading. In an article on family literacy programs Heather Fisher writes

   All the assistance we give, in a thousand different ways, which link
   literature in all its formats with families, is a promotion of family
   literacy.[6]

Public librarians play an important role in providing an opportunity for as many children as possible, regardless of socioeconomic status, to achieve their full potential as readers. Public libraries provide parents and children with the opportunity to sample a wide variety of books and stories absolutely free. They can be leaders in promoting family literacy and outreach programs, recognising that a child's ability to read well begins at home. These programs are essential because, while we regularly hear the refrain about the lack of literacy skills among children, what is often overlooked is that it is not just children or young people who lack these skills but a high proportion of adults, that is, parents. If we recognise what research shows us, that literacy begins at home, then we need to start with all the mums and dads who may lack basic literacy skills. Some parents have very low self esteem, and they do not consider that they have much of importance to teach their children. It follows that if parents lack confidence in reading, and therefore do not read to their children, then literacy problems amongst these children will increase. The traditional preschool story program is tailored for a child to attend with a parent. For the many children, and often these are in the group of greatest need, whose parents are not readers themselves, nor library users, and for some children in full time child care, there is often little exposure to stories, rhymes, books, literature--all the things that research tells us lead to reading, writing and literacy. For most of us books and reading to children are things that conjure up cosy images. Reading aloud to children is a warm, loving activity, but for many parents books, reading and libraries are frightening and intimidating. Mem Fox sums this up when she says 'Some parents think of reading with children as a bitter pill, but it's not, it's a piece of chocolate'.[7] While young peoples services librarians are not equipped to teach literacy skills they have the expertise to help parents lead their young children to books and reading.

Outreach

Outreach activities are essential if we are to encourage children, and their parents who are not library users, into the library. Storytime sessions in different venues such as shopping centres, swimming pools and parks may not be perfect for the librarian as a story reader, but programs such as these will reach adults and children who would never enter a library. For many years the City of Stirling Libraries presented Storytime at the Beach to coincide with Education Department's vacation swimming classes held at beaches within their boundaries. Later they changed this to a shopping centre promotion called Hooked on Books. Visits to day care centres, preschools, kindergartens and play groups are usually welcomed by the centre's staff, and the children often become the intermediary between their parents and the library thus enabling the link with adult members of the household. If you take promotional material and membership information with you then identify resultant new library memberships, it will help to justify future programs and will encourage the staff involved. Karrinyup Public Library has for many years run a very successful outreach program to the day care centres in its catchment area. Many library services, including the Shire of Kalamunda and the City of Stirling, have successfully held family literacy programs to encourage adults as well as children to become lifelong library users.

Surveys, such as that documented in Navigating the economy of knowledge,[8] continue to show that a majority of adult library users are introduced to libraries as children. It follows, then, that by providing excellent children's services, public libraries are investing in their own future. We must put our collective talents and a reasonable level of our resources toward providing services to children so that we are guaranteed our library users and supporters of the future.

Literacy and technology

Most young people today are the products of a society on which multimedia has heavily impacted and children tend to be more visually oriented. For children today entertainment and relaxation often involves the use of some form of technology. While children need time for other sorts of recreation there are significant ways in which technology can benefit literacy. Quality television programs, and there are some excellent Australian examples, particularly for young children, both entertain and teach. There are many ways that computers and computer software can foster literacy. There are excellent cdroms available for very young children that can teach the sounds and letters of the alphabet. There is software that enables children to have a book read to them, they can predict what will happen and begin to write their own stories. Word processing and graphics software also leads children into writing and illustrating stories and this type of computer use has the additional benefits of teaching mouse skills, typing skills and general computer skills. Searching the internet can encourage lateral thinking, using email is excellent for developing grammar and sentence structure, games, encyclopedias and the myriad of factual software provide an avenue for the child to improve their knowledge and their literacy skills. But it is books that provide the early building blocks of literacy and numeracy.

Getting them young

If you talk to young adults who have used their local library as children they may tell you that libraries are boring and not relevant. However if you ask about their childhood experience it is usually positive and the more articulate amongst them will often argue passionately for the future of the public library. Take for example a young woman of 25 who recently rejoined Karrinyup Public Library. She had not used a public library since she was a child, yet she remembered coming to weekly storytime sessions at the library. She reminisced about how much she loved these programs and said that they had given her 'such a good feeling about libraries'. Sadly the reverse is also true. When asked this same question, teenagers who have not used the library as young children, and who have no experience of using a library, let alone a positive one, can see no reason why they would ever go into a public library.

We know that the earlier we can reach out to children the easier it will be to instil a life long love of literature, but for that group of adults who have already missed out on this, I believe we have one, perhaps two more chances to encourage them into the library. One when they become parents, and, if we miss this, when they become grandparents. Public libraries can reach out through family literacy programs in their many forms--both formal and informal.

