Discusses how we create a school library reading culture

1. ASLA NSW State Library Day
Engaging Readers
Susan La Marca
February 2004

2. Reading for me, is a means
of thought. One way of
saying this is that literature
gives us images to think
with.
(Chambers, 1991, p. 14)

3. Reading
Reading literacy is needed to function well in adult
life, whether in fulfilling personal goals, progressing
in the labour market or participating more widely in
society.
OECD (2000) Reading for Change: Performance and
Engagement Across Countries. Results form PISA
2000 (Executive summary): OECD - PISA (Program
for International Student Assessment). p. 3.

4. Reading
What children learn with books is a whole initiation
into such matters as: how do you know whether you
are reading a story or a factual report, how do you
know if someone in a story is telling the truth, how
do you learn to play an author’s game of being
tricked by red herrings, seduced by charmers,
repelled by the wicked and much, much more. In
fact, most, if not all, the reading we do as adults
rests on the bedrock of having learned as children
the devices and techniques of narrative that have
been developed over thousands of years in literature.
Michael Rosen in The Reading Solution
by Paul Kropp with Wendy Cooling, Penguin, 1995.

5. Reading
We all read ourselves and the world around us in
order to glimpse what and where we are. We read to
understand, or to begin to understand.
Manguel, A. (1996) A History of Reading.
London: Harper Collins. p. 7.

6. Reading and school achievement
A print- rich environment leads to more reading and
free voluntary reading is the best predictor of
comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling and
grammatical ability and writing style.
Lonsdale, M. (2003) Impact of School Libraries on Student
Achievement: a Review of the Research (Report for the
Australian School Libraries Association - ASLA ). Melbourne:
Australian Council for Educational Research, p. 1.

7. Reading and school achievement
The National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) 1999 long-term reading assessment found
that reading for fun had a positive relationship to
average scores. At all three ages (9, 13, 17 years),
students who said they read for fun scored higher
than peers who said they never read for fun.
Campbell, J. R., Hombo, C. M., & Mazzeo, J. (2000) 1999 Trends in Academic
Progress: Three Decades of Student Performance, [online report]. NAEP (National
Assessment of Education Progress) Department of Education, Washington DC.
Available: www.nifl.gov/nifl/facts/reading-facts.html [Accessed 18th November, 2002].

8. Reading and school achievement
Students who read independently become better
readers, score higher on achievement tests in all
subject areas, and have greater content knowledge
than those who do not (Krashen 1993; Cunningham
and Stanovich 1991; Stanovich and Cunningham
1993).
Cullinan, B. E. (2000) Independent Reading and School Achievement, This
manuscript was commissioned as part of a national study - Assessment of the
Role of School and Public Libraries in Support of Educational Reform, Westat,
In., 1998-2000. (Originally prepared for the U.S . Department of Education).
New York: American Library Association.

9. Reading and school achievement
(from Conclusion)
Independent reading is the kind students choose to
do on their own; it is not assigned or assessed, but it
has a positive effect on learning and school
achievement. Research about the effects of
independent reading on school achievement and
programs planned to promote it demonstrates these
common factors:
Cullinan, B. E. (2000) Independent Reading and School Achievement, This
manuscript was commissioned as part of a national study - Assessment of the
Role of School and Public Libraries in Support of Educational Reform, Westat,
In., 1998-2000. (Originally prepared for the U.S . Department of Education).
New York: American Library Association.

10. Reading and school achievement
-The amount of free reading done outside school has
consistently been found to relate to achievement in
vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency,
and general information.
Cullinan, B. E. (2000) Independent Reading and School Achievement, This
manuscript was commissioned as part of a national study - Assessment of the
Role of School and Public Libraries in Support of Educational Reform, Westat,
In., 1998-2000. (Originally prepared for the U.S . Department of Education).
New York: American Library Association.

11. Reading and school achievement
-Students' reading achievement correlates with
success in school and the amount of independent
reading they do.
Cullinan, B. E. (2000) Independent Reading and School Achievement, This
manuscript was commissioned as part of a national study - Assessment of the
Role of School and Public Libraries in Support of Educational Reform, Westat,
In., 1998-2000. (Originally prepared for the U.S . Department of Education).
New York: American Library Association.

12. Reading and school achievement
Student engagement
Students who read well tend to be active readers.
They gain in terms of both motivation and experience
from reading regularly outside the context of school
work.
OECD (2000) Reading for Change: Performance and
Engagement Across Countries. Results form PISA 2000
(Executive summary ): OECD - PISA (Program for
International Student Assessment). p. 12.

