Competency C
C. recognize and describe cultural and economic diversity in the clientele of libraries or information organizations;
Explication:
Libraries, especially public libraries are used by a broad variety of clientele. I will address public libraries, academic libraries, and school libraries.
Services by the Demographics of Age:
Public libraries can assist the older population by offering a quiet and comfortable place to read periodicals, computer tutorials on how to set up email accounts and other similar computer tasks of interest to seniors. They can provide a good selection of large type books, audio books and DVDs targeted to a more mature audience. For example, the library I volunteer with has a number of PBS DVDs such as Pride and Prejudice, British mysteries, and classic movies such as Zane Grey’s westerns.
People of the age to be searching for or testing for jobs will appreciate computer and photocopy services they can use for writing resumes and printing out job leads. A reference section should contain books on preparing for tests such nursing and civil service tests as well as books on financial planning, job descriptions, and interviewing techniques. High and college students also need test preparation books for the SATs, GMATs, and GREs.
Teens sometimes like to have a place to do homework or read anime. Some libraries offer workshops to appear to teens such as drawing anime or cartoon characters, henna or jewelry making. Some libraries also have a teen council to help with information on what appeals to teens and encourage teens to submit book reviews to appear on the library website. Libraries can also provide lists of books in certain genres or market books on their websites through reviews and then showing books such as, “If you liked the Twilight series, you might like…” Teens also enjoy DVDs and music CDs, although I think most teens just download their own music onto private devices. My teens reserve books ahead of time and then collect them from the reserve books section.
Children more often seem to browse the fiction sections. A good children’s librarian can offer suggestions of books they might enjoy. I often have parents with their children approach me on where to find various non-fiction sections for school projects, e.g. books on pioneer days or on alligators.
Small children need shelves that are not overstuffed at their own height so that they can easily pull out books without damaging them. Our library provides one book case of just board books. We have a children’s area for DVDs and video tapes as well as a section for audio tapes or CDs that accompany popular books such as Madeleine. We have a big round table with little chairs and some stuffed animals and simple puzzles to entertain kids. I would like to see some sofas or bean bag chairs so parents and children could cuddle up for a good read together. We also have an area for transitional books for children who are beginning to read for themselves.
Berkeley Public Library gets a number of homeless and low income patrons due to its location downtown. They monitor the restrooms to discourage patrons bathing in them or using illicit substances. The librarians sometimes have to deal with clients with mental issues who may be bothering other clients with loud or otherwise objectionable behavior. Libraries also have to provide friendly access to disabled people. It is necessary to have ramps where there are stairs, aisles wide enough for a wheelchair or scooter, braille signs, elevators if there are multiple floors, and again some of the resources already mentioned for seniors such as audio books and large typeface.
Demographics of Cultural Heritage:
Cultural roots seem to dictate the types of books people sometimes enjoy. I have noticed that the Spanish language collection at the library where I volunteer seems to have mostly cookbooks and books about the family and relationships in the non-fiction section. The fiction section has literature such as books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In the periodicals section, we have People magazine in Spanish.
By contrast, the Chinese and Japanese sections seem to have more books on art, traditional stories of heroes and fairy tales, and history. Many books use Japanese and Chinese characters and have fairly plain covers so it is more difficult to know what they cover.
We also have language tapes for English, French, German and Spanish. We have some movies (DVD and VHS) in French, Spanish, and Hindi (Bollywood mostly). We offer a free weekly class in the evening once a week for non-native English language learners to converse.
Differences in Economic Demographics
Due to technological changes in how information is delivered, there are shifts in how many people check out books vs. download books to their Kindle or buy them in a new or used bookstore. When I visit the public library as a middle class academic, I usually pick up fictional books I have reserved. I also browse the DVDs and audio books, as I like to have an audio book to listen to on the way to and from work. I will also browse the new fiction section. I sometimes check out non-fiction books but only perhaps 10% of the time. The library markets various themes of books in a section near the circulation desk. I have seen themes of vegetarian cooking, travel books, and crafts such as knitting or gardening. I very rarely have time to sit down in the reading area and browse a magazine or two. With the economic downturn, I no longer subscribe to magazines or a movie service such as Blockbuster. I view my movies On Demand on Comcast or browse for DVDs at the library. I have downloaded some e-books onto my Kindle but it seems somewhat cumbersome and I don’t like that there is a date by which you need to have read the book or it becomes inaccessible to me.
I would guess that the very wealthy probably don’t go to libraries. They can buy their own books or download them. They may act as financial patrons to libraries as Carnegie before them. The majority of people I see in the library seem to be middle class, white collar. I don’t see many blue collar types, even sitting in the reading area looking at Popular Mechanics, Home Handyman or similar.
