Image from the World Literacy Council

It once was simple in the days before apps and the Internet. When all information came by way of books, magazines, and newspapers. Literacy was easy to define. It meant you were able to read and understand printed matter.  Functional literacy was said to be the ability to read on the fourth grade level. Basic literacy as defined by the U.S. Department of Education 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy is using “print and written material to function in society and achieve one’s goals and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.”

However, most often today when someone refers to literacy, you need to know which type of literacy they mean.  Information literacy?  Digital literacy?  Transliteracy?  Visual Literacy? And there are more out there.  The bottom line is that all these types of literacy are important, but it’s important to recognize that all these literacies –even visual literacy to some extent—rely on being able to read and comprehend text.

As school librarians we are responsible for guiding our students to develop fluency in all literacies, but we can’t forget the basics.  We still must provide the print rich environment leading to a love of reading and learning. All else follows from that.

On June 13, 2013, ALA Council passed a resolution reaffirming ALA’s commitment to basic literacy, noting that the ALA Policy Manual “recognizes Literacy as a core service and responsibility of all libraries.” All types of libraries are charged with “making literacy a high priority in planning and budgeting.”  In schools where administrators are pushing for book-less libraries (when they are not replacing them with computers for taking PARCC and other high stakes tests), standing up for literacy in its most basic definition is not simple.

It’s not that ALA and AASL don’t recognize we are living in a digital age.  These organizations are also working at helping librarians improve their own mastery of multiple literacies to be able to share that with teachers and students. (Several years ago AASL held it biennial Fall Forum on Transliteracy.) What they realize, as noted earlier, these skills rest on basic literacy.

How can you support basic literacy in a culture focused on technology?  Do what many of the top school librarians in the country are doing.  Create programs using a variety of digital resources to coincide with and connect to reading.  An example of the simplest level is having students write online reviews of books. You can have a book club with another school or have pairs of students in different schools read the same book and have an online discussion which they then share with others.  You don’t have to come up with these yourself. Librarians on Twitter and TL Chat on Google+ are sharing what they are doing.  Respond to them with any questions. They’ll be glad to help—and get your students reading for the fun of it.

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Librarians talk of informational literacy and digital literacy.  Educators and parents are concerned about financial literacy.  With the emphasis on STEM, there is increased reference to numeric or quantitative literacy.

Another important concerns is Transliteracy. It’s defined as “the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.”  (www.transliteracy.com). In an age of multiple devices and means of connecting with people and sharing information it is certainly a critical skill.

Those dealing with adults also discuss legal literacy and health literacy.  If you have ever tried reading a legal document or dealt with health care policies, the importance of these literacies cannot be denied.  Even college graduates find themselves unable to comprehend all the subtleties of how language is used in those areas.

I recognize the importance of all these literacies and support all that is being done to improve the ability of student and adults to master them.  However, as a member of ALA Committee on Literacy, I am ever mindful of what was once said at a committee meeting, “The house of literacy has many rooms, but the entrance is through text literacy.”

So we return to where we were in the mid-20^th century.  First and foremost, we need to be able to read text.   And the rate of adult illiteracy is shocking.

In the U.S., 14% of adults over 16 read at or below the 5^th grade level, and 29% read at the 8^th grade level. The implications are huge.  Among those with the lowest literacy rate, 49% live below the poverty level. A substantial portion of our prison population is composed of illiterates or low literates. (ProLiteracy)

Although school librarians are highly trained to teach the other literacies mentioned, they also are committed to creating lifelong learners and readers by instilling a love of reading.  The first Common Belief of the AASL Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner is Reading is a window to the world.  It then explains, “Reading is a foundational skill for learning, personal growth, and enjoyment.”

Students are taught to read in class.  For some, the skill is difficult and they are turned off.  This is the route to illiteracy and low literacy.  In the school library, surrounded by books at all levels, guided by a school librarian, adept at connecting a student with just the right book, students discover that reading can be fun.  We need more, not fewer school librarians.  The wealth of our nation depends on it.

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As an ASCD member, I get their monthly Education Update.  The lead in the July edition is called “When the Screen Goes Blank: Helping Students See What They Read.”  Research done by Jeffrey Wilhelm of Boise State University shows that poor readers see only the words in their heads.  They don’t form pictures which limits their understanding of text.  As librarians we know that reading is so much more than decoding.  It’s about making meaning (comprehension) and often reading is a means of making connection with the subject matter.  You can’t connect and certainly you can’t get new ideas if all you are seeing are words.