One of the positive offshoots of the often highly charged literacy debate is that, increasingly, adults who are not readers themselves are aware of the importance of reading in their own children's lives. They are keen for their children to have opportunities that they did not have and are attracted by public library programs such as storytime sessions. Books telling parents how to teach their children to read have been commonplace for many years, but now we are seeing the educational literature advocating informal methods for adults to provide children with a model for literacy. This enables children to master the skills necessary to be literate. By reading aloud to children and talking to children about everyday activities, such as shopping and cooking, parents and care givers are acting as their child's first teacher and providing lessons of vital importance to their child's literacy. Educators now recognise that by reading to a child for sheer enjoyment you are, in fact, teaching the child a great deal about reading.

Public libraries can take advantage of this momentum with programs that target children at an early age.

The Birmingham Bookstart Project

One of the most notable outreach programs, developed for young children and their parents, is the Birmingham Bookstart Project. The pilot Bookstart Project began in 1992, the brainchild of Wendy Cooling who was then head of the Children's Book Foundation in Britain. Cooling cites her motivation as a meeting with Kevin, a member of a primary school class on their first day at school. The class teacher had just given the children books to keep them briefly occupied. Cooling noted

   It was obvious which children were used to books, and which weren't. I was
   quite shocked by one little boy--Kevin--who had arrived at school, clearly
   never having held a book before. He didn't know whether to bite it, sit on
   it or throw it. He obviously wasn't deprived in other ways, but was
   starting school with this huge disadvantage.[9]

Cooling teamed up with Professor Barrie Wade and Dr Maggie Moore at Birmingham University and, after securing initial funding from the Unwin Foundation Charitable Trust, embarked on a research project focusing on 300 families in the Birmingham area. Bookstart packs--containing a new picture book, a book list of recommended titles, an invitation to join the local library, and advice and information about sharing books with babies--were presented to parents and care givers taking their babies to infant health centres for their nine month health check. Dr Barrie Wade, Reader in Education at the University of Birmingham, says of the project 'As a society we place so much emphasis on feeding and bathing babies--there's a tendency to ignore their intellectual needs'.[10]

What makes this program so interesting and unique is that these families have been monitored against a control group over a period of five years, which takes the children up to the time when they start school.

Sanderson[11] notes that in the first report on the initial findings on the Project, Wade and the team at Birmingham University found that both parents and professionals had welcomed the project and that it had been responsible for an increased awareness of books, more reading to and sharing of books with very young children, more purchases of books and an increase in library membership. Not surprisingly, these early findings resulted in interest from librarians all over Britain and versions of the program were introduced in libraries in Sunderland, Sussex and Hertfordshire. Bookstart had become a national initiative.

In 1997 the first Bookstart babies reached school age. The researchers selected a random sample of children from the original group and compared them with a control sample using baseline assessments of children's achievements in six key areas. The results as reported by Wade[12] showed that the Bookstart group outperformed the comparison group across the board in both literacy and numeracy skills.

With educational research showing that children who start school with above average literacy skills go on to achieve higher academic success throughout their school careers and achievement in later life, it is clear that a program such as Bookstart has a significant positive ongoing effect on a child's life. Bookstart now has a national sponsor, Sainsburys, who will give the project 6 million [pounds sterling]. The project aims to give every nine month old baby in Great Britain a free book by the year 2000.

Feldman[13] outlines Reach Out and Read (Roar), a similar program run in the US. It has three main components: volunteers reading books with parents and children in doctor's waiting rooms, paediatricians offering guidance to parents on the benefits of reading to babies and children, and a free board book given to a child each time their parents bring them for a check up. A preliminary study has shown that parents who are given a book by their paediatrician are four times more likely to read aloud to their child. Amongst parents who receive welfare the results are even more encouraging with this group being eight times as likely to read aloud to their child.

National programs such as Bookstart and Reach Out And Read are certainly something to aspire to. However small, well thought out local programs can often achieve a great deal. We need to start with librarians, working in the field of young peoples services, having the time and expertise to initiate some of these programs and to investigate the funding and sponsorship options to ensure their success. Many young peoples services librarians have the expertise to run these programs but there needs to be a greater acknowledgment of the importance and the need for this type of program.

Certainly literacy has been a buzzword of the 1990s with both state and federal governments recognising the link between reading and success in schooling and, ultimately, success in life. Most professionals working with young children acknowledge that children who are regularly read to as babies and young children are many more times more likely to learn to read quickly and well and thus succeed at school. In the UK and the US the role that the public library can play in helping to achieve improved literacy is recognised. In Australia there have long been family literacy programs in place to assist in this role, but their importance is often not acknowledged and I could not find any references to Australian projects similar to Bookstart and Roar.

