What happens at the intersection between text and reader?
Ann Bishop
(abishop@uiuc.edu)
(ready to use)
Coauthors
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This unit describes the research of Professor Christine Jenkins and is based on an interview with her. |
ASK
Subject Areas
Grade Levels
Unit Keywords
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Christine Jenkins, LIS 380LE, Print culture, children |
Rationale of the Unit
| This unit provides an overview of Christine Jenkins'research into how children relate to texts and the role of librarians. Her research is an example of inquiry in Library and Information Science. The rest of this unit is presented in her voice, in the first person, and describes the nature and practice of her inquiry. |
Background and Resources
BACKGROUND
What happens at the intersection between the text and readers? How do librarians intermediate? Specific questions that I explore in my research are: How is the same text different for different children who read it? What does society think kids should and shouldn't read (I compare the canon in children's literatrue to banned books). Who were the librarians who made key collection decisions in the past and what did they have in mind when building the body of collected literature and the profession of librarianship?
WEBSITES
http://www.indiana.edu/~sharp/
History of Education Society
Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America
RESOURCES
In my research, the texts themselves provide my "data": I read and analyze children's books. In type of analysis, my data may be a character struggling: What kind of person is she? What is her role in the book?, her relationship to the protaganist?
I also conduct historical research. I look at librarians during the Cold War period in the U.S. and how they responded to the McCarthy trials and censorship threats. For this type of research, I consult the ALA archives: correspondence, reports, meeting minutes. I also look at what books were chosen to receive the Newberry award during this period.
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Activities and Open-ended problems
OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES
My research often involves tracking trends as a kind of intermediate product... I produce graphs that might show, for example, how many and what types of books were banned each year in the 1960s.
The major outcome from my research is usually a published research paper... I think of my work as telling stories from a new point of view.
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Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations
FACE-TO-FACE DIALOGUES
Discussing my work with colleagues is important to me. I converse with people who I meet at conferences of the Society for History of Authorship, Readership and Publishing, the History of Education Society. I also discuss my work with colleagues at the Center for Print Culture at the University of Madison, Wisconsin.
Aside from other researchers and educators, I also talk with reviewers and publishers of gay/lesbian/bisexual literature.
GROUP DIALOGUES
Participating in conference sessions provides an important opportunity for group discussion.
WRITTEN DIALOGUES
Exchanging and providing feedback on papers we write is one way that I share ideas with other researchers working in my area.
PRESENTATIONS
I present my research at conferences and in my teaching.
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