Informational Picture Books in the Library: Do Young Children Find Them?

Abstract

Ten public libraries were surveyed to evaluate access for young children, aged 4 1/2 to 6 years, to age appropriate informational picture books. Location of books, types of shelving, and displays were noted for both fiction and informational books, and unobtrusive observations of young children browsing were conducted in three of the libraries. The findings confirmed children's preference for books in eye level face front shelving in high traffic areas especially near the children's area seating; most children did not explore far from parents. Visits by children to hardcover fiction, paperback fiction, and paperback informational picture books, were balanced. However, hardcover informational picture books were missed due to less accessible locations, oversize shelving, and fewer displays. The role of accompanying parents in finding materials was pivotal. Improving access for young children to a wide variety of books in their public libraries supports both recreational and educational needs, and needs to be considered in library layout.

Use of Touch Devices by Toddlers or Preschoolers: Observations and Findings from a Single-Case Study

“…Most of the observation was unstructured, though periods of structured observation were carried out on specific days to note: (1) the participant's behavior/interaction when using the iPad, and (2) the sequence of steps when performing different tasks on the iPad. Unstructured observation allows observing an activity without a limited predetermined list of behaviors (Larkin-Lieffers, 2002;Zweizig, Johnson, Robbins, & Besant, 1996) or assumptions or expectations.…”

“…While researchers have looked at children as library users (e.g., Cooper, 2002;Larkin-Lieffers, 2002;Todd, 2003), others have examined the everyday life information behavior of young people. Abbas and Agosto (2013), for example, conclude that while we might view young people as digital natives, they face the same issues that children always have faced, but with access to more information sources.…”

Finding Informational Books for Beginning Readers: An Ecological Study of a Median-Household-Income Neighbourhood / À la recherche de littérature non romanesque à l’usage des lecteurs débutants : Étude écologique d’un quartier composé de ménages à revenu médian

“…A preliminary study of books offered for retail purchase in two chain bookstores, two independent bookstores, and three mass merchandise stores (Larkin-Lieffers 2007) showed that the large majority of books in all children's age groups were stories, and the selection of informational books for beginning readers was poor. A study of children's areas in public libraries (Larkin-Lieffers 2001) demonstrated that while the libraries carried good selections of both stories and informational books, the Dewey non-fiction book shelving was often located away from the young children's tables and chairs and sometimes in the adult non-fiction areas. This arrangement restricted young children's access because of their limited navigational skills and parents' preference for staying in the children's area.…”

“…The youth services librarian commented that in her experience parents chose stories for their beginning readers most of the time. For the children, the open box shelving of the storybooks and their location near the comfortable furniture, toys, and computers encouraged browsing, while the Dewey-catalogued non-fiction was located several shelves away and out of visual sight lines for supervising parents (Larkin-Lieffers 2001). The Dewey shelving bookends also held the books tight and made browsing more laborious.…”

Images of childhood and the implied reader in young children's information books

“…The information book genre has often been overlooked in favour of children's fiction (e.g. Duke, 2000;Larkin-Lieffers, 2001, 2007Pappas, 1991Pappas, , 1993; however, it has recently been recognised for its appeal to children's information interests and for its usefulness in the development of literacy and research skills (e.g. Duke and Kays, 1998;Palmer and Stewart, 2005;Pappas, 1991).…”