The Power and Potential of Multicultural Diverse Literature

Abstract

This article explores how multicultural and diverse literature contributes to a school library collection through its unique ability to inform, provoke socio-emotional responses and stimulate social justice and reform, while validating the experience and identity of a multicultural and diverse student body. Examples of recently published notable books are provided. Themes and conceptual tools of the genre are introduced and the role, challenges and responses of the teacher librarian are examined.

Introduction

Schools around the world are seeing an substantial influx of diverse students due to migration, immigration and globalisation (Boelens, Cherek, Tilke, & Bailey, 2015), a trend that has long been the norm in international schools. Within international schools, those under the umbrella of the International Baccalaureate (IB) are expected to go beyond literacy and numeracy to equip students with attitudes and values that allow them to become socio-emotionally balanced global citizens (International Baccalaureate Organisation, n.d.).  Focusing on the upper years of the IB primary years program (PYP) how can the inclusion of multicultural and diverse (MCD) literature support both the academic and socio-emotional curriculum to meet those ambitions and what can other schools learn from this?

Key issues

MCD literature is defined as works “that reflect the racial, ethnic and social diversity that is characteristic of our pluralistic society and of the world” (Bishop, 1997, p.3 cited in Hinton & Dickinson, 2007). Cai (2002) expands the definition to cover issues of diversity, inclusion, power structures and the ability to transform society by the inclusion of marginalised people of all races.

Conceptual tools

Tschida, Ryan and Ticknor (2014) combine two conceptual tools for an understanding of MCD literature - texts as mirrors, windows and sliding doors (Bishop, 1990) and the danger of the single story (Adichie, 2009). Using these tools, one can be critical towards what has passed as MCD texts (Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Duren, 2000; Robinson, 2013) with many questions raised about the legitimacy of authors who publish MCD works – including the “insider / outsider” debate (Ehrlich, 2015; Mendoza & Reese, 2001; Short & Fox, 2003; Singer & Smith, 2003). Carefully translated books can overcome some of these issues if not overly ‘localised’ for the market into which they are being translated and there tend to be fewer stereotypes (Kimmel, Garrison, & Forest, 2015).

To ameliorate the dangers of the single story, MCD literature needs a substantial volume of works of quality and legitimacy. O’Sullivan (2004) provides a sober history of MCD literature, commencing with the post-war idealistic creation of institutions such as International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich and ending with damning statistics on “how international is international children’s literature?” – hint – it’s not. Facts that are echoed by annual tallying of books in the USA by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (2015).

Power to change

Cognitive literacy theory using scientific research suggests that literature contributes to the socialisation of students, promoting the development of theory of mind through the association of emotion through visual and textual stimuli in a reciprocal relationship between social development and academic performance – MCD literature can play a significant role in this (Biwu, 2014; Elizabeth & Selman, 2012; Nikolajeva, 2012; Rider, 2013). Although many primary school libraries have a multitude of books that portray Begler’s (1998) five F’s – food, fashion, fiestas, folklore, and famous people, these have a touristic superficial view of culture do not provide the mirror or window perspective that sophisticated MCD books provide (Doll & Garrison, 2013).

One of the differentiating factors of education in an IB school is the hope that: “our students will help to build a better world through intercultural understanding and respect” (International Baccalaureate Organisation, n.d., para. 2). Equity, social justice and reform is at the heart of multicultural education (Gorski, 2011; Cai and Bishop, 1994, cited in Short & Fox, 2003). Intrinsic to the inquiry cycle of the PYP is “taking action” – students are expected to go beyond researching and understanding to making a difference in the world. However in order to fulfil its literary and pedagogical potential, MCD literature needs to simultaneously be at the right developmental level, to emphasize desirable attributes, be honest and authentic while fulfilling the other usual criteria for quality including well developed plot, skilful illustrations, appealing characters and connection with the reader (Cai, 2002; McNamee & Mercurio, 2007; Nikolajeva, 2012; Oswald & Smolen, 2011).

Themes

The dominant themes in MCD literature can be summarised as: stories from the original culture; bridged cultural experiences: adoption stories; identity or image stories and refugee, migration or immigration stories (Masuda & Ebersole, 2011).

