Junior High Reading Choices and School Librarian Influences on Those Choices
Location
CSU 204
Start Date
24-4-2007 10:30 AM
End Date
24-4-2007 12:30 PM
Student's Major
Gender and Women's Studies
Student's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor's Name
Jocelyn Fenton Stitt
Mentor's Department
Gender and Women's Studies
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
It is often assumed that adolescent girls and boys, specifically in junior high, either show a strong interest in reading or have little to no interest. After exploring some "best seller" lists regarding junior high literature, I made an assessment that students who choose to read unassigned literature or "leisure reads" often pick books which reflect the topics which are related to their gender. For example, on a list entitled "13 Year Old Essentials!," the book selection was clearly targeted towards young girls, with titles like "Princess Diaries." While students are not being assigned such books within the classroom, the library is a place where students have easy access to a wide assortment of novels. After making an assessment of popular novels read by junior high students, I was interested to see if librarians influenced students' reading choices through verbal suggestions or through the selection of novels that they ordered for the library. I was also interested in finding out if these influences were consciously or unconsciously gendered. In my search to answer these questions, I surveyed a group of surrounding area librarians in junior highs as well as librarians in charge of the young adult section of the public libraries. With the information I gathered from the surveys, in addition to some research within academic journals, I was able to answer the question of to what degree young readers were influenced by librarians, and how the literature that they chose to read portrayed gender issues.
Junior High Reading Choices and School Librarian Influences on Those Choices
CSU 204
It is often assumed that adolescent girls and boys, specifically in junior high, either show a strong interest in reading or have little to no interest. After exploring some "best seller" lists regarding junior high literature, I made an assessment that students who choose to read unassigned literature or "leisure reads" often pick books which reflect the topics which are related to their gender. For example, on a list entitled "13 Year Old Essentials!," the book selection was clearly targeted towards young girls, with titles like "Princess Diaries." While students are not being assigned such books within the classroom, the library is a place where students have easy access to a wide assortment of novels. After making an assessment of popular novels read by junior high students, I was interested to see if librarians influenced students' reading choices through verbal suggestions or through the selection of novels that they ordered for the library. I was also interested in finding out if these influences were consciously or unconsciously gendered. In my search to answer these questions, I surveyed a group of surrounding area librarians in junior highs as well as librarians in charge of the young adult section of the public libraries. With the information I gathered from the surveys, in addition to some research within academic journals, I was able to answer the question of to what degree young readers were influenced by librarians, and how the literature that they chose to read portrayed gender issues.
Recommended Citation
Turbes, Sarah. "Junior High Reading Choices and School Librarian Influences on Those Choices." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 24, 2007.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2007/oral-session-13/7
