A/N: You can find the activity here: https://archerslibrary.com/2023/05/24/pd-interview-with-a-librarian-about-book-awards/

You can find all my professional development activities here: https://archerslibrary.com/librarianship/

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Description of Activity

For my professional development activity regarding book awards, I held an interview with a teacher librarian using a semi-structured interview format. I then thematically analysed the interview. As a teacher librarian (who shall be referred to as E for anonymity), E works with students from kindergarten through year ten (ages 5-16) and is the collections curator for her library. I asked her what books awards are, what book awards are useful to her and in what ways, how she uses book awards, and any negatives about or ways to improve books awards.

What did I learn?

I learned that book awards are given to books considered to be outstanding in a variety of categories by various panels in Australia and internationally (E, interview, May 24, 2023). These panels are made of people invested in children’s and youth literature (E, interview, May 24, 2023). First, a long list of books is published, then a short list and then the winners (E, interview, May 24, 2023). These lists help book buyers have trust in the quality of the book and can be especially good resources for finding new non-fiction books or debut authors (E, interview, May 24, 2023). Although the books listed and awarded are not all Australian, both the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) and the Australian branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) list many more Australian resources than other international awards, increasing the ability of Australian librarians to select books which represent diversity in an Australian context (E, interview, May 24, 2023; Hateley, 2012). However, not all books on the long or short lists or even the awarded books are appropriate for all libraries and all collections (E, interview, May 24, 2023). Librarians therefore must exert their own judgement and use their own library’s collection policy to inform final decisions about acquisition (Floegel, 2018, p. 335).

How was the activity relevant to my professional practice working with children/young adults?

This activity was relevant to my professional practice as quality collections curation processes are an important part of children’s librarianship and this activity as shown me a new way to find and select resources. While awarded books and highly bought books do not always converge, awards have been shown to signal book quality to buyers (Dekker & de Jong, 2017). While the real-world effects of book awards, such as increased sales and name recognition have been hard to quantify (Hateley, 2012), E (interview, May 24, 2023) indicates that book awards can help the selection process in library collections. Therefore, in my future practice working with children and young adults in the library, I will be able to appropriately use book awards to assist in the selection of new resources for the children and young adults’ collections.

What gaps in my knowledge were revealed and how might they be filled?

This activity revealed gaps in my knowledge about the process of book awards. The actual procedure of who selects books for the long list, short list and awards is unknown to me, and potentially differs from one award to another. While some awards offer monetary prizes while others do not, and the existence of book awards can cause tension in the literary community (Hateley, 2012), the effects the selection process of book awards panels is unknown. I will need to fill these gaps by researching further into the nature and potential biases of book awards panels.

References

Dekker, E., & de Jong, M. (2017). What do book awards signal? An analysis of book awards in three countries. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 36(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276237416689636

Floegel, D. (2018). Ethics in reference. In K. A. Cassell & U. Hiremath (Eds.), Reference and information services: An introduction (4th ed., pp. 335-346). Neal-Schuman.

Hateley, E. (2012). And the winner is…?: Thinking about Australian book awards in the library. The Australian Library Journal, 61(3), 189-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2012.10736074

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You can find the activity here: https://archerslibrary.com/2023/05/24/pd-interview-with-a-librarian-about-book-awards/

You can find all my professional development activities here: https://archerslibrary.com/librarianship/