This fall the Library received a grant from the Fr. Ray Herman Peace & Justice Center to purchase juvenile literature for our PreKindergarten-12th grade collection in order to update it and better reflect the diversity of today’s students with respect to ability, ethnicity, culture, body type, religion, aging, socioeconomic status, and gender and sexuality.
Our PK12 collection is available to all members of the community but is especially used by students in EDU 280: Literature for Children & Young Adults. This course includes participation in the Reading Buddies Program, where students in the course read to pre-K through fifth grade students. The success of this program requires that the college students find books that are grade-level appropriate and interesting to their buddies.
Additionally, these books need to reflect the diversity of our communities. Representation is foundational to student development. Students from marginalized communities can find their experiences represented in books and thus know they are not alone and that they are worthy. For other students, books featuring diverse people and situations can foster empathy for those who may not have the same experiences.
This same need for representation is also crucial for Loras students. While our collection is designated as spanning kindergarten through twelfth grade, young adult literature continues to be appealing to undergraduates. Like younger young adults, our students are in a time of development and evolution, in search of identity, as they grow into full adulthood. They too must be able to see themselves in the books they read.
Unfortunately, we are in a time where there is an unprecedented number of challenges being made against young adult books, calling for their removal from school and public libraries. These challenges have focused especially on books by or about people of color or members of the LGBTQ+ community. More and more, our students may come to Loras not having exposure and access to a diverse collection of young adult literature.
With the Peace and Justice grant we were able to purchase 125 books – 75 picture, 19 middle reader, and 31 young adult – to add to our existing PK12 collection. You can find many of them on the displays on the first and third floors of the Library. Check one out today!
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