LIBR 264-01
Seminar in Services to Children and Youth
Topic: The Value of Controversial Literature for Teens
Summer 2007 Greensheet
Joni Richards Bodart
E-mail
Phone:408-924-2728
Website: thebooktalker.com
| Greensheet Links Textbooks and Readings Course Requirements |
Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials SLIS e-Bookstore |
Students will be able to self-enroll in the Blackboard course site starting June 4, 2007. You will need an access code which will be sent to all registered students on June 4, 2007 via MySJSU.
Course Description
History of censorship patterns of YA literature, and an examination of the psychology of censoring behavior. An analysis of novels that are considered ground-breaking or controversial because of their format, content, or treatment of difficult issues facing teens. Coursework will focus primarily on novels by Robert Cormier, Chris Crutcher, Julie Ann Peters, and Francesca Lia Block, and other authors of frequently-challenged materials. It will also provide information on helpful resources for libraries facing challenges, and the processes and procedures that should be in place before the challenge occurs, including, but not limited to, selection policies, reconsideration procedures, and strategies and techniques useful to the YA librarian under attack.
Course Rationale
Because YA literature is, by definition, controversial, because that literature is a rapidly-expanding genre, extending the limits of subject, language, and format into areas previously considered taboo, it is frequently challenged, and young adult librarians need to be equipped to defend it, to protect the intellectual freedom of their customers, and the integrity of their collections.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, the student will be able to:
- Identify reasons why YA literature is inherently controversial
- Identify the characteristics that make a book controversial
- List the reasons why controversial titles are important
- Discuss why controversial literature can be a positive influence on the social, intellectual, and ethical development of teens
- Explain the value of edgy and difficult YA literature to teachers, parents, and other interested adults
- Discuss their own philosophy of intellectual freedom
- Recognize, evaluate, and take into account self censorship tendencies in order to objectively evaluate materials in the light of community standards
- Explain why novels currently being published for teens are more graphic and intense than those of previous generations
- Analyze controversial titles for teens and explain their bibliotherapeutic value
- Identify resources, both print and online, that will be helpful before and during a challenge situation
- Prepare bibliographies on a variety of controversial subjects or situations
- Write a YA selection policy and reconsideration procedure
- Write a rationale for a challenged title
- Explain the steps to take to defend library materials before and after a challenge occurs
- Demonstrate how to interact with an angry customer making a challenge
- Identify organizations that can be of assistance in a challenge situation and what services they can provide
LIBR 264 supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom;
- recognize the social, cultural and economic dimensions of information use;
- use service concepts, principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users;
- describe the fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviors;
- understand the nature of research, research methods and research findings; retrieve, evaluate and synthesize scholarly and professional literature for informed decision-making by specific client groups;
- demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations;
- evaluate programs and services on specified criteria.
In addition, this section supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- apply the fundamental principles of planning, management and marketing/advocacy;
- use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information;
- contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities.
Textbooks and Readings
Required Textbooks
- Bodart, J. R. Radical Reads: 101 YA Novels on the Edge. Scarecrow, 2002.
- Campbell, P. Robert Cormier: Daring to Disturb the Universe. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2006.
Go to SLIS e-Bookstore.
Recommended
- Aaronson, Mark.
- Dresang, Eliza.
Course Requirements
Office Hours
By appointment only, in Clark Hall, 418H. You may also ask questions via email or on the BB discussion board. I will answer email on a daily basis or as quickly as I can. I will also be posting to the FAQs section of the discussion board when questions are asked that are of interest to the whole class.
If you need to speak to me by phone, I will do all I can to be available to you, but scheduling that call in advance to make it convenient for both of us, and ensure that I have enough time cleared to respond to your questions or problems.
Class Meetings
(Required Face to Face Class Meetings)
There will be four days of f2f meetings. All are required, and will be from 10:00-4:00, with a hour and fifteen minute break for lunch. All days will be extremely full, as you will see below, so come prepared to take lots of notes. This is also why it’s essential that you be on time in the morning and when returning from breaks and lunch. The agenda for those classes will be:
- Introductions—who I am and who you are
- Discuss greensheet and assignments
- History of YA Lit
- Controversial by nature
- Classics
- New trends
- Defining controversial books for teens
- Why controversial books are important and necessary
- Psychology of censorship
- Collection development policies
- What to do before a challenge occurs
- Face to face with an unhappy customer
- Individual presentations and discussions on four featured authors
- Discussions of other controversial authors, titles and topics
- Student presentations
Blackboard Site
Please check the site regularly for announcements, discussion board questions, and so on. As soon as you sign up on BB, go to the discussion board and introduce yourself, both professionally and personally. Explore the various forums for other information I think might be helpful to you. More will be added as we go along. Assignment due dates are also posted there, as well as below. You will be submitting all your assignments via Assignment Manager. Do NOT use the digital dropbox. Anything left there will be discarded unread.
