scholarly journals Impact of School Libraries on Students' Life Skills

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Koimett
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Young People ◽  
Life Skills ◽  
Interpersonal Skills ◽  
School Library ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Well Being ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Hiv Aids

The main aim of this paper is to examine the importance, implications, and opportunities of the school library in providing information and ideas that are fundamental to functioning successfully in today’s information and knowledge-based society. The school library equips students with life-long learning skills and develops their imagination, enabling them to live as responsible citizens. This paper will explore how school libraries enable all members of the school community to become critical thinkers and effective users of information in all formats and media. Further, it will stress the need to link school libraries to the wider library and information network in accordance with the principles in the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto. More specifically, this paper will examine the link between life skills and the school libraries in building cognitive, personal, and interpersonal skills in the background of a developing country like Kenya. It will endeavour to corroborate Douglas (2000) statement that ‘every child must become fully competent in reading so as to succeed in school and discharge responsibilities as a dependable citizen of a democratic society’. Students in every field must read in order to keep abreast of what is happening around them. What better way can there be than having well equipped school libraries that are effortlessly accessible? This paper is based on the premise that life skills which represent the psycho-social skills that determine valued behaviour and include for example reflective skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking, personal skills such as self-awareness, and interpersonal skills can be developed through exposure to a variety of media. Reference will be made to a range of research which suggest that practicing life skills leads to qualities such as self-esteem, critical thinking, decision making, sociability and tolerance among others. For purposes of this paper, it is worth noting that UNICEF defines life skills as “a behaviour change or behaviour development approach designed to address a balance of three areas: knowledge, attitude and skills”. In Kenya today, the citizens are grappling with a myriad of problems including illiteracy, poverty, HIV/AIDS, displacement, hunger, high inflation levels, domestic violence, and terrorism. This paper will investigate how the school library can, by and large, be used to stem the challenges, and be employed to develop and grow the nation. Indeed, if young people are empowered with life skills, they will be able to make the right choices through situational analysis, critical thinking and informed decision making. Consequently, they avoid risky behaviour, reduce their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other vices since life skills are essentially those abilities that help promote mental well-being and competence in young people as they face the realities of life. 

scholarly journals Children of Library Land – the Past, Present and Future of Finnish Library Services for Children and Young People

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (36) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Ulla Pötsönen
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Young People ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
School Library ◽  
Public Library ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Library Services ◽  
School Librarians ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
The Moment

Finnish library services for children and young adults are an integral part of Finnish society, education and societal life. The article highlights the historical development and present day of Finnish library system as well as describes the best practices on the activities libraries provide for young clientele and their caretakers.After World War II, Finland started a rapid rise towards being a modern nation. Reading as a pastime hobby gained popularity, there were more education possibilities, the level of education was on the rise and young people spent more years in school instead of starting to work early. All this had a positive effect on library services. The changes in education and society had their effect on children’s library services as well, and today children’s and youth libraries are an essential part of Finnish society.Unlike in many other countries, Finland does not have school libraries in every school. At the moment, there are some excellent school libraries and dedicated school librarians but majority of schools are served with public libraries. The line between school library and public library is blurred, as majority of visits may be of pupils but the connection between high quality education and well-functioning library service has enabled libraries and schools to develop common goals, objectives and strategies.

scholarly journals Treatment Choice in Adolescents With Cleft Lip and/or Palate: The Importance of Shared Decision-Making

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (9) ◽  
pp. 1220-1229
Author(s):  
Francesca Wogden ◽  
Alyson Norman ◽  
Louise Dibben
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Young People ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Cleft Lip ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Pediatric Dentist ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Inductive Thematic Analysis

