scholarly journals Services for Preschool Children in School Libraries: A Call to Action

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cahill ◽  
Bobbie Sartin Long ◽  
Denice Adkins
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Urban Libraries ◽  
Mental And Physical Health

The quality of learning environments and interactions in the first years of life set the stage for school success and have lasting impacts on mental and physical health and wellbeing across the lifespan, and even life expectancy (Wong, Odom, Hume, Cox, Fettig, et al, 2014; Reynolds et al., 2011). Libraries are positioned to provide rich learning opportunities for young children and their caregivers (Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2013, 2015; Urban Libraries Council, 2007). Library programs for young children, offered in nearly all public libraries in the United States support school readiness and educate parents about meaningful ways to interact with their children (Becker, 2012; Burger & Landerholm, 1991; Cahill, Joo, & Campana, 2019; Campana et al., 2016; de Vries, 2008; McKechnie, 2006; Mills et al., 2018; Smardo, 1984; Williams, 1998), but it is unclear what, if any, programs are offered for young children and their families through school libraries.

School Readiness of Young Children Enrolled in Preschool in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Elana R. Kriegel ◽  
Miriam R. Singer ◽  
Sarah A. Keim ◽  
Eli Rapoport ◽  
Andrew Adesman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young Children ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
The United States

scholarly journals Micro-environments in Libraries for Young Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stamoulia Polyzou ◽  
Nikos Zygouris ◽  
Kafenia Botsoglou ◽  
George I. Stamoulis ◽  
Denis Vavougios
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Quantitative Characteristics ◽  
Special Space ◽  
The Ideal

Most public libraries, small, medium, or large, offer a variety of services, facilities and amenities to their audience, depending on the assigned functions. The ideal size of space for children in public libraries cannot be calculated according to the population that it will serve, as is often the case with school libraries, but based on the activities to be developed and the characteristics of particular characteristics of childhood. Therefore, emphasis must be given primarily on the qualitative and secondarily on the quantitative characteristics of the children’s library physical environment. This paper presents answers on some basic questions. Do Public Libraries provide special space arrangements for children and their families in their establishments? Are Children Libraries “reading-rooms” suitably designed and furnished as to provide the necessary areas for reading, relaxing, playing or creating? Observations in several library facilities revealed some interesting findings concerning Children’s Library environments.

scholarly journals Effects of Music Therapy on Well-Being of People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingzi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Mental And Physical Health

The number of people in the United States diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is projected to increase, posing an urgent need for more effective treatments. Music therapy (MT), a clinical treatment that primarily uses music and involves no medication, is known to evoke memory of music-related experiences among patients with AD and dementia. To better understand the effects of MT on patients with AD and related dementia, I conducted a literature review. The findings suggest that MT is effective in promoting well-being as well as the mental and physical health of patients with AD and related dementia, although no significant effect on patients’ cognitive functions was found. Considering the increasing demand for care and treatment for patients with AD and related dementia, MT should be employed in conjunction with other forms of treatment, in order to improve the patients’ quality of life and relieve the burden on families. More detailed research is needed to help achieve a better understanding of the potential benefits of MT on patients with AD and related dementia.

scholarly journals Various Factors May Influence High School Student Use of Public Libraries

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Robin E. Miller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
School Students

Objective – To discover the factors that influence frequency of high school students’ usage of public libraries. Design – Structural equation modeling (SEM) using the person-in-environment (PIE) framework to test latent variables and direct and indirect relationships between variables. Setting – Public and school libraries in the United States. Subjects – Three datasets: Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), provides data about individual students; Public Libraries Survey of 2004, then conducted by NCES, provides data about public libraries in the United States; and Summary Files 1 and 3 of U.S. Census 2000, provide neighborhood-level demographic data. Methods – Using ArcGIS, the researcher prepared and linked three datasets. Data were analyzed using factor analysis, regression, weighted least squares, and path analysis in order to test relationships between variables exposed in three large datasets. Main Results – Frequency of public library use by high school students may be influenced by several factors, including race and/or ethnicity and access to resources like school libraries, home computers, and public libraries with adequate service levels. Conclusion – Increased funding for public library spaces and resources may be warranted by the finding that high levels of public library service may increase high school students’ use of public libraries, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

scholarly journals Protecting and extending Froebelian principles in practice: Exploring the importance of learning through play

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Hoskins ◽  
Sue Smedley
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Academic Pressure ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Learning Through Play ◽  
And Training