Please let me know right away if you have problems with anything.
Elluminate sessions
I will be scheduling several Elluminate sessions (after we discuss on the discussion boards what times are going to be most convenient) to highlight parts of the course, for instance, the components of an effective display, how to find props, how to keep it looking good, and so on. You are also welcome to suggest discussion topics for Esessions. These sessions are optional, so if you are not able to participate, you can watch it later. However, if you aren’t there, you can’t add to the discussion, and give the rest of the class a chance to hear your pearls of wisdom. And we all have pearls now and again!
Other Requirements
PLEASE NOTE:
All assignments are designed to help you gain knowledge that will allow you to achieve competency in one or more of the competencies listed above. They are not busy work, and I have designed them carefully to give you both knowledge and skills that will help you promote the controversial and valuable titles written for teens. If you don’t understand how a particular assignment will help you do this, please ask me. I will be happy to explain.
- Class Participation
Read text, attend the f2f meetings, and participate in class discussions on discussion boards. Participate is defined as posting 3-4 times weekly, both in response to the questions I post and to others’ reactions to them. Comments should be thoughtful and insightful, adding to our mutual learning process. Questions will be posted on a biweekly basis. Class participation also involves being present for the f2f sessions, being an active group member, and contributing to your group’s class presentation. Group members will also be required to do a self and peer evaluation as part of their participation grade. This evaluation will be in the form of an informal paper. The peer evaluations will be no more than one page, describing how the group came together, who did what, and how well or how poorly your process worked. The self evaluation will include a comparison of your thinking about controversial YA literature at the beginning and at the end of the class, showing how you have changed in your thinking—or how you haven’t. How has your participation in this class affected your thinking and perceptions? It will also include a statement of your own philosophy of intellectual freedom and how you will exhibit it as a part of your career in librarianship.
Due dates: begin now, and finish with f2f presentation. PERCENTAGE OF GRADE: Your grade on this assignment will be averaged with your program and display plan, and averaged to represent 25% of your final grade.
- Database of Controversial Titles
Read 4 titles by each of the four featured authors, and read at least 20 titles by other controversial authors and prepare a database of them. There are two lists at the end of this greensheet and posted on BB to get you started. One is a list developed for this class, the other is the titles I will be including in my next book, Rad Reads 2. You are also welcome to move beyond the lists, but please limit your selections to literature written for teens, rather then adult titles enjoyed by teens. You may use any format you choose to, but must include the following information: complete bibliographic information, summary, evaluation, readers’ 1-2 sentence annotation, bibliotherapeutic usefulness, genre or subject, and if it wasn’t required, why you chose it. (It looked interesting is NOT a sufficient reason.) You may also want to include booktalk ideas, similar titles, or other information to help you remember the book for class discussion and for the future. (This is when you curl up with a book, and smugly tell family and friends you are doing your homework.) I have obtained a guest account for you on NoveList, to help you locate titles. I will explain about this during the June 7 Esession.
Due August 4. This assignment will represent 50% of your final grade.
- Rationale Paper and Presentation
Working in groups of three, investigate a controversial author or a specific genre or topic in YA lit that is frequently challenged. This is the scenario I’d like you to follow. You are the YA librarians at a public library in a medium sized town in either an urban or a rural setting—choose one. The author or topic you have chosen has been challenged in your town, and you have been asked to investigate the author/topic and prepare a document for the library director supporting the work/author challenged, and to also prepare a presentation for the library board and city council, explaining the library’s position. (I know that this would probably never happen, but just pretend. I think this will help you focus your work, but if you want to create another scenario, or just do a straight research paper, just ask me about it.)
Write a rationale and prepare a class presentation with a PowerPoint slideshow on your author, genre, or topic. Your will also want to prepare a handout for class members, and have copies of the titles you mention available to share with the class. Each group will give a 30 minute presentation with a Q&A session on the fourth of our f2f meeting days. You may divide up the work in any way you choose, but all group members should participate in the presentation in some way. There will be an optional Elluminate session on June 7 from 630-830 pm, to help you form groups. There will also be a forum on BB you can use for the same purpose if you can’t make the session, which will be recorded, so you can look at it later. I will also talk about the greensheet, and answer any questions anyone has during the Esession. I must approve all authors and topics. This can happen during the Esession, on BB or via email, but needs to get done as quickly as possible.