Objective: Limited research has studied the involvement of children in medical decision-making. The aim of the study was to understand the involvement of adolescents with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) in decisions about elective surgeries and treatments. Design: Parents and professionals completed mixed-methods questionnaires about the degree to which children had been involved in choices about elective treatments. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Young people aged 12 to 25 years were asked to take part in semistructured interviews. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Setting: Questionnaire data collection took place online, and interview data were collected via messenger or telephone-based interviews. Participants: The study employed 30 participants; 11 young people (3 male, 8 female), 17 parents (13 mothers, 4 fathers), and 5 professionals (2 surgeons, 2 speech and language therapists, and 1 pediatric dentist). Results: Five main themes were identified. These reflected participants feeling that with increasing age should come increased involvement in decision-making and that it was important for adolescents to “have a voice” during decision-making. Parents, peers, and health professionals were identified as influencing decisions. Most adolescents reported overall satisfaction with their involvement in decision-making but sometimes felt “left in the dark” by professionals or under pressure from parents. A desire to improve speech and/or appearance was as an area where adolescents wanted to be more involved in decision-making. Conclusions: Shared decision-making is an important factor for psychological well-being by promoting autonomy and self-esteem among adolescents with CL/P.

Just why do we need school libraries? Some ideas from students

2014 ◽  
Vol 115 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 140-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kenneth Shenton
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
School Library ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pleasure Reading ◽  
Personal Interests ◽  
Frequency Counts ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the purposes of school libraries as they are viewed by teenagers attending a high school in northern England. Design/methodology/approach – The work is based on qualitative data contributed by 245 youngsters. Their material was coded inductively and frequency counts were generated in order to determine the balance of the data in relation to individual themes. Findings – Typically, the school library was understood as an area that made available books either for pleasure reading or academic purposes. No participant referred either to the work of librarians or to the value of libraries in enabling the user to find information in support of personal interests. Research limitations/implications – The research took place in only one school and it may well have been the case that many students who were apathetic towards school libraries simply declined the opportunity to participate in the work. Practical implications – Although the attitudes of the young people who contributed data were to an overwhelming degree constructive, key gaps were evident in their awareness of the potential of a school library. These are best rectified by managers developing their facility in such a way that it serves to demonstrate effectively to students the roles that the school library can play in a diversity of situations. Originality/value – Much of the published literature dealing with the purposes of school libraries and the prerequisites necessary to ensure their effectiveness pays little regard to the ideas of young people themselves. This paper goes some way towards remedying the deficiency.

scholarly journals A Proposed Program for Developing Early Divorced Women’s Life Skills: A Social Service Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Nouf M. Alotaibi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Life Skills ◽  
Interpersonal Skills ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Female Faculty ◽  
The Social ◽  
Training Courses ◽  
Service Perspective

The present research aims to propose a program, from a social service perspective, to develop early divorced women’s life skills through identifying the most important life skills that should be developed among them, determining the nature of social services provided to them for developing their life skills, and to identify the obstacles hindering social services from playing their roles in this regard. To achieve the research objective, the author adopted the descriptive analytical method, designed a scale for life skills applied to (100) early divorced women, and distributed a questionnaire to a sample of female faculty members, social specialists and managers to identify the social services provided to the early divorced women. The research results showed that the skills of problem solving, decision making, and critical thinking were highly available among the early divorced women while communication and interpersonal skills were the lowest available ones. The results also identified the social services provided to the early divorced women to contribute to the development of their life skills and the most prominent obstacles that prevent social services from playing their roles in developing those skills. Some recommendations have been made including continuing to intensively hold training courses and workshops for the early divorced women and qualifying them for developing their own life skills.

scholarly journals Carnegie Revitalisation of Public Libraries in Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Baffour-Awuah
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
School Library ◽  
Public Library ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
Carnegie Corporation ◽  
Library Development ◽  
The Impact

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has embarked on a revitalisation programme of some African public libraries. The Corporation has made grants to those public library systems targeting previously disadvantaged communities. Those aspects of the programmes that the grantees have drawn up which could impact school library development in the recipient countries are highlighted here. The selected public libraries of Botswana, Kenya and five provinces within South Africa, as grantees of revitalisation awards are the objects of focus here. Seven other African countries that have benefited to a relatively lesser extent are mentioned as issues emerge that relate to them. Suggestions are made as to the impact some of these public library programmes could make on school libraries and school pupils.

