Aimez-vous le Basketball?: The Place of Children's Literature in British Children's Libraries
Ray Lonsdale
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Issue 23 Spring 1997 Aimez-vous le Basketball?: The Place of Children's Literature in British Children's Libraries Ray Lonsdale |
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Background to the project
There was no doubting their impatience and frustration, it was evident from their body language and from the long audible sighs. Finally, the elder of my two teenage daughters threw the textbook down and exploded, "this is so utterly boring!". "What's the problem", I dared to ask, expecting the ubiquitous retort "nothing!". But this time both offsprings ventured a little insight into their dilemma. They were working on their respective homework, French and German reading and translation and were finding the texts dull. Nothing startling about that I thought, but what was surprising was what happened next. They both went away and came back clutching reading materials. "Why can't we have something more exciting to read like this?" they exclaimed, tossing over a handful French and German language magazines and graphic novels they had brought back from their school visits. I must say the mags looked pretty inviting _ full of brief colourful items about youth culture and the graphic novels were equally arresting. This was followed by a deep discussion (five minutes) about what my offsprings and their friends felt they would like to read, and how having access to more exciting fiction and non-fiction, whatever the medium, would be a spur to learning a foreign language (something which they had encountered when learning Welsh).
That incident, which occurred about two years ago set me thinking about the availability of European language materials to support children's reading interests and needs. There followed a period when I discussed the issue with school librarians and colleagues in the YLG and public libraries. Their response suggested that there was considerable ignorance about what monolingual or translated materials were available, and little was known about the provision of this literature within public libraries. Such anecdotal impressions were confirmed when I explored the professional literature on the subject.
Whilst a great deal of attention has been paid over the past two decades to the provision of multicultural materials for young people by British public libraries, the principal concern has been with the promotion of Asian languages, especially those of the Indian sub-continent 1. The literature suggests that European languages have been comparatively neglected despite current political debate about the European Union and the importance of supporting modern language teaching in the National Curriculum. Calls for the public library to respond to minority European language needs have been made on a number of occasions 1, 2 and 3. However, with one exception, that of a challenging piece by Sheila Ray 4, these have been confined to adult services.
An important stimulus to the provision of European languages in public libraries was the establishment in 1992 of SEALS (Selection, Acquisition and Loans Systems), a co-operative venture based in Birmingham and serving all eleven public library authorities in the West Midlands and the University of Wolverhampton library 5. However, this cooperative venture excludes consideration of literature for children and young people.
Given the absence of information about the provision of European literature in British children's libraries, I felt that it was an opportune time to investigate the provision of collections and services and also the publishing and supply of materials. That decision was in keeping with the tenor of the general conclusions of the LISC report Investing in children 6 which reaffirmed the importance of multicultural provision in the UK, and recommended that more empirical research be conducted into children's librarianship.
In the summer of 1995 funding was secured from the Arts Council of England and the University of Wales Aberystwyth Research Fund to undertake what was to be the first comprehensive national study. The project began later that year, a researcher was appointed and research was concluded in the summer of 1996.
Aims and methodology of the research
Five aims were agreed with the Arts Council of England who wanted us to extend the original research topic to include materials translated from the four target languages (French, German, Italian and Spanish) into English. The aims were:
Given the size and distribution of public library authorities in the UK, we decided that the most appropriate method for surveying provision was by means of a postal questionnaire. Following the pilot survey, all young people's services were circulated, and a response rate of 62 per cent was secured. This was very satisfactory given the size of the population, the complexity of the questionnaire, and the difficulties associated with the impending local government reorganisation in Wales and Scotland. Data obtained from the questionnaire was supplemented by telephone interviews with a sample of non-respondents, and we conducted a number personal interviews with children's librarians in those authorities which possessed significant collections and services and with other relevant organisations.
Availability of European Language Material
Our literature review had suggested that there would probably be a low incidence of provision. However, the survey revealed that 78 per cent of responding authorities hold collections in the four European languages, a more optimist finding than we had envisaged. The distribution of provision is broadly uniform across the UK, with the English Counties and the London boroughs offering marginally better provision. At first sight, the overall statistic would appear to be healthier than expected. However, viewed another way, it is disheartening to discover that nearly a quarter (22%) of British authorities have no collections of these languages. Furthermore, like official statistics a general figure of provision can be misleading, offering little indication of the size, nature and accessibility of collections - issues which condition the availability of material, and which we decided to investigate.
Languages Represented
Figure 1 reveals the dominance of French and German as the most representative languages, a predictable finding given the priority accorded to them in Modern Language teaching in schools.
