CDNLAO Newsletter
No. 67, March 2010
Opening of the NLCY
Entering 2000, with more children’s resources being published and people emphasizing the importance of reading, there was a growing need for improving children’s services and securing professionalism in management. Against this backdrop, the need for establishing a representative national library for children grew stronger. To satisfy the need, the National Library for Children and Young Adults under the management of the National Library of Korea was finally opened on June 28th, 2006 after 2 years of preparation. Since then, the NLCY has played a pivotal role in the advancement of children and young adult services by developing and distributing reading promotion programs, running continuing education programs for professional development of children’s librarians, acting as a children’s resource research library and working closely with public libraries across the nation.
Laying the Foundation for the Improvement of Library Services for Children and Young Adults in Korea
Actively involved in various academic research activities to build the infrastructure of children’s services and make further improvement, the NLCY provides opportunities to discuss major issues related to the library and information services by holding various academic seminars. The research projects are as follows:
· Basic research on fostering reading culture for children and young adults (2006)
· Development of continuing education programs for professional development of children’s librarians (2006)
· Research on task analysis for strengthening library services for children (2007)
· Research on standard development for children’s services and public libraries (2007)
· Development of assessment index of public library services for children (2007)
· Research on development and operation of reading promotion programs for young adults (2007)
· Research on development of basic collection of books in children’s libraries (2008)
· Research on schemes to improve the classification system of children’s libraries (2008)
· Cooperation facilitation research for the improvement of children’s services in public libraries (2008)
· Research on development of library multi-cultural services (2008)
· Research on schemes to develop a general catalog of children’s resources (2009)
· Research on schemes to expand the classification system of children’s books (2009)
Operation of Reading Promotion Projects for Children and Young Adults
◯Running outreach reading programs for underprivileged children
The NLCY promotes the ‘Reading Books Together with the Library’ project with public libraries nationwide to provide reading programs and enhance the understanding of reading attitudes and habits among disadvantaged children such as those from orphanages and schools in remote rural areas who cannot easily access library services. The number of participating libraries in the project increased to 50 in 2009 from 16 in 2007 and 30 in 2008. The NLCY plans to expand the number of participating libraries to 75 by 2010.
Through this project, children’s librarians are able to reach out to disadvantaged children, read books to them, introduce various reading programs and give away books after the program. Participating children feel the pleasure of having their own books and are encouraged to develop a lifetime reading habit.
According to study results which analyzed program’s effects on children, they showed improved self-esteem, social skills, reading ability and presentation skills, stronger interest in reading and increased library use.
As part of the ‘mobile library service’, the ‘Book Bundle Circulation’ project was run for elementary schools with less than 200 students on islands or remote areas. The ‘Book Bundle Circulation’ service aims to lend out a bundle of children’s books made up of over 50 Korean elementary level books of various topics in two month intervals.
◯Reading Class in Public Libraries
To help children and young adults realize the importance of reading, find enjoyment in reading, develop a reading habit and become familiar with a library, the NLCY assists public libraries to run the Reading Class during summer and winter vacations.
The Reading Class in public libraries which has been held every year during school vacations since 1971 began to be held under the management of the NLCY after the 75th Summer Reading Class in 2007.
In 2009, a total of 725 libraries ran the Reading Class with 26,009 students from 7,096 schools participating in the reading programs. The Chief Executive of the National Library of Korea Awards and the Director of the NLCY Awards were granted to students who completed the reading class with excellent results. Also the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Awards were given to outstanding leaders including librarians, teachers and related specialists who displayed strong leadership in guiding children.
◯Contest of Reading Newspapers and Book Reviews for Children and Young Adults
Starting from 2007, a contest targeting children and young adults nationwide was held for the purpose of encouraging more children to read and broaden reading opportunities. Participants were encouraged to enter in four separate groups – the lower elementary (grade 1-3), the higher elementary (grade 4-6), middle school and high school groups. After choosing a book related with a presented topic and submitting Reading Newspapers or Book Reviews, winners are notified in early December and given certificates and supplementary prizes.
◯Development and Distribution of Reading Promotion Contents for Multi-cultural Families
In order to motivate interest in reading among children from multi-cultural families and inspire them to read more, the NLCY developed a total of 28 storytelling videos with regard to Korean traditional children’s stories and provided the service to the public. The videos were made in the form of animation with the storytelling done by professional storytellers to make children and young adults feel more involved. Providing subtitles in Korean, Vietnamese and English enables multi-cultural families and foreigners to enhance the understanding of Korean culture and Korean language.
◯Reading Culture Program for Young Adults ‘Library Adventure by Bookworms aged 13-18’
‘Library Adventure by Bookworms aged 13-18’ program was developed to create an independent and voluntary reading environment for young adults by operating the reading promotion programs through school libraries. Every year selecting 40 middle and high schools and assisting them to run various reading programs such as reading camps, themed exhibits, authors’ talks, quizzes and craft classes, the NLCY enhances teenagers’ love of reading and their interest in libraries.
