University of Rhode Island
Graduate School of Library and Information Studies
LSC 530: Reading Interests of Children
Spring, 2005

Gale Eaton
Telephone: 401-874-4651
E-mail: geaton@uri.edu
Office hours Monday 3-5 or by appointment

Catalog Description

Building, maintaining, evaluating, and promoting collections for children in public libraries and elementary school media centers. Fiction and nonfiction; books emphasized, digital and other resources also discussed.

Topics to be Covered

During the course, students will:

1.   explore and discuss the educational, recreational, developmental, and informational needs of children and the particular needs of those adult library users (parents, teachers, etc.) who support them (GSLIS 9, 10, 11, 20; RIDE 1, 3, 4)*;

2.   consider issues related to children's access to information, confidentiality and intellectual freedom in light of the American Library Association's Code of Ethics and Freedom to Read statement as well as current law (GSLIS 2, 3; RIDE 11);

3.   develop skills in locating, selecting, evaluating, and promoting children's books and related media (GSLIS 4, 16; RIDE 2);

4.   discuss the application of contemporary theories of child development, educational practice, literacy and literary criticism to the evaluation and use of library materials for children (GSLIS 11, 13; RIDE 2, 6, 7);

5.   write a paper on issues in collection development or a plan for collection development in a specific area (GSLIS 4, 8; RIDE 8); and

6.   through oral or online presentations, written reviews and annotations, communicate the knowledge and enjoyment of books and other library materials (GSLIS 6, 8; RIDE 8)

* Numbers in parentheses refer to relevant University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Educational Outcomes and Rhode Island Department of Education Beginning Teacher Standards.

Charlotte S. Huck et al. Children's Literature in the Elementary School. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. 0-07-256281-1