However, the comparatively high representation of Spanish and Italian languages was unexpected, and appears to be accounted for by the demand from those nationals living in the UK. The project revealed that Italians constitute the most prominent of the four European groups living in the UK, and a higher incidence of Italian material in the authorities' collections might have reasonably been expected. This observation matches the conclusion reached by Jo Haythornthwaite who, in 1989, expressed the need for public libraries to offer a better and more comprehensive service to the Italian community in Britain. 3
Size of Collections
Another corrective to the general statistic of provision concerns the size of holdings within authorities. Figure 2 indicates the paucity of collections.
The highest incidence of provision is for collections comprising 100 or fewer items. If we take into account the uneven distribution of materials throughout an authority and the need to offer duplicate titles, the limited size of collections available at a single service point becomes evident.
Figure 2 also shows that the distribution of collections for French, Italian and Spanish is reasonable. The surprise being the low incidence of collections over 100 items in the German language. Given the popularity of German in modern language teaching in schools, a much higher incidence of larger collections to support the reported educational demand might have been expected.
Expenditure
One of the aims of the survey was to ascertain the estimated expenditure on European language materials for the period 1994-1995. Precise figures were not available from the Library and Information Statistics Unit (LISU) at Loughborough University of Technology 7 or from the authorities themselves. Indeed, we were surprised by the high number of authorities (28%) who were unable to provide this information. Broad categories were established and estimated expenditure is shown in Figure 3.
The low priority accorded to funding of these resources is reflected in the fact that approximately half of the responding authorities (49%) spent 200 or less during 1994-5. Our survey of the publishing of European language materials revealed that the average price of books is usually higher than that for English language titles published in the UK. This arises from the additional costs associated the publishing and acquisition of material, for example, currency fluctuation and conversion, costs of postage and packing. With only 13 (16%) authorities spending more than 500, it is inevitable that collections are limited in size.
We investigated the reasons for the low allocation of funding and our analysis suggests that whilst budgetary constraint is a primary factor, the low level of expenditure is also a consequence of the low priority accorded to the acquisition of European literature even in those authorities with large indigenous European communities.
Access to Materials
Access to material is influenced by the arrangement of collections. In only 22% of authorities are collections decentralised, stock is most likely to be held centrally or to be offered from a central collection at the request of a branch. Even taking into account the existence of circulating collections (13%), it is evident that a large proportion of authorities who hold European material and who seek to satisfy demand will have service points containing no material.
Nature of Demand
One of our primary concerns was to discover the nature of the demand, and to elicit the kinds of the user groups served. Figure 4 represents several sets of data which are not mutually exclusive. Three categories of user were identified: British children, children of European families living in the UK, and visiting Europeans. A number of interesting conclusions can be drawn.
The primary reason for provision to British children is to support the formal educational needs of the modern language National Curriculum. As a consequence of Local Management of Schools (LMS) and resource constraints in school libraries, many children's libraries have had to increase the degree of support given to schools through their collections and services. It would appear that this is a significant and established role and one which extends to supporting modern language teaching.
We explored the issue of educational demand further and discovered that almost a third of authorities (32%) believed they have a responsibility to introduce children to children's literature published in Europe. This mirrors sentiments reported in articles that the provision of European literature can encourage children to become more European-minded and more empathetic to the idea of the European Union (EU) [4], although the incidence of authorities who believe that they have a specific responsibility to support the EU is low (19%). Arguably through their reading of this literature, young people gain important insights into the culture and social mores of partner countries and so develop a more sympathetic understanding. This view has been promulgated by bodies such as the International Board on Books for Young Children (IBBY) over the years, and has been recently articulated by Margaret McElderry. 8
Our findings confirmed the importance of supporting the pragmatic language needs of children and young people who are travelling or holidaying in Europe. This reflects the fact that the type of language guides designed to support this form of language learning are among the most popular and prolific forms of European language publishing by British children's publishers.
The degree of support offered to the children of European families living in this country who are learning their mother tongue is surprising high with almost half of authorities citing this as a reason for provision.
The low response for leisure reading for both British and European children living in the UK is intriguing. Given the importance attached to supporting reading for formal and non-formal educational ends, and the concern to introduce children to European literature, one might have anticipated a higher response. There is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that many teachers and parents perceive a need for suitable supplementary reading material to complement the text books used to support the National Curriculum. One reason which may account for this comparatively low response is the perceived difficulty of identifying and buying appropriate titles, especially for British children, an issue which we consider below.
An aspect of demand which is not addressed in the professional literature concerns the information needs of European children who are visiting this country as part of school exchanges or who are holidaying in the UK. Although in statistical terms demand from this sector is not especially high, 22% of authorities cite this as a source of demand, suggesting that they are servicing the needs of this specialist group.