This article focuses on the latter due to topical relevance; pervasive current media coverage; curricula relevance; the fact that most students in international schools have personal experience of relocation; and the reality of schools as “the most public environment in which diverse student populations come into contact with each other” (Tanners, 1997, cited in Lowery, 2011, p. 268). In addition, migration literature has evolved as a unique genre (Bersh, 2013; Hope, 2007; Kimmel et al., 2015).

Value to the collection

MCD literature provides many benefits to a collection. Three of these will be highlighted – the ability to educate, to develop socio-emotional and meta-cognitive skills and to provoke social transformation.

Educate

Students in primary school may be unfamiliar with the history of the countries and regions that their multicultural peers are from and unaware of differentiations between groups, while being affected by public media portrayal (Lowery, 2011). MCD can serve as a conduit for learning and scaffold enquiry provided it is authentic and accurate. Deepening media presentation with personal factual research is highlighted in Drita my Homegirl (Lombard, 2008) where Maxie researches the Kosovo war, and A Long Walk to Water (Park, 2010) which personalises the “Lost boys of Sudan” story. Julie spontaneously researches Mongolia and presents her findings at every opportunity in Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011) and even Shocky learns about Chingas Kahn. Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010) weaves in historical information about the early isolation of Japan and the mutual distrust, ignorance and fear between Japan and America whereas The Journey that saved Curious George (Borden & Drummond, 2005) gives an account of fleeing Paris in the second world war.

MCD literature has been shown to enhance the reading comprehension of language learners through its culturally familiar material and creating a window to view others engaged in language learning in a non-trivial manner (Hadaway & Young, 2011).  In nearly all the texts highlighted the learning of English forms a central theme: “Until you children master English, you must think, do, wish for nothing else” - Inside Out and Back Again (Lai, 2011, p. 132); “the boys weren’t just learning English; they were hiding themselves inside English” - The Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011, p. 38). Kasienka’s initial low level of English holds her back academically in The Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011); and Maxie has to grapple with Drita’s poor English in Drita my Homegirl (Lombard, 2008) while for Manjiro, Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010), learning English is a matter of survival.

Besides the power of story, illustrations contribute to character depth and enhance understanding (Broadway & Conkle, 2011). The use of primary source material to illustrate Heart of a Samurai (Preus, 2010) and The Journey that Saved Curious George (Borden & Drummond, 2005) contributes to the authenticity of the story as well as allowing a segue into aspects of research and information literacy.

Socio-emotional and meta-cognitive skills 

One of the unique aspects of reading is its dual role as an emotional and intellectual act and as such it can perform the function of scaffolding children’s ability to care about people, events and concepts outside their current existence (McNamee & Mercurio, 2007).

 The development of resilience, empathy and theory of mind is articulated as an educational goal by most educational systems and the importance of vocabulary (Bosacki & Wilde Astington, 2001; Figueroa-Sánchez, 2008) and literature in developing theory of mind is well documented (Djikic & Oatley, 2014; Kidd & Castano, 2013; McTigue, Douglass, Wright, Hodges, & Franks, 2015). Although bibliotherapy is a distinct specialisation, from its research we are aware of the power of literature to provoke a socio-emotional response and empathy and to reach individuals who may not be open to other forms of intervention (Djikic, Oatley, Zoeterman, & Peterson, 2009; Gomm, 2012; Johnson, 2012; Montgomery & Maunders, 2015; Riahinia, Azimi, & Seify, 2010).  Both William her boyfriend-in-spe and Konoro – her “too black” immigrant-doctor-who-is-a-cleaner neighbour tell Kasienka she has the resilience to save herself - Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011), Manjiro’s mettle is tested on the whaling boat, in America and when he attempts to return to Japan - Heart of a Samurai, (Preus, 2010) and Hà survives fleeing Vietnam and settling in Alabama – Inside Out (Lai, 2011).

The deployment of virtual reality (VR) tools such as Clouds over Sidra (Arora & Milk, C., 2015), where one not only observes but is immersed in the experience takes situating students inside a story further, with many authors hailing the ability of VR to enhance empathy. There is some debate around the problems and potential of VR, to promote empathy through mirror neurons (Constine, 2015; Hamilton, 2015; Sutherland, n.d.) as well as its suitability for children (Lewis, 2015).