The NLCY allows the ‘Bookworm Reader’ made up of around 20 students in each school to play a leading role in the management of reading programs. Its active involvement in the overall process from planning to preparation and operation enables the creative and innovative management of programs, satisfying the needs of young adults.
Book reviews, after-reading activities and cases of participating schools are posted onto the online community (http://cafe.naver.com/1318bookworm), where librarians and teacher librarians get information and teenager readers share their ideas on reading. The Bookworm Reader makes a recommended book list called ‘Map of the Library Adventure by Bookworms aged 13-18’. The list consists of approximately 200 titles which are divided into nine categories by themes such as ‘My future’, ‘Sex, Love and Friends’, ‘Everything we do is art’, ‘Body and Mind’, ‘the Secret of life’, ‘Stories of our future with robots’, ‘Here, where we live’, ‘The memories of Family’ and ‘My planet, Earth’. It gained popularity among young adults by producing the adventure map using cartoons drawn by teenagers. Also the map distributed to public and school libraries nationwide was very helpful for librarians to run reading programs.
◯Reading Column for Young Adults
The Reading Column website for young adults (www.nlcy.go.kr/column) was created in order to heighten young adults’ desire for reading and to make reading a part of their life. For the Reading Column for Young Adults, celebrities, critics, writers, columnists, and librarians are requested to contribute their columns about recommended reading for young adults, which are then posted up on the website. There is also an E-card service online where you can send electronic mails containing the Reading Column along with greetings to family and friends. Public and school libraries use the online site which contains approximately 70 Reading Columns and flash cards as reading promotion resources for young adults.
Operation of Continuing Education to Strengthen Professionalism among Children’s Librarians
Based on survey results and the analysis of librarian tasks, the NLCY designs and runs continuing education programs to improve public library children’s services.
◯Professional Education Courses
The professional education program designed to improve the grounding and capability of children’s librarians include 9 courses such as ‘Basics for Children’s Librarians’, ‘Children’s Reading Counseling’, ‘Understanding Children’s Books’, ‘Planning Children’s Programs’, ‘Reading Books Together’, ‘Communicating with Children’, ‘Understanding Children’s Literature’, ‘Children’s Book Review’ and ‘In-depth Reading of Picture Books’. Since 2007, the NLCY has provided online education courses for children’s librarians who found it hard to take part in the program. It plans to develop more online courses including ‘Basics for Children’s Librarians’, ‘Children’s Reading Counseling’ and ‘Communicating with Children’ in 2010. As of December 2009, 1,693 children’s librarians completed the professional education program.
◯Workshops
The NLCY runs job-based workshops to help children’s librarians enhance their reading program management skills, ultimately encouraging children’s interest in reading. The NLCY held ‘Reading Playground Workshop’ in 2007 and ‘Reading Class Workshop’ in 2008 and 2009 with a total of 619 librarians participating in the workshops.
Serving as Research Library with Quality Services
The NLCY runs a variety of reading programs making better use of 6 resource rooms and provides quality library and information services for children. By providing children’s authors, writers, publishers, teachers and librarians with an electronic newsletter ‘e-Partner for Research on Children and Young Adults’ containing research findings and relevant information, the NLCY acts as a research library with regard to children’s resources. Moreover, by developing and providing various services and programs such as ‘Storytelling in the Cyberspace’, ‘Acting out a Book’, ‘Puppet Show’, ‘Experience Foreign Culture’, ‘Themed Exhibit for Children and Young Adults’, ‘Young Adult Seminar on Humanities and Science’ and ‘Young Reading Club’, the NLCY presents management and service guidelines for other children’s libraries. The NLCY established an electronic gallery which digitalized traditional Korean children’s resources by genre and time in order to introduce the excellence of Korean storybooks and illustrations. It also holds various exhibits to promote cultural activities, helping people to be more acquainted with children and young adult library culture.
Facilitating Cooperation with Libraries both Home and Abroad
In order to upgrade children’s library services through close cooperation with domestic children’s libraries, the NLCY runs the Children’s Library Service Council. Practical affairs sections such as ‘Children’s Book Review Section’ and ‘Reading Programs Section’ are in operation to develop various reading programs and make recommended book lists or reviews.
Since 2007, the NLCY International Symposium has been annually held to advance library services for children and young adults, inviting internationally renowned children’s service experts and librarians to share their valuable experience and expertise with Korean participants.
The NLCY spurs efforts to facilitate international exchange and cooperation with domestic and international libraries such as regular exchange efforts with the Dresden Public Libraries in Germany and the International Library of Children’s Literature in Japan for the advancement of children’s library services on both sides.
Copyright (C) 2010 National Library of Korea
