NEWS
Holocaust title is info book of year
A BOOK telling the stories of Holocaust survivors has been chosen as the School Library Association (SLA) Information Book of the Year.
Survivors of the Holocaust by Kath Shackleton, Zane Whittingham and Ryan Jones picked up the judges award. Mind Your Head by Juno Dawson, with advice from Dr Olivia Hewitt and illustrated by Gemma Correll, won the Children’s Choice award
The SLA has teamed with Hachette Children’s Group for its new award for Outstanding Contribution to information Books. The award looks at a whole body of work, rather than a single title – and it went to Nicola Davies.
Local archive film
project praised THE Scottish Libraries and Information Council (Slic) has been given a special men- tion at this year’s Film Society Awards. Slic launched its Film Education in Libraries strand last year, backed by £190,000 of National Lottery funding. The project has brought film clubs to libraries in rural, remote and inner city settings, allowing more people to experi- ence archive footage from the areas they live in.
The scheme was shortlisted in two cat- egories, winning a special mention in the Film Society’s Community Award.
School service faces closure
DERBYSHIRE County Council has issued a proposal to close its School Library Service (SLS).
Just under 200 schools used the service last year – around 35 per cent of those eligible. The council says that as more schools become academies fewer are signing up for the service, meaning less funding.
A cabinet decision will be followed up by a six-week consultation when all schools will be invited to share their views.
6 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Numbers rising for reading challenge
THIS year’s Summer Reading Chal- lenge saw an increase in numbers taking part.
A total of 761,758 children from across the UK took part in the scheme – up by 6,550 from 2016. More girls took part than boys, with a 56 per cent to 44 per cent split. Almost a quarter of all partic- ipants took part online and there were 27,206 pre-schoolers who took part. Every year children are encouraged to read regularly during their summer holidays through the project. The aim is to ensure young people do not slip back- wards in their reading levels due to a lack of activity over the long summer holidays. Those taking part are encouraged to read six books – of any type – borrowed from the library during the summer hol- idays. The challenge, run by the Reading Agency, has been running since 1999 and millions of children have participated over the years. Reading Agency CEO Sue Wilkins said: “We are delighted by the results
of the Summer Reading Challenge this year. It is great to know that so many families made the most of their library over the holidays and we are full of admiration for the work done by librar- ians and Reading Hack volunteers to keep children reading every summer. “Reading for pleasure is a more important determinant of children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status which is why we work with our public library partners to open up reading to everyone.” Neil McInnes, President of the Society
of Chief Librarians, which helps to administer the project said: “Reading helps children to make sense of their world and to open up entirely new ones. That’s why I am so pleased to see that an extra 6,550 children took part in this year’s challenge.” The Beano has been signed up for next year’s Summer Reading Agency as part of celebrations to mark the comic’s 80th anniversary.
Minister urged to give school libraries support
MORE than 150 famous and influential names have backed CILIP’s Immediate Past President Dawn Finch’s call for better school library provision. Dawn,
a school librarian herself,
has sent a letter to Education Minis- ter Justine Greening calling for her to intervene. The letter has been signed by authors Sara MacIntyre, Rob Biddulph and Malorie Blackman; poet Roger McGough; illustrator and former Chil- dren’s Laureate Chris Riddell; as well as publishers, booksellers and politicians. It calls for Ms Greening’s “urgent intervention to halt the decline of library provision and the numbers of qualified librarians in state-funded schools and colleges in England.”
The letter points out that England is cur-
rently ranked lowest of all 23 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Dev elopment (OECD) countries for teen- age literacy. Although new phonics-led teaching has placed England in the global top ten for primary-aged readers. Reductions in school librarians also threaten other literacies, such as digital and information, with Dawn adding: “Unless action is taken urgently to address these historically low levels of literacy, there is no way that HM Govern- ment can achieve the stated objective of delivering a future-ready ‘advanced skills’ economy. Before they can read to learn, children and young people must first learn to read,
to research and successfully
to navigate today’s information-rich world.”
December-January 2017/18
NEWS
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