Social transformation

Good MCD literature promotes higher order thinking and engages students cognitively emotionally and motivationally in order to provide socio-emotional support, and foster bonds and peer relationships between students (Triplett & Buchanan, 2005). Migration themed books can provoke thought and discussion about the respective roles and responsibilities of the ‘incumbent’ versus ‘incoming’ characters. The more successful books show the complexity and ambivalence of these relationships. In Weight of Water (Crossan, 2011) Kasienka, when not being bullied by Clair, is met with exclusion and indifference. Julie, becomes the “Good Guide” to Chingis and Nergu in Unforgotten Coat (Cottrell Boyce, 2011) and finds their presence fascinating but confusing and disruptive to her understanding of the world she lives in. The contact between Maxie and Drita in Drita (Lombard, 2008) is initially enforced by their teacher and gradually evolves into authentic friendship while Hà and Manjiro find friends outside their peer group. Hà is relentlessly bullied by a “pink-colored boy” but taken under the wing of an elderly neighbour, Miss Washington, - Inside Out (Lai, 2011) and Captain Whitfield befriends Manjiro - Heart of a Samurai, (Preus, 2010).

Role of the teacher librarian

The role of the teacher librarian (TL) in selection and promotion of materials and creating an literary environment is well documented (Claasz, 2014; Hinton & Dickinson, 2007; La Marca, 2003), however the curation and provision of MCD literature places unique demands on the TL (Colbert-Lewis & Colbert-Lewis, 2013; Marcoux, 2009; Mestre, 2009). MCD materials in the collection should validate a student’s home cultural experience and language; use technology to facilitate learning and self expression including students’ own writing; create cooperative, interactive learning opportunities and encourage home / school collaboration (Hinton & Dickinson, 2007; Kim, Greif Green, & Klein, 2006).

Availability

The existence of MCD literature faces three substantial barriers. In the first place it does not get published at all, secondly, if it does, it is from an outsider’s perspective and finally once in existence it may not get into the school library or the classroom (Ehrlich, 2015; O’Sullivan, 2004; Tschida et al., 2014). Besides the usual lists and awards such as the Batchelder, Jane Addams or Stepping Stones awards, the TL committed to MCD literature needs to tap into international librarian, author and publisher networks as well as the school learning ecosystem – particularly the parents of non-English speaking students. In addition books may not be available through the usual procurement channels requiring creative solutions.

Suitability

MCD curation involves ensuring the cultural authenticity of the collection including literary qualities, believability, portray of power relationships, response by insiders, origin of the book, accuracy of details, authenticity of values and attitudes, providing the audience personal connection to the story, authorship, perspectives, being at the correct socio-emotional developmental level and relationship to other books in the collection (Masuda & Ebersole, 2011; McNamee & Mercurio, 2007). Combining Selman’s theory on interpersonal understanding with an understanding of the types of books that fit in with cognitive developmental stages, the TL can ensure suitable MCD books are available at every age and stage (Cornett, 2007; Elizabeth & Selman, 2012; Selman, Jaquette, & Lavin, 1977).

The TL needs to constantly be vigilant as the criteria of suitability changes with increased cultural awareness and as research into MCD literature is published. Fortunately today more sophisticated and relevant MCD works are being published that can replace dated and unsuitable material. Part of the role of the TL involves the diplomatic ‘re-education’ of teachers who may automatically reach to favourites from their youth that have subsequently been condemned by cultural insiders as prejudiced, or portraying stereotypes or negative cultural images (Short & Fox, 2003). Extreme sensitivity should be shown towards ‘insider’ readers of books in the collection and the TL needs to make teachers aware of ‘insider’ reviews of the books included as curriculum resources (Doll & Garrison, 2013).