The future

Preschool children in Western Australia are certainly the best catered for of all the age groups in terms of public library programs. Programming for preschool children has been seen as an essential part of public library service to children for many years--'getting them young' is a prevailing philosophy. I would argue however, that we do not put enough time and effort into achieving this. The skills children develop early are the keys to a successful life and young peoples services librarians can play a major role in providing resources and programs to enable children to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to become life long learners.

Publishers and booksellers, ever vigilant in seeking out new markets, have, in the past few years, embraced books for babies. There has been a significant growth in the publication of titles available as board books, as parents increasingly come to believe the evidence that babies introduced to books early go on to become successful readers with extended vocabularies and good powers of concentration.

Western Australian public libraries have a long and proud history of providing excellent resources and services for young people. The time has come to look again at the range and type of programs we offer. All to often we become locked into providing a huge range of services to young people from 0 to 18 years of age, an enormous range. To justify services you often have to run programs that will attract large numbers of children to the library, regardless of the value of the program. Young peoples services librarians cannot be all things to all people. We must carefully consider and evaluate what we do and then lobby management for those services that can best achieve our objectives.

Most young peoples services librarians working in Western Australia take on an enormous range of duties. It is difficult to attract and keep librarians in this field. There is little formal training in the delivery of library services for young people, and mentoring comes from other librarians working in the field. Often people entering the profession work in isolation. Despite these disadvantages the job is an incredibly rewarding one and one in which many librarians prove that, against all the odds, you can achieve great things. As Heather Fisher said in her 1998 Nancy Booker Lecture

   I feel optimistic about the children's library service. I think we are very
   privileged to work in such a needed, vibrant, exciting, rewarding area that
   offers scope and opportunity for all our imagination, energy, creativity
   and independence, and I cannot imagine why people don't kill for my
   job![14]

Services for young people in public libraries form the foundation for all our library services. The young child that we introduce to libraries and literature may one day be deciding whether a public library or indeed any library is necessary. By providing an excellent library service to children we are ensuring our library users and supporters of the future.

Research has proven beyond doubt that children who are introduced to books in their preschool years have a considerable advantage over those who have not. Consequently there is an increased awareness of the value and lasting impact of early literature experiences for children and the importance of the parent's role in providing these experiences. Introducing literature to children and parents should become a primary role of the young peoples services librarian. Our first responsibility should be to young children not served by other libraries. Public libraries should develop programs and services that invite people with young children to use the library. Here, then, lies the importance of outreach services. At the end of the second millennium we have access to the virtual library. We may well use that to reach young children and their parents not served by the traditional library. The young peoples services librarian is well placed to facilitate the use of this exciting concept by taking the library service outside the walls of the library building to reach the largest number of young children and their families and adapt programs to better serve a diverse population.

References

[1] Butler, D Babies need books London, Penguin 1995

[2] Push preschoolers to read, say researchers West Australian February 1999 p36

[3] Campbell, J A love affair with reading and writing Classroom 3 1998 p24-25

[4] Myers, J Preview of a future vision Library Association record 97(4) 1995 p212-215

[5] Spreadbury, J Read me a story: parents, teachers and children as partners in literacy learning Marrickville NSW, Choice Books 1999

[6] Fisher, H Family literacy: the hidden need Australasian public libraries and information services 11 (2) 1999 p72-81

[7] Campbell op cit 

[8] Mercer, C Navigating the economy of knowledge: a national survey of users and non-users of state and public libraries: final report Brisbane, Institute for Cultural Policy Studies, Griffith University 1995

[9] Sanderson, C The Bookstart story The bookseller 21 May ? p20-22

[l0] Scott, A Bookstart ... in Sunderland Public library journal 10(6) 1995 p149-152

[11] Sanderson op cit

[12] Wade, B An early start with books: literacy and mathematical evidence from a longitudinal study Educational review 50(2) 1998 p135-146

[13] Feldman, S Take two board books, and call me in the morning School library journal June 1999 p31-33

[14] Fisher, H The 1998 Nancy Booker Lecture: Orana 35(1) 1999 p5-18

Sue North Consultant Young Peoples Services Library and Information Service of Western Australia Received February 2000

Sue North is currently spending twelve months as the Consultant Young Peoples Services for the Library and Information Service of Western Australia. Her previous work experience includes time spent in public and school libraries. Most recently, she has been employed by the Shire of Swan and the City of Stirling, working as a young peoples services librarian and a branch librarian. Sue has a long standing interest in and passion for all areas of public library service to young people. She is a past president of the Alia Children's and Youth Services Section (WA Group) and has served on the committee for the past six years. Address: Library and Information Service of Western Australia Alexander Library Building Perth Cultural Centre Perth Western Australia 6000 tel[phone] fax[phone] email [e-mail]