scholarly journals Florida 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl

EDIS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris DeCubellis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Decision Making Problem ◽  
Development Department

This 4-page document discusses the 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl Program, a fun and educational way for young people ages 8-18 to positively develop critical thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, listening, and communication skills. Written by Chris Decubellis and published by the UF/IFAS 4-H Youth Development Department, January 2019. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/4h395

Library makerspaces in China: A comparison of public, academic, and school libraries

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 1209-1223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fenfang Cao ◽  
Shuheng Wu ◽  
Besiki Stvilia
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
School Library ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
Type Data ◽  
Physical Spaces

This exploratory study identified and compared the organization, services, challenges of and motivations for makerspaces in public, academic, and school libraries in China. Although there is a significant body of literature on makerspaces in libraries, this study is one of the first ones that provides a comparison of library makerspace organization and operation by library type. Data was collected using paper and online surveys from 158 librarians. Supporting learning was the most frequently identified motivation for establishing a makerspace by all three categories of librarians. While makerspaces in academic libraries were mostly operated by library staff, school libraries more evenly relied on teaching staff, volunteers, library staff members, and paid instructors to operate their makerspaces. Makerspaces in public and academic libraries were funded mostly from the libraries’ budget, while school libraries were funded more by other units on the campus and institutional or individual investments. The most frequently selected technologies were 3D printing and modeling technologies, and makerspaces in academic libraries were better equipped than makerspaces in the other two types of libraries. Group study rooms and learning commons centers were the most frequently occurring physical spaces in academic and public library makerspaces. School library makerspaces differentiated themselves by offering wooden crafts centers more often than other library makerspaces. While participants selecting budget limitation and inadequate equipment as barriers to implementing makerspaces was not surprising, public and academic librarians also often cited the lack of professional instructors. Based on the findings, several suggestions were offered to the practice of planning and operating a makerspace in libraries such as bringing together internal and external funding to support makerspaces, consolidating the required physical space of makerspaces and the existing space arrangement of libraries, and developing additional training programs to address the problem of a lack of professional instructors.

Catholicism and the Church of England in a Northern Library: Henry Halsted and the Burnley Grammar School Library

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 533-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Mews ◽  
Michael Mullett
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
School Library ◽  
Public Library ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Grammar School ◽  
The North ◽  
Religious Controversy ◽  
Personal Library ◽  
The Church ◽  
Made In

THE contents of what was described in 1885 as ‘the most extensive and the most interesting of the old Grammar School Libraries of Lancashire’, the Burnley Grammar School Library, shed interesting light on the state of religious controversy in the north between the late sixteenth and the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The library, which, through the generosity of Burnley Grammar School and with the kind co-operation of the Lancashire County Library, is now on permanent loan at Lancaster University, forms, as presently constituted, a collection of 875 volumes, published mainly in the seventeenth century. It owes its foundation to, and, as we shall see, reflects the religious interests, aims, and viewpoint of, the Revd Henry Halsted (1641-1728), rector of Stansfield, in Suffolk, who left the whole of his personal library to the Burnley Grammar School in 1728. Shortly after Halsted’s death, the collection was augmented by a small addition of books presented by another clergyman, the Revd Edmund Towneley of Rowley, rector of Slaidburn, Lancashire. It is, therefore, essentially a clerical and religious library and provides an interesting example of what sort of material typical, affluent English incumbents of the Augustan and early Hanoverian period considered worthy of places on their study shelves. For purposes of comparison within the region, a collection by two laymen made in another northern town and, like the Halsted-Towneley collection, charitably gifted, the Petyt Library, built up to over two thousand volumes by two brothers in the first decade of the eighteenth century, and now housed within Skipton Public Library, with its heavy emphasis on divinity, can be profitably examined. In the essay that follows we shall consider the Burnley Collection as essentially that of its principal donor, Henry Halsted, and as enshrining his aims.

scholarly journals ADOLESCENT’S ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR DECREASE OPPORTUNITIES AT SCHOOL

