NEWS
Social training
CILIP’S UK electronic information Group (UKeiG) is holding a half-day training event to help improve social media use for libraries and other cultural organisations. The training session will look beyond Twitter/X and identify the best tools to for marketing, communication and online dialogue. Delegates will be taken through the alternatives, highlighting strengths and weaknesses in different platforms, with training on how to build social networks and manage social media accounts. Session is from 10am to 1pm on 19
January with discounts available for CILIP Employer Partner staff and CILIP mem- bers. Register at
https://tinyurl.com/yhk9u7c5.
Information literacy report
MILA, the Media and Information Literacy Alliance, has published a report into how information literacy impacts society. The report is the culmination of a project – funded by CILIP and CILIP’s Information Literacy Group – to review available research into information literacy and how it affects society. The report notes a number of key findings and includes a call for Information Literacy training and education to be deliv- ered through a collaborative approach. It also points to missed opportunities where
IL skills are lacking and could affect outcomes, particularly around health delivery. To read the full report visit the MILA website at
https://mila.org.uk/information-literacy-and-society.
Professional Registration 2024
ANYONE considering Professional Registra- tion with CILIP in 2024 can get a better idea of what to expect with a webinar on how to get started.
The half-day session is being run by CILIP North West and hosted by regional Profes- sional Registration Support Officers Victoria Treadway and Gil Young, providing insights into the benefits for Professional Registra- tion; an overview of professional registration CILIP’s Professional Knowledge and Skills Base.
It takes place from 9.30am to 12.30pm on 18 January 2024. Book a place at https://tinyurl. com/3n6zwvbh.
Farrah Serroukh. 8 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL
Positive change in children’s publishing
THE latest Reflecting Realities report from the Centre for Literacy in Pri- mary Education (CLPE) has painted a mixed picture of representation in children’s books. Looking at almost 1,000 titles from 2022, the report (
https://tinyurl.com/hrs248xp) found that overall representation of racially minoritised characters in fiction, non-fiction and picture books stood at an all-time high of 30 per cent. However, the study also found a drop in representation in picture books and non-fiction for the first time in the report’s six-year history. When the first Reflecting Realities report was published in 2018 (looking at books published in 2017), the cor- responding overall figure was just four per cent, demonstrating how far things have changed in the past six years. Farrah Serroukh, Executive Research and Development Director CLPE, said: “We welcome the increase in overall
output and were pleased to encounter more variation in the breadth of realities reflected in the literature we reviewed. We encourage publishers and creatives to build on the traction of recent years and continue to strive towards improv- ing the volume and quality of titles that meaningfully reflect realities available to young readers.”
The latest report shows that there has
been a significant increase in the repre- sentation of main characters in fiction books, up from just one per cent to 14 per cent across books published in 2022. Drops in minoritised representation came in non-fiction – down from 41 per cent in 2021 to 30 per cent in 2022, and in picture books where it fell from 61 per cent to 52 per cent year on year. And while the reports notes the drop in coverage, it also points out that it is not just about quantity, saying: “What we think is more noteworthy is that there were fewer exceptional picturebooks in this review cycle that embodied the aims of this work. The presence was apparent but often felt generic and lacking in substance. “Through this research we are keen to add to the wider long-standing body of work in this area by identifying and promoting the defining features of what constitutes quality representation within and across each of the text types we review. “Reflecting realities in picturebooks means the cultivation of well-drawn, sensitively rendered multi-dimensional characters with agency, who are identifi- able, relatable, nuanced, varied and are central to the narrative.” In spring of 2019, just a few months
after the first Reflecting Realities report was released, CILIP launched its own magazine, Pen&inc., aimed at promot- ing diversity and inclusion in children’s publishing. That is set to enter its sixth year of production, and provides a valu- able tool for booksellers, schools and libraries looking to make their children’s collections more representative. To subscribe to Pen&inc. visit
www.cilip.
org.uk/penandinc.
December 2023
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