I do see some homeless people. They come to use computers to pick up email, surf the internet, and look for job leads. Some sleep in the study area. Some bring in projects and spread them out on a table. I wrote a paper on homeless children and how libraries could better serve them for a class.
Academic libraries are primarily used by students, staff and faculty of a college or university. They may also be used by visiting researchers. Academic libraries are used predominantly for research. It is important to have reference staff with specialized knowledge about the collections in that particular library. It is useful to have premade guides to finding various kinds of information commonly sought in that library, such a guide to searching periodicals or history collections. Professors may need assistance to put a list of books on hold for a class or to find illustrations for a book they are writing. Some professors like to make “readers” for their classes. It would be a good idea to have flyers available on copyright issues and how to format citations for faculty and students. Interlibrary loan services are important to researchers. There should be a convenient interlibrary loan service desk.
Increasingly students carry laptops so there should be arrangements for additional electrical outlets for charging devices. There should be computers available for student use and photocopying services. At least the main campus library should be open for extended hours as students keep irregular hours.
Academic libraries should continue to subscribe to a variety of periodicals and have full text on the internet as a preferred way of accessing articles.
School libraries serve the diverse population of the schools where they are located. When I have interned at schools, I do not see a difference in who is using the library. I see many ethnic groups and economic levels. More white students seem to come in at lunch to work in the computer lab. More students of color seem to come in before their first class to use the computers, especially to print a paper. Perhaps some of them do not have access to a computer at home.
Artifacts
My first artifact is a short paper and discussion post written for my class Materials for Children Ages 5 – 8, LIBR 263, entitled, “Vygotsky and Let’s Discuss Race” (review of races and two moms). It reviews two children’s picture books, Let’s Discuss Race and Heather has Two Mommies. Both books confront the diversity of our American culture. Let’s Discuss Racetalks about how people are more similar than different. Then I discuss Vygotsky and his idea that social interaction is key to cognitive development. Vygotsky states: “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice. First on a social level, then internalized by the child.”
Heather has Two Mommies was a very controversial book when it was published and even before it was published. In fact, the author sent it to fifty publishers about twenty years ago and every single one rejected it. I feel it is an important book in terms of community diversity. Piaget felt that smaller children thought and processed information differently from older children. Preschool children are in the Pre-operational Stage. In the book the pre-school teacher presents a series of age appropriate activities for the children as they explore various family structures.
This discussion post points up the diversity of our communities and how children should be exposed to the issues of diversity, including race, in an age appropriate manner. This also demonstrates sensitivity to varied demographics in terms of clients using libraries.
My second artifact is a book talk for Stealing Home (stealing home book talk). I wrote it for my Tween Literature class, LIBR 264. It is written for an audience of children between 9 and 11 years old, written in their vernacular. It starts with a question about how you feel if other people go into your own room. It continues to talk about a boy who has to move from his mother’s down to his grandfather’s home in Florida. There is some intergenerational conflict and some coming to terms with each other and the grandfather’s friends. It is recommended as a book about how to deal with difficult changes when you are a tween. It demonstrates my competency in working with tweens. I was a middle school teacher at one point so I am used to dealing with this age group (plus I have a 12 and 16 year old of my own).
My third artifact is a research paper I wrote for LIBR 200 on Information and Society, titled “Can the Library be an Effective Resource to Support the Learning of Homeless Children? Focusing on Contra Costa county and Alameda County Libraries” (Levenson_homeless_in_the_library). It is about how public libraries can better support homeless children. I became interested in this topic when I was working for the US Census Bureau on the 2010 enumeration. I was chosen to enumerate homeless encampments in the middle of the night, soup kitchens and shelters in Richmond, California. In addition, we hired homeless people to assist in the project and I was able to have some very interesting conversations with several people without permanent housing, including a woman with an elementary school aged daughter. This paper looks at the homeless demographic from an unusual angle, that of the homeless child trying to learn despite the barriers to success. It shows that library staff needs to be empathetic when working with all kinds of clients.
The task of the librarian is to provide a welcoming, comfortable, and informative space for everyone. A librarian should be able to communicate easily with all kinds of people and to know what different groups of people may be looking for in terms of library services.
review of races and two moms
childrens literature, book review
review of races and two moms
stealing home book talk
Book talk on a tween book about an African American boy going to live with his grandfather in Florida. Coming of age and intergenerational conflict book.
stealing home book talk
Levenson_Homeless_in_the_Library
LIBR200, research paper on supporting homeless children in their studies at the public library.