Curriculum

In the past, literature was relegated to language / arts programmes. Due to its multi-faceted benefits to inform, enhance understanding and critical thinking and to change perspectives and encourage social action, it is now infused through the entire curriculum. Besides encouraging reading and ‘evangelical outreach’ TL’s need to be embedded in curriculum development (Loertscher, 2002 cited in Hinton & Dickinson, 2007). A five phase model of integration of MCD literature into the curriculum is suggested, commencing with traditional literature moving towards contemporary fiction, biography and poetry (Smolen, Oswald, & Jenkins, 2011) while Bersh (2013) and Barone (2011) and all the authors in Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices (Smolen & Oswald, 2011) encourage the creation of literature sets along MCD themes to enhance the curriculum as well as suggestions for response activities and give excellent examples of these.

Accessibility 

The role of the librarian goes beyond identification and acquisition of books, to ensure the promotion and accessibility of books in this genre and their integration into the curriculum and pleasure reading opportunities of students. In addition to curating lists of books that meet the criteria for the learner profile or attitudes, matched to the unit of inquiry (UOI) these books need to be selected and distributed to classrooms in time for the relevant UOI, or put on display as appropriate in the library. Teachers’ limited time and experience in selecting literature or ambivalent attitude to reading (Cox & Schaetzel, 2007; Cremin, Mottram, Bearne, & Goodwin, 2008) should not be allowed to form an additional access barrier to MCD books for students. Besides books in the collection, virtual curation of books, multimedia texts, materials and resources should be made accessible through the online learning platform, curriculum planning system, library blogs or library guides.

A small collection of books that meet the MCD criteria is no longer sufficient – every book should be scrutinized in order to ensure its potential to: validate experience and identity; appreciate other cultures; understand socio-political factors; critically examine the society we live in and prevent and reduce prejudice (Hinton & Dickinson, 2007).

Conclusion

The provision of MCD literature in a school library can be likened to an exciting quest - the librarian as the hero surmounting the barriers of accessibility and availability while warding off demons of the single story, stereotypes and negative portrayal.  Ensuring suitability and reaching for the holy grail of a learning community of readers embracing the benefits of global citizenship, and ultimately the creation of the next generation of diverse multicultural authors and illustrators.

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State of School Librarianship - Selected Asian Countries

Four of the speakers at the International Conference on School Librarianship of Asian Countries spoke about the "State of School Librarianship" in their relevant areas:

• James Henri - Australia
• Patrick Lo - Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea, Taipei and Japan
• Jong Sung Kim - South Korea
• Chao-chen Chen - Taiwan

Since you are all perfectly capable of reading the presentations I am not going to repeat what was said, but rather to say what my key take-aways were in general.

Firstly I was super happy that I chose to come to this conference (at my own cost, although the conference itself was free ...) instead of going to the EARCOS workshop in November at Taipei American School. "Tech-Integrated Libraries: Building the Future One Service at a Time". The reason is that the longer I am in the field of teacher librarianship, the more I feel that we are operating in a number of little echo chambers where we keep on encountering the same people with the same things to share.  This view probably doesn't make me very popular amongst my peers, however I do think that it has contributed greatly to the current state of school librarianship. Of course this conference was also an echo chamber, but it wasn't one which I usually find myself in (mine is the "international school librarian" one).   And I think for all of us participating, we got to at least hear (if not share due to the time restrictions and presentation format) about what is going on elsewhere. And that is always incredibly interesting.

Next - it was comforting but disheartening to hear that school librarians everywhere suffer from the same "needed outsider" status.   In all the presentations we heard that the existence of the school library and its staffing by a tiered levels / qualifications of librarian almost always needed an act of legislation - at least in the public sector.   (In the private sector it is up to the budget of the individual school, and part of a long legacy personal and cultural, but that's a whole other story).   Within the legislated necessity of a school library, there is a huge variation in the requirements - in Australia this is determined by state-by-state for example.

It seems that generally it is much easier to find funding for library buildings and the initial "hardware" - the problems arise with the ongoing budgeting for staffing by properly trained teacher-librarians who can make a difference in both the literacy and information literacy of the students. But those effects are hard to measure - it is easier to come up with statistics concerning collection size and ratios of materials to pupils - the quantitative data is more readily found, and definitions are more robust than the qualitative data. That is one of the "academic / research" criticisms I'd have of some of the presentations - a lot of data but what about the "so what" and "why" and "what now" - particularly when comparing one country to another.

