3 Promoting non-fiction and subject-specific reading

For lots of teenagers, reading for pleasure is a concept associated with fiction rather than non-fiction. Indeed, it may not even occur to many of them that reading non-fiction has the potential to be enjoyable. Instead, the idea of reading around a subject can seem little different from doing extra homework. However, doing so can help broaden student’s knowledge and give them a deeper appreciation for their subject. It is therefore important that as a librarian you encourage students to engage with non-fiction and extra-curricular reading as much as possible, helping them to see it not as a chore, but an opportunity to satisfy their curiosity and push the boundaries of their knowledge. To repurpose a metaphor by Cressida Cowell, the author of the How to Train Your Dragon series, we should be aiming for students to view non-fiction books as sweets rather than brussels sprouts (Cowell, 2018). By encouraging students to engage with reading in this way, you can help them develop lasting habits which will stand them in good stead for success in later life.

It’s important to recognise that many students will already engage daily with non-fiction content online so encouraging them to make a connection between their digital reading and the physical books in your library can help make non-fiction books less daunting. However, online reading should still be encouraged as much as possible, as students who read extensively online, whether that be emails, chat messengers, the news, or online discussions ‘are generally more proficient readers than students who do little online reading’ (OECD, 2010, p. 12). Recent studies have also shown that reading e-books supports children’s vocabulary, spelling, and reading comprehension skills, and is just as effective in the development of literacy as reading traditional print books (López-Escribano et al., 2021)

For students who struggle to devote their attention to books, non-fiction and reference books are perfect for dipping in and out of. Encouraging an avid sports fan to pick up a non-fiction book about the Olympics, for example, can act as a gateway to further reading. Building a collection of books and resources which not only reflects the subjects and topics taught in your school, but also evokes curiosity amongst students is, therefore, an important part of your job as a librarian.

Having a pupil suggestion box, making notes of any informal conversations of note, and liaising with the student council, are all ways you can maximise the likelihood that your resources reflect what students want. However, it is crucial that your collection is primarily influenced by the curriculum. As we discussed previously in Session 1, it is, therefore, particularly beneficial for you to develop close working relationships with your colleagues who can guide you to useful resources and help you decide which to invest in. These resources might support specific topics taught within the classroom or provide broader subject-related materials to aid students’ research and wider reading. Whether it’s a simple email, an informal conversation, a scheduled meeting or a formal presentation, liaising with colleagues from across the school can only have a positive influence on your library and its contribution to teaching and learning. Developing these close working relationships can be symbiotic in providing opportunities for you to find new and helpful resources for your colleagues.

To explore this subject further, watch the video below where Sarah discusses the ways you can maintain a high profile amongst your colleagues and identify opportunities for collaboration. After you have done this, complete the activity, reflecting on your current approach to collaborative collection management.

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Transcript: Video 3

SARAH:

I think collaboration and being proactive with teaching staff is absolutely crucial. Because if you don't have your resources that you've got visible, they just gather dust on the shelf. And nobody even knows they're there. So we have to maintain a high profile. And that means going out there and finding the people we need to engage with.

So we might be talking at staff meetings. Quite often I would just make up a question, just so that I could get my voice heard at the meeting by the other staff. It's also getting that slot for the new teacher induction and making sure, even if it's only five minutes, that you're on that agenda. Ask for slots at training days, inset days. Invite them into the library as a venue for an event they're holding, or perhaps give an assembly, if you can. And sometimes that can link in well with an event such as World Book Day.

It's important to find, who are the teachers in your school that are interested in working with the librarian and your library resources? That way, you can select the resources you need together. And another thing I used to do was I always, even if it was on a non-fiction topic, I would pop a fiction reading list into that topic box, so that they could read around the subject and learn the vocabulary in a different way by reading a story.

Another thing we can do is to find out who is the school governor who's got special responsibility for the library. If we know who they are, we can demonstrate and show them all the vibrant things that are going on in the library. Invite them in to shadow us for a day.

Student voice is often ignored. We think, as teachers, part of the staff, teaching and learning, that we impose our ideas on them. But actually, if we listen more to the students, they can give us ideas about which are the best resources to use.

Sometimes I take a box of books into the classroom for a topic. And I get them in pairs to look through it and then to tell me which ones they thought they'd use in the project and why. Then I could put notes on the catalogue to show how it's been used in the past by students. For instance, I could say, year seven castles project, ook on page 23 of this book, and you'll get the diagram that you need for your work.

We need to appear knowledgeable. We need to show the people, the teachers that we deal with that we know the curriculum, that we know the syllabus. And if we listen and watch other teachers, we can speak the speak as well.

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Attending training days, assemblies and departmental meetings are a good way to develop a high profile in your school community. Approaching and building a relationship with the school governor who is responsible for the library can also help to ensure your position is well represented in decision-making.