What is interesting about this study is one big cause of students’ inability to visualize what they are reading is they had little or no contact with picture books.  Sad and obviously damaging.  And it is one more reason why students desperately need to have elementary librarians in their schools.  I have noticed non-librarians tend to read picture books to kids differently.  Many of them read a page, then flash the picture.  They may ask a question or two about it, but there is a small disconnect.  When I was an elementary (and a children’s) librarian, I held the book with the spine in my palm, angling it so I could read the text while keeping the pictures in constant view. I practiced and became smooth at passing the book to my other hand without a break in the story to be able to read the facing page.  At all times students were focused on the pictures, not on me.

As a high school librarian, I can remember having fun with a purpose by reading picture books to my much more sophisticated students to set the tone for a unit.  Patricia Polacco’s Pink and Sayserved as a prelude to a study of Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage.  They needed both emotional and visual connections to that time period to aid in their comprehension of the story.

Kathy Barclay of the Rowland Reading Foundation says students need to read with all five senses, identifying what they smell and feel in addition to what they see. In writing my YA fantasy, Woven through Time, I found pictures to help me focus better on what I was envisioning in my brain.  I realize I was also smelling salt water when they neared the sea and the woodsy scent when my characters were in the forest. To fully “get” the story, students must become a part of it.

What techniques can you suggest to students (and teachers) to help poor readers at all levels learn to visualize what is happening on the printed page?

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True, books have been evolving since the codex replaced the scroll which was an improvement over clay and wax tablets.  These developments however all moved at a rather slow pace.  Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press around 1440 was a huge leap forward and through the years, modifications were made to speed the process.

Everything changed with advent of computers.  The technology not only improved the printing process, it also made possible more creative fonts and typesetting.  E-readers took longer than the market first thought it would, but Amazon’s Kindle proved to be the game changer people were looking for.  Now libraries have both print and e-books in their collections, but the content is still recognizable as a book.

Informational nonfiction books are appearing with links to websites promoting interactivity, and several fiction titles ask readers to enter into the story by going to a website.  (I am thinking primarily of Brandon Mull’s Wild Born the first in a major multi-author series[Scholastic, 2013, 202 p. 978-0-545-52243-4] which I just reviewed for the February/March 2014 issue of School Librarian’s Workshop.)  In both these situations the book is still the basic format, but this might be changing.

Recent developments are suggesting a new landscape-altering evolution is on the way.  I have been hearing of books that began as video games and now it seems that a video game is functioning as a book http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/this-video-game-could-revolutionize-publishing-and-reading/281765.  Whether or not Device 6 takes off, it seems to me this new mash-up is a prelude to what is coming.  I cannot begin to envision how the book will evolve in the next few years, but I am convinced what will always matter is the power of story—no matter the media or platform.

What do you think?

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Judith Krug and Judy Blume.

The late Judith Krug of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (http://www/ala.org/oif) is credited with beginning this annual event held during the last week in September.  This year it runs from September 22-28.  While all of us believe in open access to information, it can become a scary concept to defend, particularly in some locations.

If you are not tenured, defending a challenged book can cost your job. Those with tenure risk ostracism, anger, reassignment, and possible retaliation to the library program.  Standing up to censors takes an inordinate amount of courage.  Even with support, the librarian (and I know one) frequently feels alone.  Yet, each year public and school librarians rise to meet those who would impose their personal opinions and moral beliefs on others.  Some of these heroes are honored at the state and national level with an Intellectual Freedom Award, but first they dealt with the stress and fear.

I commend them all and hope you find inspiration from them should the time come when you are faced with such a situation.  For your own protection, do whatever you can to have a Selection Policy (approved by the Board of Education or it’s not policy) in place including procedures for dealing with challenges—and make sure administrators are aware of it.  The Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has sample policies on its website. Do know, help is available from OIF.  Contact them as soon as you are informed of a challenge and staff will guide you through it.

The titles of challenged books often make the best reading list.  Books Challenged or Banned 2012-2013 (http://www.ila.org/BannedBooks/BBW_2012-2013_Shortlist.pdf) include the classic short story by Richard Connell “The Most Dangerous Game,” Walter Dean Myers Fallen Angels, and the frequently challenged/banned And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.  You can find lists at the Banned Books sites on the most challenged over the years and lists from past years.

I hope you’ve planned something for the week and can raise awareness in your school. Find “Ideas & Resources” to mark the week at http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources  and visit the Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read site at http://www.bannedbooksweek.org.

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