Reasons for Non-Provision
Given that almost a quarter of library authorities surveyed hold no collections of European materials, we asked them to summarise the factors accounting for non-provision. The overwhelming reason (92%) cited is a perceived lack of demand. Our analysis of collection size, content and availability begs the question: does the restricted availability of what are comparatively sparse collections negatively influence the user, creating the impression that the public library is not a central source of European language material, thus compounding the lack of demand?
Of equal importance is the fact that almost a third of authorities believe that other departments and bodies should be responsible for the provision of this material, in particular, the Schools Library Service and school libraries are not necessarily the most appropriate institutions to offer material presumably arise from the belief that demand is primarily curriculum led - an issue on which readers might like to dwell.
One significant and optimistic finding was that a sizeable number (33%) of non-providing authorities are contemplating the creation of new collections and services. During our research, a number of librarians acknowledged that our survey had created an awareness of a hitherto unexplored field, and as a result they were going to re-evaluate provision.
Composition of Collections
As one might expect, collections are primarily book based, with audiovisual and computer material accounting for approximately one third (30%) of the collection (the highest incidence is for the French language (42%)). Nationally, the incidence of non-book materials in children's libraries is low 9, 10 so these findings were not unexpected. However, our investigation into the publishing of European language material revealed a significant increase in multimedia publishing for children in mono, dual and multi-lingual forms, and it would appear that little of this valuable material is finding its way into public library collections.
One issue which we were concerned to investigate was the perceived deficiencies of fiction and non-fiction publishing within the four European languages. Four major conclusions can be drawn from the findings. First, there is call for more dual language material for all languages and ages, especially teenagers. Our survey of publishing and of library suppliers suggests, however, that a broad array of dual language titles does exist and that there is at least one comprehensive guide produced by Roy Yates. It is probable that the fundamental problem is not a dearth of titles rather a lack of awareness about their existence.
Second, there is a need for more books for older readers (Keystages 2 and 3), written using more simplistic language structures. Our study of the publishing and provision of European literature confirms this conclusion, although some of the specialist suppliers would contend that a greater variety of such publications does exist, and that librarians are unaware of the specialist guides to this literature.
Librarians are also concerned about the paucity of non-fiction titles which are not curriculum oriented, and the apparent dearth of non-book material (which, as we have suggested above, is most likely to be a mis-representation of publishing output in this field). There was a general feeling that foreign language editions of English language titles published by the leading non-fiction houses, for example, Franklin Watts, A. and C. Black should be made available. However, the nature of foreign language children's publishing, in particular the rights issue, is such that this cannot be easily facilitated.
Finally, authorities would like to see more Italian and Spanish titles being made available.
Stock Selection and Acquisition
Selection
Library suppliers are the preferred source (62%) for selecting and acquiring material. Authorities were asked to specify which suppliers they used, and the findings are unexpected and a little disconcerting, especially the very low use made of those suppliers who specialise in the provision of European literature. Less than 6 per cent of authorities used Roy Yates, Transcript, European Books or Mill Book Co. (Foreign) despite the fact that our investigation into the role of library suppliers revealed that these specialist suppliers offer a comprehensive array of foreign language titles together with substantial bibliographical support (bibliographical catalogues and lists) and approvals services.
The majority of general suppliers handle only a limited amount of European literature which is frequently obtained from the specialist suppliers. Consequently, many librarians will be exposed to a very restricted selection of available titles and formats which will be reflected in their collections. This also presumably accounts for the perceived deficiencies in European language publishing discussed above.
Published bibliographies (other than those provided by suppliers), are hardly used for selection (10%), reflecting the limited coverage of European literature in existing national, trade and subject bibliographies. Although several important multicultural bibliographies designed for children's and school libraries are currently available in the UK, their focus is primarily upon non-European material. 11
At the outset of our research we decided to explore the need for a specialist list, and to a question about difficulties in the selection of material, over half the respondents (54%) wanted more regular, up-to-date bibliographic listings which would include brief annotations and guidance as to age and interest levels. Ideally, these lists should include details of non-book material especially videos and computer and multimedia formats which are beginning to flourish. During the survey of the specialist library suppliers, however, we discovered the existence of a number of comprehensive specialist bibliographical lists containing many of the features sought by librarians. The problem, it seems, is that young people's librarians, are generally unaware of them, and we concluded that more effective dissemination of information about these listings is required rather than the creation of new ones.
Authorities make comparatively low use of bookshops (16%) and journals (4%) as sources of bibliographical information. These results were not unexpected since the findings of our survey of the general and specialist children's bookshops revealed that, with one or two notable exceptions (Heffers of Cambridge and the European Bookshop, London), the provision of European language materials is largely accorded a very low priority. The major British children's book reviewing journals too largely ignore European literature, an issue which a number of authorities believe should be attended to by the editors.