Even Australia - who has long been seen as one of the bastions of school-teacher-librarianship -appears to be in decline due to all sorts of (mainly) political and funding issues. And there's the rub. School-librarians just don't seem to be political animals - up to now I have only ever met one Head of Libraries who has a seat-at-the-table by which I mean is considered part of the senior management team of a school.  The rest seem to dabble around the edges, cajoling, convincing, offering, pleading, giving, trying, quietly adding value as and when possible on an invitation basis, if not plain forgotten.

There is a distinct difference also between where school librarians are seen as partners for information literacy instruction versus their role in encouraging reading - or alphabetic literacy. The distinction is very important, because it can be argued (and is argued) that a librarian can provide the former, so it is not necessary to have a teacher-librarian. In fact, a passionate library technician with a love of books and reading would even suffice (sadly to say, a love of reading is not on the 'necessary qualities" in the job descriptions of most library staff that I've encountered - nor, may I add of teachers.). It was interesting to see that the contribution from Singapore was an extremely excellent presentation on "Interactive Reading Activities" but since public schools here generally don't have libraries or teacher librarians there was no-one to present on the "state of the nation" in this regard. It begs the question what this otherwise progressive nation-state is doing to raise the standards of information literacy in its schools.

At this point, for a bit of light relief, I want to put in one of those corny "what xx think I do" pictures

(sorry no citation - it was on Pinterest and the original link was dead)

What I really wish was I could say is "these guys are really getting it right - that's the way to go and here's the proof". In reality all I can say is that it seems that we all share the same struggles and issues and that's why I worry so very much about our librarian echo chambers.  Because we all agree with each other, and we all have similar stories to share - stories of triumph and success, of making a difference in the lives of individual students and in (school) communities as a whole - the second afternoon where teacher librarians from 3 schools presented the fantastic work they'd been doing in Taiwan - particularly in the field of inquiry learning was very inspirational.

But how do we get out of this loop and spiral upwards?  I'm one of the 407 librarians participating in the "Ideal Libraries Project" of the IBO. Even in that (private) organisation nothing is mandated or agreed around teacher-librarians. Yes there are recommendations, but judging by the responses from the cohort the interpretations are wide.

I have meandered far I fear. But to my colleagues in Asian countries I would say, fear not, you are not alone, we too struggle with ratios of 1:1,500 (TL:Students), even in private schools. We too would like to feel our voices are heard and that literacies are integrated into the curriculum.  But I think there is hope, if we can just get out of this quick-sand - perhaps when the hype around EdTech and Makerspaces is over we will have our turn - or perhaps it is time to rise up and take a seat at the table, because it is not about us. It's about sending literate people out into the world, and we can't faff around the edges and not send fully multi-literate students out into the world.

Why can't a library ...

Be more like a store (with apologies to Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner)? And if it were a store, what kind of store would it be? Please don't say bookstore, because even though we apparently love them, they're dying and going out of business. Except for those that evolve beyond books, earn the respect of customers, get into their communities, incorporate new ideas such as subscription services, “reading spas”, bibliotherapy, cafes, events and festivals with authors and celebrities (Butler, 2014).

The bookstore

Yet many libraries are adopting the bookstore model, by genre-fying their collection, ensuring that titles are front facing, having multiple copies of popular books (Day, 2013; Kindschy, 2015). Even as many libraries have a huge online presence which they work hard at making visible to their clients through a wide variety of means including signage, display, print-outs, screens, bookmarks, social media etc. people like David Weinberger, are still implying that libraries are missing a trick while Gopnik laments “By atomizing our experience to the point of alienation—or, at best, by creating substitutes for common experience (“you might also like…” lists, Twitter exchanges instead of face-to-face conversations)—we lose the common thread of civil life” (Gopnik, 2015).