If you are writing about a person, research the author’s life and give a brief biography, explain why you chose this person, discuss his or her writing style and the subjects most frequently written about. Discuss why this author’s titles are controversial or unique in some way, including this individual’s approach to writing controversial fiction. Analyze in depth what you consider to be this author’s most important books, and discuss why you included each of them. You will want to include at least 5 titles (unless they have written fewer than 5 titles) and can use these titles as part of your database. Compile an annotated bibliography of these titles with reader’s annotations, so your list could be make into a bookmark. Create any other handouts you think might be helpful to class members. TIP 1: Most authors have websites, and they can be very helpful to you. TIP 2: You are welcome to contact the author you are writing about and include that information in your study. If you do this, please use this format. When you contact the author for the first time, introduce yourself, explain you are taking my class, and ask if s/he would be willing to answer 5 brief questions, that should take no more than 30 minutes for them to answer. Attach the questions or include them in the email. Read the FAQs on their website before writing your questions!!! They don’t need to reinvent the wheel. When you get their response, please say thank you. You can also offer to send them a copy of your work. TIP 3: If I know this person, and I know quite a few, you will probably be more likely to get a positive response from them. So ask me.
If you are writing about a topic or genre, define and discuss it, explaining its parameters and why it is controversial. Discuss what you consider to be the most important titles in this area, and why they are important. You will also want to look at this genre from a historical perspective, and discuss how it has been treated in YA lit in the past, the ways it has been depicted over time, and how it is depicted in current literature. You should include 5-10 titles, which can be used as part of your database. You will want to show the value of the topic and of each title you selected, and how it could be used in a bibliotherapeutic manner. Create an annotated bibliography of these titles with reader’s annotations, so your list could be made into a bookmark. Create any other handouts you think might be helpful to class members. TIP 1: Doing a topic you are familiar with or like a lot will be less useful to you than exploring one you know less about or like less. TIP 2: Selecting a topic that is too narrow will make your life more difficult. TIP 3: If you query any of the many YA listservs, please do your homework ahead of time, and cite the places you have already looked at. Yes, it’s important to begin to build networks, but these folks are not supposed to be doing all your work for you. Go as far as you can, then ask them for help. They are friendly and love to help, so don’t be shy.
Presentation due at f2f, paper due on August 4. This assignment will represent 25% of your final grade.
- Sample Program and Display
Create a program for Banned Books Week, or for some other event highlighting controversial fiction, including the rationale for the program, who it is aimed at, speakers, activities, promotion, displays, and anything else that would allow someone else to set up and run this program, based only on your description of it. This is to be a one-shot deal, not a series, such as a weekly program, or an SRP. Take a look at some of the BBW programs online to help you get started. You will be describing this program in an informal paper, illustrated with pictures of your display on it and promotional materials you create to promote and market it. If you are doing this program in conjunction with another community group or organization, include information about them, why you are working together, and how you got connected so you could do so.
You need to include at least one display. The information on the displays should include the titles and types of materials you would put in the display, how it was created, what props you used, where in the library it would be located, and when it would be done (time of year), if it is connected with an event or a season, or other time-related occasion. You need to give enough detail to allow someone else to create it just from your description of it. When planning the display, consider how it will be perceived by teens and by other library customers. For instance, a display that looks good, but no self respecting teen would go near for fear someone would see them checking out that topic or subject, isn’t going to be effective. This paper probably won’t be more than 3-4 pages long, outside of the pictures.
Due July 6. This assignment, averaged with your class participation grade, will represent 25% of your final grade.
Books, Books, and More Books!
This is primarily an opportunity for anyone who can come to campus, but for those of you who cannot, I will see how the USPS works.
I have a huge and growing collection of review books, many of which could be used for this class. You are welcome to schedule a time with me to come to the office and dig through them, and then check them out and return them later, by mail if you like. I did this when I was teaching in an onsite program, and it worked very well, and students loved the change to see the new titles. I don’t know how well it will work at SLIS, since so many folks are not within driving distance, but I want to experiment and see, and this seemed like the perfect time to do it. I will talk about this more during our E session, and I hope those of you with questions about it will come to the session or email me ahead of time so I can include your questions and my responses as part of the session, so you can listen to them later. And I do want to emphasize that I don’t want to slight those of you who can’t come to campus. Any suggestions you might have about how to get books to you would be much appreciated.
Grading Scale
The standard SJSU SLIS Grading Scale is utilized for all SLIS courses:
| 97-100 | A |
| 94-96 | A- |
| 91-93 | B+ |
| 88-90 | B |
| 85-87 | B- |
| 82-84 | C+ |
| 79-81 | C |
| 76-78 | C- |
| 73-75 | D+ |
| 70-72 | D |
| 67-69 | D- |
| Below 67 | F |
Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability,
please e-mail me as soon as possible. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires
that students with disabilities register with the Disability Resource Center
(DRC) to establish record of their disability.
No matter where students reside, they should contact the SJSU DRC to register. The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/
Academic Integrity
Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San José State University, and the University's Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The policy on academic integrity can be found at http://sa.sjsu.edu/student_conduct.
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