13. Reading and school achievement
Some important factors such as students' home
background are hard to influence. Others, such as the
way in which schools are organised, are more
amenable to change. One crucial factor that education
systems can work on is the degree to which students
are active and well motivated readers. This report
shows that the degree to which students are engaged
in reading is a crucial factor associated with reading
proficiency.
OECD (2000) Reading for Change: Performance and
Engagement Across Countries. Results form PISA 2000
(Executive summary): OECD - PISA (Program for
International Student Assessment). p. 3.

14. Reading and school achievement
The results show how important it is not just to teach
students to read but to engage them in reading as part
of their lives.
OECD (2000) Reading for Change: Performance and
Engagement Across Countries. Results form PISA 2000
(Executive summary): OECD - PISA (Program for
International Student Assessment). p.12.

15. Australia
OECD (2000) Reading for
Change: Performance and
Engagement Across
Countries. Results form PISA
2000 (Executive summary ):
OECD - PISA (Program for
International Student
Assessment)

16. Enabling adult:
the teacher-librarian

17. Attitude
Bertland (1988) found that students' patterns of
borrowing books from the library for recreational
reading hinge on the attitudes of their teachers.
Teachers who consistently bring their classes to the
library for skills lessons and to do content-area
research have students who frequently use the
library for independent reading. On the other hand,
teachers who do not bring their classes to the library
to select books have students who check out fewer
books per person.
Cullinan, B. E. (2000) Independent Reading and School Achievement, This
manuscript was commissioned as part of a national study - Assessment of the
Role of School and Public Libraries in Support of Educational Reform, Westat,
In., 1998-2000. (Originally prepared for the U.S. Department of Education).
New York: American Library Association. p. 3.

18. Relationships
(Executive summary) Libraries, reading, literacy and
learning (point 3.10)
Research shows that the relationship between
school librarians and teachers has a significant
impact on the quality of learning in schools. Better
integration, mutual understanding and respect need
to be developed.
CILIP (2002) Start with the Child: Report of the CILIP Working Group on
Library Provision for Children and Young People (report ISBN 0 9543792 2 5).
London: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

19. Enabling adult
Teacher-librarians typically place the right book in
the right hands at the right time and encourage a
lifelong love of reading (Barlup, 1991). The role of the
teacher librarian, connecting young people with
books that interest them, has been underestimated.
Haycock, Dr Ken (2003) The Crisis of Canada's School Libraries: The Case for
Reform and Re-Investment, Association of Canadian Publishers. p. 27
Available at: http://www.publishers.ca

20. Reading environment
To be successful there should be:
–a large, varied collection of reading materials 
–knowledgeable library staff who know both the collection
and the students with whom the work
–adequate access to reading materials both during
structured reading programs and out of school hours
– varied forms of reading materials in an array of reading
ability levels 

21. Reading environment
To be successful there should be:
–modelling by staff of positive attitudes towards reading
and their students as readers
–whole school support for reading as a necessary part of
life 
–an encouraging, welcoming physical environment 
–a sense of ownership by the students of their own
reading development and their reading environment
Next

22. Reading environment
It should come as no surprise that if reading is
valued and promoted, young people will need
interesting and relevant material to read. Access to
these materials becomes critical. Further, the larger
the library collection, the larger the impact on
reading and achievement.
Haycock, Dr Ken (2003) The Crisis of Canada's School Libraries: The Case for
Reform and Re-Investment, Association of Canadian Publishers. p. 28
Available at: http://www.publishers.ca
Back

23. Reading environment
A good reading environment, including comfort and
quiet, as well as larger library collections, affect
reading, literacy development and reading scores.
Haycock, Dr Ken (2003) The Crisis of Canada's School Libraries: The Case for
Reform and Re-Investment, Association of Canadian Publishers. p. 28
Available at: http://www.publishers.ca
Back

24. Reading environment
What is it that enabling adults, teachers especially,
do? They provide, stimulate, demonstrate and
respond.
They provide books and time to read them and
an attractive environment where people want to
read. They stimulate a desire to become a
thoughtful reader. They demonstrate by
reading aloud and their own behaviour what a
‘good’ reader does. And they respond, and help
others respond, to the individuality of everyone in
the reading community they belong to.
Chambers, A. (1991) The Reading Environment.
NSW: PETA, Thimble Press, p. 92.

25. The enabling adult