The fashion store

A few months ago, I had the most horrendous shopping experience - my son insisted that I accompanied him to an A&F store. Only after reading this article do I "get" why it was so awful.  The whole point of the loud music and low lights is to keep the wrinkly parentals OUT of the store, not to entice them in. There are those who lament that as libraries become more inclusive, more multifunctional hybrid spaces they are going the same way – keeping out the very people who have the need for scholarly quiet space (Miller, 2013; West, 2013).   On the other end of the spectrum, one has the Burberry model (Bath, 2014; Davis, 2014; Williams, 2014). Where there is seamless integration between the online and offline experience, which may go some of the way in addressing Weinberger’s concerns. What we are looking for is the omnichannel “an experience that takes consumers from their current channel of choice and seamlessly chaperones them within an uninterrupted brand experience through digital and physical worlds without the customer being consciously aware or concerned about where one channel started and the other finished” (Bath, 2014, para. 8).

The Grocery Store / kitchen

Joyce Valenza also uses a store metaphor “We need to stop thinking of the library as a grocery store a place to get stuff and start thinking of it as a kitchen a place to make stuff” (cited in Johnson, 2013). Further in the same article, referring to the mission of libraries, Johnson states “The library's resources have changed, but not its mission: teaching people to effectively access information to meet their needs. The emphasis has shifted from teaching learners how to find and organize information to teaching them how to evaluate and use information” (2013, p. 85) Strolling through Ikea yesterday on a mission to have a look at the design elements for a different assignment, I suddenly realised it had many elements and features that could be incorporated into a library.

Ikea

A couple of things work in the Ikea model:

• It’s practically impossible to leave without buying something
• Your route is determined by the store layout
• Clear signage and explanations
• The incorporation of demo-rooms and demo-apartments shows you how you can use what the store can offer – visualizing and envisaging
• A price point where decision making is easy (Carlyle, 2015)
• Few of the products are “ready to use” without customer engagement (assembly)
• Trends of users and society are researched and analyzed (IKEA, 2012)
• Extreme users can hack the basics and go beyond to create to meet their own needs – and share their experience / learning with others (IKEAHackers.net, 2014; Mars, 2014; McGauley, 2015).

One of the things that struck me yesterday was that in addition to the traditional layout idea of “bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom” the signage in the demo-apartments referred to “solutions” as in “kitchen solutions, media solutions and sleeping solutions”, which is somewhat contradictory to the trends identified in the report by IKEA, that indicated a move towards hybrid functional spaces defined more by whether people wanted solitude or company than by their traditional function (IKEA, 2012).  

Full demo-apartment	Floor plan
Solution spaces configuration 1	Solution spaces configuration 2
Clear signage and explanations	Instructions for self-packaging

But I like the idea of “solution” spaces. Especially for a library. It fits in a bit with the “campfire / watering hole / cave” ideas of Thornburg (2007) but I don’t think that goes far enough in providing users solutions for their learning needs. Yes it does allow for a variation in pace and intensity and communal versus individual effort, and facilitates knowledge gathering through listening, collaboration or research but are these solution spaces? I’d argue they aren’t. That’s not to say we haven’t by accident or design created solution spaces in the library. Thinking to the user needs in the secondary library where I worked:

• Finding books to read for pleasure at the right interest / ability level
• Hanging out with friends in an air-conditioned space (we live in the tropics!)
• Having a "third space" that wasn't home or classroom
• Playing games (on-line and physical)
• Lounging around reading dip-in dip-out books such as comics, graphic novels and poetry
• Mother tongue resources
• Resources – physical and online for school units or assignments
• Resources – physical and online for personal questions or interests
• Information literacy / literacy assistance for completing assignments to a high standard including academic honesty and scholarly value added.
• ? more that I’ve not thought of at the moment.

With respect to the library space, I think we met most of the needs in a satisficing way given the constraints of space, resources and person-power. But I’d argue that if we were to combine the concepts of the omnichannel with solution spaces after careful observation and involvement of our users we could go so much further. Perhaps our library guides should have “hacking your grade 7 middle ages assignment” or “hacking citations”? Perhaps we should have a research zone where online and offline is seamlessly integrated with signage and demo-products?  


These thoughts are in their infancy for me, somewhat half-formed and not "quite there" and I’d appreciate further comments and ideas and examples of where you’ve done this.