Levenson_Homeless_in_the_Library
Explication:
Libraries, especially public libraries are used by a broad variety of clientele. I will address public libraries, academic libraries, and school libraries.
Services by the Demographics of Age:
Public libraries can assist the older population by offering a quiet and comfortable place to read periodicals, computer tutorials on how to set up email accounts and other similar computer tasks of interest to seniors. They can provide a good selection of large type books, audio books and DVDs targeted to a more mature audience. For example, the library I volunteer with has a number of PBS DVDs such as Pride and Prejudice, British mysteries, and classic movies such as Zane Grey’s westerns.
People of the age to be searching for or testing for jobs will appreciate computer and photocopy services they can use for writing resumes and printing out job leads. A reference section should contain books on preparing for tests such nursing and civil service tests as well as books on financial planning, job descriptions, and interviewing techniques. High and college students also need test preparation books for the SATs, GMATs, and GREs.
Teens sometimes like to have a place to do homework or read anime. Some libraries offer workshops to appear to teens such as drawing anime or cartoon characters, henna or jewelry making. Some libraries also have a teen council to help with information on what appeals to teens and encourage teens to submit book reviews to appear on the library website. Libraries can also provide lists of books in certain genres or market books on their websites through reviews and then showing books such as, “If you liked the Twilight series, you might like…” Teens also enjoy DVDs and music CDs, although I think most teens just download their own music onto private devices. My teens reserve books ahead of time and then collect them from the reserve books section.
Children more often seem to browse the fiction sections. A good children’s librarian can offer suggestions of books they might enjoy. I often have parents with their children approach me on where to find various non-fiction sections for school projects, e.g. books on pioneer days or on alligators.
Small children need shelves that are not overstuffed at their own height so that they can easily pull out books without damaging them. Our library provides one book case of just board books. We have a children’s area for DVDs and video tapes as well as a section for audio tapes or CDs that accompany popular books such as Madeleine. We have a big round table with little chairs and some stuffed animals and simple puzzles to entertain kids. I would like to see some sofas or bean bag chairs so parents and children could cuddle up for a good read together. We also have an area for transitional books for children who are beginning to read for themselves.
Berkeley Public Library gets a number of homeless and low income patrons due to its location downtown. They monitor the restrooms to discourage patrons bathing in them or using illicit substances. The librarians sometimes have to deal with clients with mental issues who may be bothering other clients with loud or otherwise objectionable behavior. Libraries also have to provide friendly access to disabled people. It is necessary to have ramps where there are stairs, aisles wide enough for a wheelchair or scooter, braille signs, elevators if there are multiple floors, and again some of the resources already mentioned for seniors such as audio books and large typeface.
Demographics of Cultural Heritage:
Cultural roots seem to dictate the types of books people sometimes enjoy. I have noticed that the Spanish language collection at the library where I volunteer seems to have mostly cookbooks and books about the family and relationships in the non-fiction section. The fiction section has literature such as books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In the periodicals section, we have People magazine in Spanish.
By contrast, the Chinese and Japanese sections seem to have more books on art, traditional stories of heroes and fairy tales, and history. Many books use Japanese and Chinese characters and have fairly plain covers so it is more difficult to know what they cover.
We also have language tapes for English, French, German and Spanish. We have some movies (DVD and VHS) in French, Spanish, and Hindi (Bollywood mostly). We offer a free weekly class in the evening once a week for non-native English language learners to converse.
Differences in Economic Demographics
Due to technological changes in how information is delivered, there are shifts in how many people check out books vs. download books to their Kindle or buy them in a new or used bookstore. When I visit the public library as a middle class academic, I usually pick up fictional books I have reserved. I also browse the DVDs and audio books, as I like to have an audio book to listen to on the way to and from work. I will also browse the new fiction section. I sometimes check out non-fiction books but only perhaps 10% of the time. The library markets various themes of books in a section near the circulation desk. I have seen themes of vegetarian cooking, travel books, and crafts such as knitting or gardening. I very rarely have time to sit down in the reading area and browse a magazine or two. With the economic downturn, I no longer subscribe to magazines or a movie service such as Blockbuster. I view my movies On Demand on Comcast or browse for DVDs at the library. I have downloaded some e-books onto my Kindle but it seems somewhat cumbersome and I don’t like that there is a date by which you need to have read the book or it becomes inaccessible to me.
I would guess that the very wealthy probably don’t go to libraries. They can buy their own books or download them. They may act as financial patrons to libraries as Carnegie before them. The majority of people I see in the library seem to be middle class, white collar. I don’t see many blue collar types, even sitting in the reading area looking at Popular Mechanics, Home Handyman or similar.
