From Broken Yolks to Party Folks

The Importance of Libraries & and Literacy

in Keeping Diversity Alive For Our Children

Dr. Camila Alire

Dean Emerita

University of New Mexico

ALA President 2009/10

Thanks to…..

ALSC Children's Books Council Dollar General Literacy Foundation Jamie Naidoo

A Story……

Good Boy, Bad Boy

Children's Book About People of Color Published in the U.S. 2002 & 2013

Year

Total Numberof BooksPublished (Est.)

Number of BooksReceive

dat CCBC

African / African

Americans

American Indians

Asian Pacific/Asian Pacific

Americans

Latinos

  About   About   About About

2002

5,000 3,150   166   64   91   94

2013

5,000 3,150  

93 (-42%)

 34 (-46%)

 

69 (-24%)

  57 (-39%)

Why Is All Of This So Important?

3 reasons

1.Over-arching reason > literacy among our young minority children is critical and can lead to their: Development, success, and future.

2. Literacy Lessens the Reading Achievement Gaps

2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

2013 Average score did not change from the last assessment in 2009

2013 Reading scores decreased from the first assessment in1992

Literacy Statistics

Where’s the need?

30% of high school students drop out before graduation. 50% of these dropouts are African American and Latino. American Indian and Alaska Native students have a

dropout rate twice the national average. 3 out of 10 Native students drop out of school before

graduating; this statistic includes those on reservations and in cities.

Asian and Pacific Islander students who struggle in school often fail to get the attention and resources they need.

3. U.S. Census Minority Populations 2000 & 2010

2000U.S. TOTAL MINORITY PERCENT

281,421,908 86,869,132 30.9

2010U.S.TOTAL MINORITY PERCENT %CHG

308,745,538 111,927,986 36.3 +28.8

Family Literacy Focus

The vision: help families in ethnically diverse communities improve their literacy skills.

The concept: support and mentor family literacy models through ALA’s five EthnicAffiliates.

The initiative: help public libraries build innovative and replicable family literacy program models.

ALA’s Five Ethnic Affiliates

American Indian Library Association (AILA)

Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA)

Black Caucus of ALA (BCALA)

Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA)

REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking

AILA and APALA

Talk Story shares the richness and diversity of American culture with new readers. http://talkstorytogether.org/grants

Reading is Grand!

Celebrates the important role grandparents play children’s lives

• Reaches out to those grandparents acting as primary caregivers

• Builds literacy through shared stories.

BCALA

Dai Dai Xiang Chuan 代代相传

Dai Dai is an appropriate Chinese pun.

Dai Dai means “bag” and refers to passing on the knowledge from one generation (Dai) to another.

REFORMAThe National Association

to Promote Library and Information Services to

Latinos and the Spanish Speaking

From Broken Yolks to Party Folks

Great strides in the depiction of minorities in children’s materials

BUT….

Challenges and Opportunities Challenges

90 million adults read at or below the basic level.

11 million adults are non-literate in English.

Parents and grandparents are the child’s first teacher.

A child’s success in school depends on the adult’s literacy level

Opportunities

Reaching across generations and cultures

Building strong literacy practices in diverse communities

Stepping up and developing library multicultural literacy programs & collecting more multicultural materials

Needing to proliferate the genres by authors and future authors.

Needing publishers to commit to publishing more diverse multicultural materials – print and digital.

Thank you