Panagiotis Stathopoulos’s project, “Found in Translation: Reading, Writing, Critical Thinking, and Metaphrasis,” is the 2013 recipient of the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Innovative Reading Grant. Sponsored by Capstone, this grant of $2,500 supports the planning and implementation of a unique and innovative program for children that motivates and encourages reading, especially with struggling readers.

Working out of the de Paul School in Louisville, Kentucky, where Stathopoulos is the school librarian, “Found in ‘Translation’” looks to improve student comprehension of scientific concepts and encourage students to read nonfiction. During the project, fourth-grade students will read selections of nonfiction texts to learn about a scientific concept. They will then be asked to incorporate—or “translate”—that information into a fiction story to demonstrate their comprehension of the concept. The fourth-grade students will be asked to create a compelling narrative, as their audience will be de Paul’s second- and third-grade students.

The project will be a collaboration between many of the school’s educators, including the librarians, classroom teachers, and art teachers. From the librarians, students will learn the different elements of story composition and review sample story books on scientific concepts. Classroom teachers will guide the choice of topics and facilitate the writing process. Art teachers will then demonstrate drawing techniques for book illustration. The finished product of this collaborative project will be a digital translation of the student’s story, which will consist of a video of scanned pages and written text and audio read by the student author. Books will be shared through the school’s Intranet.

“The committee unanimously decided on ‘Found in Translation: Reading, Writing, Critical Thinking and Metaphrasis’ because it covered the entire gamut of comprehension,” said Sabrina Carnesi, award committee chair. “Translations required the reiteration of the nonfiction/informational text content that each student chose through the recursive literary process of writing, illustrating and sharing with a wider audience via digital text. Future plans to implement this program throughout the school showed an outstanding effort via the school librarian and classroom teacher in efforts to successfully create a literacy conscious community of readers and thinkers.”

During these three free webinars, participants will:

• Hear from librarians who participated in the Engage! pilot program, who will share what worked and what didn’lt with teens.
• Be introduced to a free PDF guide to the Engage! model, featuring detailed instructions on how to get started.
• Learn how to formulate effective “looking questions” that will elicit participation and engagement with art and thematic content.
• Learn how to select images that will illuminate relevant civic participation issues for teen discussion and learning.

Please be sure to register for all three sessions. This project was inspired by the National Endowment for the Humanities’l Picturing America project. Funding for Engage! is provided by the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust and from the Terra Foundation for American Art.

This session will focus on issues based discussions for teen audiences, using the Engage! Teens, Art & Civic Participation model. Adam Davis, Director for the Project on Civic Reflection and an advisor to the Engage! project, will walk webinar participants through how to identify locally relevant issues and images for issues-based teen programming, and Christie Chandler-Stahl, formerly of the Evanston (Ill.) Public Library and currently at the Rakow Branch of the Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, Illinois, will share how this approach worked in her library.

Can’ make it on May 15? You can still register for the webinar, and we will notify you as soon as the webinar is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience!

Although the Public Programs Office is a wonderful resource for programming librarians, there is currently no formal space in the ALA structure for members to contribute to the world of library public programming. With this in mind, the members of the Public and Cultural Programming Advisory Committee have decided to push forward with the establishment of a new ALA Member Interest Group, to be known as the Programming Librarian Interest Group. The first step of this process is to collect the signatures of one hundred ALA members on an ALA e-petition.

The Programming Librarian Interest Group’s mission statement is:

To bring together all types of librarians interested in public programming for their patrons. Programming is an intrinsically essential library service. The Programming Librarian Interest Group will help librarians advocate for programming at their own institutions, share program ideas and successful strategies, and provide a space for professional development by librarians who do programming officially and unofficially as part of their job duties. The group will also be a vehicle for ALA members to connect more dynamically with ALA’s Public Programming Office.

If we can collect the necessary one hundred signatures, our petition will move on to the Committee on Organization for approval. If the MIG is established, membership will be open to all ALA members. We hope that you will join us in achieving our goal of establishing a member-driven forum for public programming within the ALA structure.

In response to the report, American Library Association President Maureen Sullivan released the following statement:

“One thing that nearly all parents agree about is the importance of libraries! This study echoes what librarians have heard from parents for years: libraries encourage and build a love of reading and books. Librarians provide more information and resources than any family can afford to have at home. Libraries provide a safe and welcoming space for reading and learning.

“Libraries continue to link people with the information and the critical resources they need to educate themselves and to connect with their communities. Eighty-seven percent of children who visited the library do so to borrow books. Fifty-five percent went to do school work. A whopping 77 percent of teenagers come to us to support their out-of-school learning!

“An important way in which libraries support lifelong learning is by offering public programs that range from storytime for preschoolers to homework programs for teens. A recent report from the Institute of Museum and Library Services finds that libraries offered 2.3 million programs for children. Attendance at these children’s programs exceeded 60.5 million.

“Parents with school-age children also are more likely to be active library users themselves and to be interested in expanded library services than those without school-age children at home. Sixty-two percent of parents think libraries should offer a broader selection of e-books. Seventy eight percent of parents would like to participate in programs that allow patrons to test new technology devices and apps. Digital media labs and mobile services also are of interest to seven out of ten parents.

“I am pleased and proud that our nation’s libraries have inspired this level of confidence and trust. We thank the Pew Internet Project and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their research and continued exploration of the role and contribution of our public libraries in the digital age.”