LIBR 260
Resources for Children, Ages 0 - 6
Summer 2004

Allison Taylor McBryde
E-mail address: ataylor@slis.sjsu.edu

E-mail hours: M 9-5, W 9 – Noon, S 9 – 5

 

Course Requirements

 

 

  

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Course Description

LIBR 260. Resources for Children, Ages 0-6
This course is designed to establish a working knowledge of the resources available for children under the age of six. From an examination of the evolution of the picture book, to contemporary trends in children’s book and media publishing, students will develop skills to critically evaluate children’s resources for public libraries and schools. Research on child development from birth to six will provide a background for the evaluation of materials. Familiarity with professional resources will be used to develop critical skills, hone reader’s advisory skills and prepare a literature-based program for a group of young children in a school or public library setting.

Prerequisites: none

 

Course Objectives

 At the completion of this course students will have:

  • Knowledge of current children’s books from board books to the ubiquitous picture book, from nursery rhyme collections, poetry and song books to concept and informational books for children six and younger.
  • Read and annotated a minimum of one professional article (website or selected chapters from a list of resources posted in the weekly schedule), ten new children’s books, and two media resources between June 7 th and August 8 th for a total of 13 annotations per week. Each title will be new to the student this term, except when specified, and most titles will have an original publication date between 1995 – 2004.
  • An appreciation of the variety of artistic styles and design techniques used in the creation of children’s books and media.
  • A benchmark by which to compare newer children’s books (published since 1995) to the classics, the lexicon to evaluate and interpret critical reviews, and criteria to develop selection policies.
  • Knowledge of published resources about children’s literature for parents, teachers and professionals and a familiarity with a wide variety of reference books, websites, selection tools and review journals .
  • An overview of the stages of child development and an understanding of current research on the intellectual, emotional and social growth of babies, toddlers and children to age six.
  • The ability to translate developmental research and an awareness of age appropriate resources into a half-hour library program for a group of children (and their parents, care-givers or teachers), of a particular age and community, using a variety of presentation styles.
  • The ability to provide reader’s advisory to children, parents, care-givers and teachers and to find appropriate resources for a variety of ages on various topics.
  • Knowledge of a wide variety of media, from music and spoken word cassettes and CDs , educational CDROM and informational and literature based videos and DVDs which are appropriate for children six and under.
  • Knowledge of the importance of the pre-literacy skills developed during early childhood, the critical role of the parent and care-giver and the vast educational benefits of reading aloud and sharing literature with young children. 

 

This course supports the following SLIS objectives:

  • One or more specialized aspects of information management.
  • Evaluating and utilizing relevant research studies from a variety of disciplines.

Required Text

No single textbook is required. Many professional resources will be recommended and used for one or more lectures or assignments. You will require access to some but not all of these titles. Most journal articles will be available through your library’s database. Public and university libraries may also have some of the professional texts but you are not expected to purchase titles not available through a library. Weekly readings will be assigned and may include journal articles, websites or selected chapters of a professional text. Access to a public library with an excellent and diverse collection for children is essential for the reading assignments of children’s books and for access to children’s media resources.

 

Recommended Texts

Butler, Dorothy. (1998) Babies need books: sharing the joy of books with children from birth to six. (Reprint ed.) London: Penguin.

Hearne, Betsy Gould & Stevenson, Deborah. (1999) Choosing books for children : a commonsense guide Urbana: University of Illinois.

Horning, Kathleen T. (1997) From cover to cover: evaluating and reviewing children’s books. New York: HarperCollins.

Lewis, David (2001) Reading contemporary picturebooks: picturing text. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

A full list of recommended resource titles will be available on the course website and through the weekly reading assignments, posted on the LIBR260 website under Weekly Schedule, Reading Diary Assignments and/or Resource Lists.

 

Course Format:

This is a web based course using Blackboard, beginning June 1, 2004 which includes two full meeting days (9a.m. – 5p.m.) at the Fullerton campus on July 19 & 20, 2004. (Attendance both days is required) You will be able to enroll on the SLIS Blackboard site, 260-Summer-2004, starting on May 20, 2004 and must have enrolled before June 1 st. Instruction begins June 1 st on the SLIS Blackboard site and continues to August 14 th. Assignments will be submitted via the Blackboard site or email and in person at Fullerton.

 A course schedule on the website provides a week by week outline of the discussion topics, lectures and professional resources. Resources materials may be available through your campus library, your public library and through the university’s on-line databases. It will be necessary to find current children’s materials at your local public libraries for your weekly readings.

  

Grading - Total of 100%

Reading Diary 40%
Weekly Discussions 20%
Author / Illustrator Profile 20%
Storytime Profile and Program 20%

 

Computing requirements:

1. You MUST have the minimal home computing environment as described at http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/ecommunication/homecomputing.htm
and have Internet Access, including the ability to send and receive email, view the WWW with a graphical browser, create and view PDF files and word documents.

2. You must keep virus software up-to-date and all assignments must be scanned before submission.

3. Assignments are due by midnight of the due date and must be submitted with the student’s name in the email body with the assignment number, and numbered footers on each page of the assignment.

I work full time in addition to teaching and will have “office hours” on Monday and Wednesday and Saturday (or Sunday) mornings, Pacific Daylight Time. Other than those times, responses may take slightly longer. I shall try to post repeated questions on the website under announcements and further information regarding each assignment, class resources, and weekly reading requirements will be available on the website.

If you need any special consideration due to a disability, you need to register with the SJSU Disability Resource Center and notify the instructor by the second week of classes.

All assignments submitted must be your own work. All reading for this course must be new to you. Books read or media viewed previous to this term will inform your current reading, but cannot be counted in the Reading Diary. All annotations will be of titles that are new this term. Other than specified readings, and our assignment on the “classics”, all children’s materials reviewed must have an original publication date between 1995 – 2004. Sources and resources must be properly cited in papers. The university requires that papers conform to the APA style sheet. A “crib sheet” is available at: http://www.docstyles.com/apacrib.htm

The San Jose State University regulations governing plagiarism will be enforced. See the University policy as linked from the SLIS Faculty Handbook page on plagiarism http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/de/problems/plagiarism.htm


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Last updated: 05/07/04