I do see some homeless people. They come to use computers to pick up email, surf the internet, and look for job leads. Some sleep in the study area. Some bring in projects and spread them out on a table. I wrote a paper on homeless children and how libraries could better serve them for a class.
Academic libraries are primarily used by students, staff and faculty of a college or university. They may also be used by visiting researchers. Academic libraries are used predominantly for research. It is important to have reference staff with specialized knowledge about the collections in that particular library. It is useful to have premade guides to finding various kinds of information commonly sought in that library, such a guide to searching periodicals or history collections. Professors may need assistance to put a list of books on hold for a class or to find illustrations for a book they are writing. Some professors like to make “readers” for their classes. It would be a good idea to have flyers available on copyright issues and how to format citations for faculty and students. Interlibrary loan services are important to researchers. There should be a convenient interlibrary loan service desk.
Increasingly students carry laptops so there should be arrangements for additional electrical outlets for charging devices. There should be computers available for student use and photocopying services. At least the main campus library should be open for extended hours as students keep irregular hours.
Academic libraries should continue to subscribe to a variety of periodicals and have full text on the internet as a preferred way of accessing articles.
School libraries serve the diverse population of the schools where they are located. When I have interned at schools, I do not see a difference in who is using the library. I see many ethnic groups and economic levels. More white students seem to come in at lunch to work in the computer lab. More students of color seem to come in before their first class to use the computers, especially to print a paper. Perhaps some of them do not have access to a computer at home.
Artifacts
My first artifact is a short paper and discussion post written for my class Materials for Children Ages 5 – 8, LIBR 263, entitled, “Vygotsky and Let’s Discuss Race” (review of races and two moms). It reviews two children’s picture books, Let’s Discuss Race and Heather has Two Mommies. Both books confront the diversity of our American culture. Let’s Discuss Racetalks about how people are more similar than different. Then I discuss Vygotsky and his idea that social interaction is key to cognitive development. Vygotsky states: “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice. First on a social level, then internalized by the child.”
Heather has Two Mommies was a very controversial book when it was published and even before it was published. In fact, the author sent it to fifty publishers about twenty years ago and every single one rejected it. I feel it is an important book in terms of community diversity. Piaget felt that smaller children thought and processed information differently from older children. Preschool children are in the Pre-operational Stage. In the book the pre-school teacher presents a series of age appropriate activities for the children as they explore various family structures.
This discussion post points up the diversity of our communities and how children should be exposed to the issues of diversity, including race, in an age appropriate manner. This also demonstrates sensitivity to varied demographics in terms of clients using libraries.
My second artifact is a book talk for Stealing Home (stealing home book talk). I wrote it for my Tween Literature class, LIBR 264. It is written for an audience of children between 9 and 11 years old, written in their vernacular. It starts with a question about how you feel if other people go into your own room. It continues to talk about a boy who has to move from his mother’s down to his grandfather’s home in Florida. There is some intergenerational conflict and some coming to terms with each other and the grandfather’s friends. It is recommended as a book about how to deal with difficult changes when you are a tween. It demonstrates my competency in working with tweens. I was a middle school teacher at one point so I am used to dealing with this age group (plus I have a 12 and 16 year old of my own).
My third artifact is a research paper I wrote for LIBR 200 on Information and Society, titled “Can the Library be an Effective Resource to Support the Learning of Homeless Children? Focusing on Contra Costa county and Alameda County Libraries” (Levenson_homeless_in_the_library). It is about how public libraries can better support homeless children. I became interested in this topic when I was working for the US Census Bureau on the 2010 enumeration. I was chosen to enumerate homeless encampments in the middle of the night, soup kitchens and shelters in Richmond, California. In addition, we hired homeless people to assist in the project and I was able to have some very interesting conversations with several people without permanent housing, including a woman with an elementary school aged daughter. This paper looks at the homeless demographic from an unusual angle, that of the homeless child trying to learn despite the barriers to success. It shows that library staff needs to be empathetic when working with all kinds of clients.
The task of the librarian is to provide a welcoming, comfortable, and informative space for everyone. A librarian should be able to communicate easily with all kinds of people and to know what different groups of people may be looking for in terms of library services.
review of races and two moms
childrens literature, book review
review of races and two moms
stealing home book talk
Book talk on a tween book about an African American boy going to live with his grandfather in Florida. Coming of age and intergenerational conflict book.
stealing home book talk
Levenson_Homeless_in_the_Library
LIBR200, research paper on supporting homeless children in their studies at the public library.
Levenson_Homeless_in_the_Library
