Librarians have always discussed methods of developing children's interest in reading, but they have focused more on the books being read than on the act of reading. Although many touted the need to "establish the reading habit," a closer reading of the literature reveals that this referred specifically to reading "good books," those which socialized children into culturally acceptable sex roles. As early as 1876, articles warned of the dangers of sensational fiction for both girls and boys. By the 1940s, comic books had replaced sensational fiction as a potential "corrupting influence." Only in the late 1950s did public librarians begin to address the new problem of a reluctance to read at all among children in general and among boys in particular. This paper will examine the effect of gender role expectations on librarians' efforts to promote reading to children in the twentieth century. In particular it will explore the questions of whether these strategies continue to be designed to promote reading literature that reinforces society's gender role expectations and of whether they are designed to promote reading to both boys and girls equally, or whether one group is privileged at the expense of the other.
Research into education for librarianship has failed to explore the historical development of the subject or to establish the social and cultural contexts within which it developed. Such historical background and context are essential for exploring and understanding issues of race and of systemic and institutionalized racism. Historical methodology, coupled with the revisionist history of Critical Race Theory, asks how the social/institutional structures of white society determined the construction of librarianship and education for librarianship in the African-American community, explores issues of whiteness and white privilege, and investigates how this influenced African Americans’ perception of the profession and their place and role in it. It addresses intersectionality and essentialism and seeks to understand the thoughts and feelings of the African Americans involved in the process who were disregarded and ignored.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.