The current early years emphasis on ensuring young children achieve ‘school readiness’ has contributed to a context of academic pressure in early years settings in England. The debated term ‘school readiness’ is vaguely expressed in England’s early years curriculum as ‘Children reaching a good level of development in the prime areas of literacy and mathematics’. Opportunities for play, self-directed and adult initiated, are impacted by the academic pressures created by the English government’s demands for young children to achieve school readiness, which can dominate and determine the activities on offer in early years settings. The possibility to enact Froebelian approaches to learning, through child-initiated play, are further marginalized by the current early years policy agenda. A key issue relates to Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills), who judge settings primarily in relation to the quality of the academic environment provided and successful academic and developmental outcomes achieved by all children. In our recent research project, we sought to understand how much capacity early years practitioners perceived they had to enact Froebelian principles in their daily practice and the importance they attached to Froebel’s notion of learning through play. We interviewed 33 early years practitioners in six settings, working with preschool children aged between 2 and 4 years, about their understanding of Froebel’s concept of learning through play; the space, physical and temporal, they had to encourage and enable play; and the challenges of supporting children to learn through play. We explored the participants’ theoretical understandings of Froebel’s work and ideas in their education and training pathways. Our data highlight that many practitioners followed Froebel’s approach, but did not overtly name and identify their practice as Froebelian.

scholarly journals How B is B4? Attachment and Security of Dutch Children in Ainsworth's Strange Situation and at Home

1983 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. van Ijzendoorn ◽  
L. W. C. Tavecchio ◽  
F. A. Goossens ◽  
M. M. Vergeer ◽  
J. Swaan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Dutch Sample ◽  
Dutch Children ◽  
Ainsworth's Strange Situation

Ainsworth's Strange Situation is a procedure for determining the quality of the attachment between caregivers and young children. This procedure, developed in the United States, has here been applied to a Dutch sample of 66 mother-child pairs. In doing so, the stability, reliability, and validity of the instrument have also been investigated. The instrument was validated by means of a questionnaire for the mothers concerning the feelings of (in-)security their children experience in everyday separations.

scholarly journals Partnering Public and School Librarians for School Readiness Programming

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Alexis Bloomer
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Kindergarten Readiness ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
The Other ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
School Librarians ◽  
The Public ◽  
Childhood Education

Partnerships from public and school librarians for programming can prove to be beneficial for connecting with the community. When collaborating for school readiness programs, such as a school readiness fair, the expertise can bring about the best resources and services that both the public and school librarians have to offer, alongside the other community leaders in early childhood education. The paper discusses how to create a school readiness fair based on a collaboration between public and school librarians. Covering aspects of networking, programs such as Every Child Ready to Read, and school curriculum standards, it brings about the best parts of collaborating for a community event.   Keywords: School Readiness, school libraries, public libraries, programming, kindergarten readiness

scholarly journals Exploring Topics and Genres in Storytime Books: A Text Mining Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
Soohyung Joo ◽  
Erin Ingram ◽  
Maria Cahill
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The United States ◽  
Informational Texts ◽  
Emotional Skills ◽  
Bibliographic Data

Objective – While storytime programs for preschool children are offered in nearly all public libraries in the United States, little is known about the books librarians use in these programs. This study employed text analysis to explore topics and genres of books recommended for public library storytime programs. Methods – In the study, the researchers randomly selected 429 children books recommended for preschool storytime programs. Two corpuses of text were extracted from the titles, abstracts, and subject terms from bibliographic data. Multiple text mining methods were employed to investigate the content of the selected books, including term frequency, bi-gram analysis, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis. Results – The findings revealed popular topics in storytime books, including animals/creatures, color, alphabet, nature, movements, families, friends, and others. The analysis of bibliographic data described various genres and formats of storytime books, such as juvenile fiction, rhymes, board books, pictorial work, poetry, folklore, and nonfiction. Sentiment analysis results reveal that storytime books included a variety of words representing various dimensions of sentiment. Conclusion – The findings suggested that books recommended for storytime programs are centered around topics of interest to children that also support school readiness. In addition to selecting fictionalized stories that will support children in developing the academic concepts and socio-emotional skills necessary for later success, librarians should also be mindful of integrating informational texts into storytime programs.

Remote Delivery of Services for Young Children With Disabilities During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 105381512110376
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Steed ◽  
Ngoc Phan ◽  
Nancy Leech ◽  
Renee Charlifue-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Education Services ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Young Children With Disabilities ◽  
Remote Services ◽  
Method Approach

This study used a nationally distributed survey to explore how classroom-based early childhood personnel delivered remote services to young children with disabilities and their families during the early months of the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A concurrent equal status fully mixed-method approach was used to analyze 221 participants’ responses to closed- and open-ended survey questions. Findings indicated that children with disabilities received modified special education services during school closures; most comments noted that early childhood personnel shifted to provide remote coaching to families. Other comments mentioned one-on-one services and accommodations for remote learning. Personnel described some benefits of remote services such as improved partnerships with families. Top reported challenges included children not receiving the same quality of services and high levels of educator stress. These and other study findings are discussed regarding the implications of COVID-19 for providing services to young children with disabilities and their families.

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