A small number of authorities (8%) used local groups of foreign nationals as a source of information when selecting material. We were unable to explore this approach further, however, the possibility of drawing upon this expertise could usefully be investigated by other authorities.
Acquisition
Children's librarians perceived two major difficulties regarding the acquisition of material. The first links with selection and focuses on the need for material to be made available on approval. Approvals are offered by at least one of the specialist suppliers, and several of the general suppliers, for example, Peters, do carry small collections of foreign language material for inspection. However, in general, they do not incorporate a substantial range of foreign language titles in their approvals. This is because they tend to purchase specific titles on request and they do not stock comprehensive collections of foreign language material.
The second relates to the delay in the receipt of material which is occasioned by the nature of foreign language publishing and the mechanics of provision. Since British children's publishers do not publish foreign language titles in this country (the major exceptions being non-fiction material to support formal and informal language teaching, for example, Usborne), most fiction and non-fiction titles are purchased by the specialist suppliers (and to a lesser extent, general suppliers), from children's publishers or agents abroad. Delays in procuring titles are inevitable. And since the majority of authorities are using general library suppliers (who in turn purchase from the specialist suppliers), the delays are increased and can result in some titles being out of print. This criticism was not voiced to the same degree by authorities using specialist suppliers.
Promotion of collections and services
Implicit in our discussion of collections of European literature has been the low priority accorded to this area, and this is equally true for promotion. A large number (37%) of authorities did not respond to our question about promotional activities, and almost a fifth (19.3%) of those authorities who did reply do not engage in any sort of promotion. An analysis of how libraries promote material revealed a limited repertoire of traditional methods (for example, exhibitions/displays, bibliographies and talks) and a correspondingly low incidence of use.
A category 'Other' comprised a very select range of more imaginative activities including author visits, press releases, rapport with language schools and community education establishments. We were also made aware of isolated examples of successful partnerships which had been established between British authorities and their twinned towns. These aided promotion and also contributed towards the enhancement of library collections.
The conservative approach to promotion is presumably another reflection of the low status accorded to this material. One possible reason for the lack of promotion concerns the adequacy of language competency on the part of staff. Only 20% of authorities felt that staff were equipped to cope with the language demands, and a mere eight authorities facilitated any kind of training provision. It was intriguing to note that 16% of authorities did use external translators, for example, teachers, local foreign nationals, and one wonders if this approach could be usefully adopted on a wider scale.
Conclusion
The low priority accorded to the provision of European language material by many library authorities is a reality, reflected in the size, nature and accessibility of their holdings and in the fragmentary nature of their services. Although demand is indirectly occasioned by Britain's partnership within the European Union, this would not appear to be a significant motive for provision.
Whilst many authorities expressed the opinion that there was little demand for European material, that perception is evidently a conditional one. In response to a question about future initiatives, a healthy 33% indicated that they were considering developing this area of their service. Indeed, we discovered imaginative initiatives which, while scarce, could prove inspirational to those authorities wishing to extend their services. Some described planned initiatives associated with enhancing collections and promotional activities, developing links with local schools, and one confirmed its intention to investigate twinning arrangements with a French authority. Unquestionably, our survey did create a greater awareness among young people's librarians about the issues surrounding foreign language materials and their place in the children's collection and promotional programme. Several non-providing authorities indicated their intention to survey their clientele to ascertain potential demand. Others felt they wanted to re-think their policies in the light of the findings of this project.
Implicit in the findings are a number of conclusions which may lead to more comprehensive and effective collections and services. These centre on the need to consider alternatives modes of selection, in particular the use of specialist suppliers and their bibliographical sources. To this end, a list of specialist suppliers is appended to this article.
We were also concerned to discover whether providing authorities would be interested in creating more effective provision through participation in formal and informal cooperative ventures which have been established in the UK for different languages 12. To our knowledge, none of these incorporate European children's materials, however, since half of the respondents indicated their interest in cooperation, we believe that a natural extension of this research project would be an exploration of the possible models of cooperative provision for children's libraries.
Although it was outside our remit, several cooperative schemes were investigated including SEALS, and the Cooperative of Indic Language Library Authorities (CILLA) - an example of a national based scheme, with a view to pursuing further research. It is my intention to organise a post project seminar with interested parties from library authorities and the children's book publishing and bookselling trades which will have as an agenda item the feasibility of establishing cooperative provision. Such discussion will have to be deferred until the future organisational structure of public library authorities in the UK is resolved, and relationships between new and reorganised authorities consolidated. However, initial responses to our findings are welcome.
Notes
1. Cooke, M., Feather, J. and Malley, I. "The management of stock in minority languages in British public libraries". Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 25 (2) June 1993. 79-84. Back to textAppendix
Specialist library suppliers of European language materials Roy Yates Books