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Karīna Zuša
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Social Skills ◽  
Young People ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Addictive Behavior ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Mathematical Processing

Prevalence of addictive behavior among young people is very rapid. Different preventive measures are being taken in schools to reduce addictive behavior, but often the youth age is the time when they want to experiment and self-testify using different intoxicants and often the form of organizing these preventive measures is not binding and effective for young people. The aim of the research is to reduce the addictive behavior of socio-pedagogical activity by developing social skills for young people. Research Methods: interviewing, questionnaires, mathematical processing of data. Mainly young people are starting to use addictive substances as a result of peer pressure, having problems with friends, out of curiosity, and family problems. However, the knowledge of the consequences discourages use of various intoxicating substances, the control of the parents, the fear and the fact that their friends also do not use. Skill, no, decision-making skills, critical thinking skills, skills to protect your opinion, and reasonable talk skills help refrain from using addictive substances.

Russian and foreign sociological longitudinal studies of educational and professional trajectories of youth

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-156
Author(s):  
М.А. Курганов
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Young People ◽  
Longitudinal Studies ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Educational Trajectories

В статье представлен аналитический обзор современных социологических лонгитюдных исследований образовательных траекторий молодeжи, которые проводятся в России, США и странах Европейского союза. Сравниваются цели, задачи, характеристики выборок исследований. Рассматриваются методологические особенности изучения траекторий молодых людей в образовательных системах и на рынке труда. Затрагиваются основные аспекты исследований образовательных траекторий и карьерных путей, находящиеся в фокусе внимания социологов: гендерные, этнические, социально-экономические и психологические. Приводятся выводы, полученные в ходе проведeнного исследования. Его результатом стало понимание, что западные и отечественные лонгитюдные исследования образовательных траекторий сходятся в том, что социальное положение, материальное благополучие, а также «образовательный опыт» родителей или же других членов семьи, оказывают большое влияние на принятие решений молодыми людьми относительно их дальнейшей образовательной и профессиональной карьеры. В контексте разных стран и планов исследований — описания образовательных траекторий студентов, прогнозного определения лиц, выбирающих тот или иной путь карьерного роста, последовательной реконструкции траекторий — было обнаружено, что малоресурсные группы в высшем образовании, такие как студенты из неблагополучных семей, следуют менее линейным и менее плавным траекториям в сфере высшего образования. Российские исследования отличает то, что они рассматривают и изучают образовательные и профессиональные траектории в тесной связке друг с другом, а также фокусируются на проблеме взаимосвязи между социально-экономическими факторами и индивидуальным выбором. Вместе с тем ощущается недостаток комплексного изучения нематериальных и некогнитивных факторов, влияющих на принятие решений в ответственный момент перехода к профессиональному образованию или же из системы образования на рынок труда. The article presents an analytical review of modern sociological longitudinal studies of educational trajectories of young people, which are conducted in Russia, the United States and the countries of the European Union. The goals, objectives, and characteristics of the research samples are compared. The methodological features of studying the trajectories of young people in educational systems and in the labor market are considered. The main aspects of the research of educational trajectories and career paths that are in the focus of sociologists ‘ attention are touched upon: gender, ethnic, socio-economic and psychological. The conclusions obtained in the course of the study are presented. It resulted in the understanding that Western and domestic longitudinal studies of educational trajectories agree that the social status, material well-being, as well as the “educational experience” of parents or other family members, have a great influence on the decision-making of young people regarding their further educational and professional career. In the context of different countries and research plans-describing the educational trajectories of students, predictive determination of people choosing a particular career path, consistent reconstruction of trajectories — it was found that low-resource groups in higher education, such as students from disadvantaged families, follow less linear and less smooth trajectories in higher education. Russian studies are distinguished by the fact that they consider and study educational and professional trajectories in close connection with each other, and also focus on the problem of the relationship between socio-economic factors and individual choice. At the same time, there is a lack of a comprehensive study of non-material and non-cognitive factors that influence decision-making at the crucial moment of transition to vocational education or from the education system to the labor market.

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