References:

Bath, O. (2014, May 16). The Burberry model: why blending online and offline boosts success [Web Log]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://wallblog.co.uk/2014/05/16/the-burberry-model-why-blending-online-and-offline-boosts-success/

Butler, S. (2014, February 21). Independent bookshops in decline as buying habits change [Newspaper]. Retrieved July 26, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/21/independent-bookshops-campaign

Carlyle, R. (2015, May 1). The secret of Ikea’s success [Newspaper]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/560828/Ikea-history-Swedish-furniture-design

Davis, S. (2014, March 27). Burberry’s Blurred Lines: The Integrated Customer Experience [Newspaper]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottdavis/2014/03/27/burberrys-blurred-lines-the-integrated-customer-experience/

Day, K. (2013, November). Liberate your book cupboards and create a more true “bookstore” model in your school library? [Web Log]. Retrieved July 26, 2015, from http://www.thelibrarianedge.com/libedge/2013/11/liberate-your-book-cupboards-and-create.html

Gopnik, A. (2015, June 12). When a Bookstore Closes, an Argument Ends - The New Yorker [Newspaper]. Retrieved July 26, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/when-a-bookstore-closes-an-argument-ends

IKEA. (2012). What goes on behind closed doors - Life at home in the UK (p. 23). United Kingdom. Retrieved from http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/img/site_images/about_ikea/PDF/What%20goes%20on%20behind%20closed%20doors_Report_Spreads.pdf IKEAHackers.net. (2014).

IKEA Hackers - Clever ideas and hacks for your IKEA. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://www.ikeahackers.net/ Johnson, D. (2013). Power Up! The New School Library. Educational Leadership, 71(2), 84–85. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct13/vol71/num02/The-New-School-Library.aspx

Kindschy, H. E. (2015, January 13). Time to Ditch Dewey? Shelving Systems that Make Sense to Students (Learning Commons Model, Part 4) [Web Log]. Retrieved July 26, 2015, from http://www.clcd.com/blog/?p=186

Mars, R. (2014, August 19). Hacking IKEA [Podcast]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/hacking-ikea/

McGauley, J. (2015, February 19). Easy IKEA Hacks For Your Apartment - Best DIY Projects [Web Log]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://www.supercompressor.com/home/easy-ikea-hacks-for-your-apartment-best-diy-projects

Miller, L. (2013, January 31). Bring back shushing librarians [Newspaper]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://www.salon.com/2013/01/31/bring_back_shushing_librarians/

Thornburg, D. (2007, October). Campfires in cyberspace: Primordial metaphors for learning in the 21st Century. TCPD. Retrieved from http://tcpd.org/Thornburg/Handouts/Campfires.pdf

West, P. (2013, November 20). Libraries: a plea from a silence seeker [Newspaper]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/libraries_a_plea_from_a_silence_seeker/14317#.Vb2l6JOqqko

Williams, G. (2014, March 19). Why the online/offline split no longer matters [Newspaper]. Retrieved August 2, 2015, from http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2014/03/features/ecommerce-is-history

The Teacher Librarian and multi-lingual environments - an opportunity

One trend in education that has received limited attention in teacher librarian (TL) literature is the demographic shift in schools to more students with cultural and linguistic diversity. Statistics from the USA, Canada and Australia indicate around one in five students do not speak English - the language of school instruction at home (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013; “Canadian Demographics at a Glance: Some facts about the demographic and ethnocultural composition of the population,” n.d.; Center for Public Education, 2012). Data from Sydney University indicates that a national average of 21% disguises local figures at some (particularly state) schools with a range of 50-90% (Ho, 2011). International schools catering to an expatriate population are particularly diverse environments.

Practitioner literature generally concerns itself with cultural diversity in materials and the building of a world literature collection in response to student diversity or as part of a language / humanities curriculum (Garrison, Forest, & Kimmel, 2014). Some international or bilingual schools, build a “Languages other than English” (LOTE) collection.  Schools may try to recruit bilingual or minority TLs, or provide training in competencies in multicultural education (Colbert-Lewis & Colbert-Lewis, 2013; Everhart, Mardis, & Johnston, 2010; Mestre, 2009).

Within a school, the main educational and social issues are to ensure students acquire the language of instruction (English) as quickly as possible and adapt to the new learning environment without loss of educational momentum, while maintaining and developing their mother tongue (Kim & Mizuishi, 2014). Even though there is evidence that support and maintenance of mother tongue is the most effective way of scaffolding such students, schools place most of their effort and resources on English acquisition (Carder, 2007; Cummins, 2001, 2003).

TLs in their own professional development are familiar with the use of geographically dispersed personal learning networks (PLNs) in order to create a personal learning environment (PLE) using a variety technological tools (McElvaney & Berge, 2009; O’Connell, 2014). They also have extensive networks both locally and internationally that can be tapped into. This provides TLs with an ideal opportunity of working with a group of students and teachers in creating their own PLE with a variety of resources, networks and personal web technologies (PWT) both in their mother tongue and the language of instruction.  

Figure 1: PLE of an IB self-taught language student

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program allows mother tongue students the option of guided self-study if the school doesn’t offer the language.  Tapping into the experiences and communities of practise (COP) of distance education, massive open online courses (MOOCs), PLNs and PLEs could ameliorate the logistical, resourcing, teaching and learning difficulties of this option unbound by time and geography. A successful pilot scheme with one language group could be rolled out to other groups. Not only will this enhance the reputation of the TL in the school but will also contribute to the schools goals of equity in teaching and resources and ensure support and involvement by the whole school community.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). Australian Social Trends, April 2013. Retrieved December
         14, 2014, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features
         30April+2013

Canadian Demographics at a Glance: Some facts about the demographic and ethnocultural
         composition of the population. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2014, from
         http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/91-003-x/2007001/4129904-eng.htm

Carder, M. (2007). Bilingualism in international schools: a model for enriching language education.
         Clevedon; Buffalo: Multilingual Matters.

Center for Public Education. (2012, May). The United States of education: The changing
         demographics of the United States and their schools. Retrieved December 14, 2014, from
         http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/You-May-Also-Be-Interested-In-landing-page-
         level/Organizing-a-School-YMABI/The-United-States-of-education-The-changing-
         demographics-of-the-United-States-and-their-schools.html

Colbert-Lewis, D., & Colbert-Lewis, S. (2013). The Role of Teacher-Librarians in Encouraging
         Library Use by Multicultural Patrons. In C. Smallwood & K. Becnel (Eds.), Library services for
         multicultural patrons: strategies to encourage library use (pp. 73–81). Lanham: The Scarecrow
         Press, Inc.

Cummins, J. (2001). Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education?
        Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://iteachilearn.org/cummins/mother.htm

Cummins, J. (2003). Putting Language Proficiency in Its Place: Responding to Critiques of the
        Conversational - Academic Language Distinction. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from
        http://iteachilearn.org/cummins/converacademlangdisti.html

Everhart, N., Mardis, M. A., & Johnston, M. P. (2010). Diversity Challenge Resilience: School
        Libraries in Action. In Proceedings of the 12th Biennial School Library Association of
        Queensland. Brisbane, Australia: IASL.

Garrison, K. L., Forest, D. E., & Kimmel, S. C. (2014). Curation in Translation: Promoting Global
       Citizenship through Literature. School Libraries Worldwide, 20(1), 70–96. 

Ho, C. (2011). “My School” and others: Segregation and white flight. Australian Review of Public
       Affairs, 10(1). Retrieved from http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2011/05/ho.html

Kim, M., & Mizuishi, K. (2014, December 10). Language and Cultural Differences and Barriers in
       an International School Setting - Personal Experiences and Reflections [Presentation].
       UWCSEA-East.

McElvaney, J., & Berge, Z. (2009). Weaving a Personal Web: Using online technologies to create
       customized, connected, and dynamic learning environments. Canadian Journal of Learning and
       Technology, 35(2). Retrieved from http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/viewArticle/524/257

Mestre, L. (2009). Culturally responsive instruction for teacher-librarians. Teacher Librarian, 36(3),
       8–12. 

O’Connell, J. (2014). Researcher’s Perspective: Is Teacher Librarianship in Crisis in Digital
       Environments? An Australian Perspective. School Libraries Worldwide, 20(1), 1–19.