Исследовательская работа STREET LIBRARY

STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

«GYMNASIUM № 2 SOLIHORSK»

MINSK REGION

STREET LIBRARY AS A WAY TO PROMOTE READING

AMONG TEENAGERS

2021

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

One ancient Chinese proverb says:

“If you want to be acquainted with the past and the present, you must read five cartloads of books”.

Scottish historian, writer and a philosopher Thomas Carlyle said that “In books lies the soul of the whole past time”. 

The word "library" is familiar to any educated person. The book plays a very important and sometimes decisive role in everyone’s life. For centuries, the book was the only source of information, and now the situation has changed radically. People were swallowed up by the World Wide Web. They spend a huge amount of hours surfing the Internet. With the development of new technologies, the question of the future of libraries has become much more acute.

The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the phenomenon of a street library is unusual and innovative for Belarusian readership.

The goal of the work is to find out how attractive libraries are to students nowadays and create the variant of street library in the form of a little free library in our gymnasium for promoting reading English books.

The hypothesis:

Street library is a way to increase students’ interest in reading English books.

The practical significance: the creation of a small free library in the gymnasium and promoting reading English books among the students.

The work consists of the introduction, a theoretical part, a practical part, the conclusion and a reference list.

For the achievement of the above-stated goal the following tasks were accomplished:

• to get acquainted and analyze the history of library;

• to find out what types of libraries exist in the world;

• to find out how often the students of the 8^th forms go to the libraries and what libraries they prefer;

• to find out if the students know about street libraries;

• to set up the variant of a street library indoors of the gymnasium;

• to find out if the street library influenced the desire of the students of our gymnasium to read more often.

During the research the following methods were used:

• studying special literature;

• the analysis of resources of the Internet;

• interviewing the students;

• analyzing my personal monitoring.

The subject of the research: the ways to promote reading among teenagers.

Subject matter: the attractiveness and modernity of a street library.

PART 1

1. The History and the Importance of Library

The word for "library" in many modern languages is derived from Ancient Greek βιβλιοθήκη (bibliothēkē), originally meaning bookcase.

The history of libraries began with the first efforts to organize collections of documents. The first libraries consisted of archives of the earliest form of writing - the clay tablets in cuneiform script discovered in Sumer, some dating back to 2600 BC.

Private or personal libraries made up of written books appeared in classical Greece in the 5th century BC. In the 6th century the great libraries of the Mediterranean world remained those of Constantinople and Alexandria. Libraries were so important in the past time that emperors competed with each other who would build more libraries.

Then there was the period in the history when people fought a lot. Afterwards a great number of one-of-a-kind libraries were destroyed and a plenty of valuable information inevitably disappeared as well.

As a lesson which we can learn from the history is that we should properly evaluate libraries and try to develop different ways how to exchange information and keep it.

A library can be considered a store – house of knowledge.

A library plays a very important role in promoting the progress of knowledge. There are many people who love reading. But they can’t afford to buy books because the prices of books are very high. So when one becomes a member of a library, he can borrow valuable books. A member can borrow two books at a time and he can keep it with him for two weeks. Libraries are particularly useful for poor children. Even those who are better off can’t afford to buy all the books they require for their studies. For instance, invaluable books like Encyclopedias and large dictionaries cannot be purchased.

Libraries may provide physical or digital access to material and may be a physical location or a virtual space or both. A library’s collection can include books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, films, maps, documents, prints, CDs, DVDs, CD, blu-ray disks, e-books, audio books, video games and other formats.

1. Types of Libraries

It must be admitted that libraries in ancient times were not like those of the present days. Libraries are dynamic and grow along with human civilization. The urge of social, economic, intellectual and cultural improvement necessitates the development of different kinds of libraries.

According to the mode of services rendered to the readers; libraries are broadly divided into four types:

1. Academic Libraries. They are generally located in schools, on college and university campuses and primarily serve the students and faculty of that and other academic institutions. 

2. Special Libraries. They offer unique opportunities to work in a specialized environment of interest, such as corporations, hospitals, the military, museums, private businesses, and the government. Special libraries can serve particular populations, such as the blind and physically handicapped. Special library became popular since the beginning of 20th century.

3. National Library. It is a library specifically established by the government of a country to serve as the preeminent repository of information for that country. They rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works.

4. Public Library. They serve communities of all sizes and types. Wherever you live, there's bound to be a local public library nearby! As the name implies, public libraries serve the general public, "from cradle to grave".

1. Street Libraries

Nowadays people are too busy to read books. Constant rat race and urge of ‘fast information’ make us being less educative and phones are used as the major entertainment, also there are a lot of poor people in the world who aren’t allowed to enter into usual public library.

And so volunteers started a new project which will enable people from different social layers to get information.

The most effective idea they made up was to develop something what had been already suggested - Street Libraries.

First street libraries were made in Austria in 1991 by two art workers Clegg and Guttmann. That idea of sharing books in the street became very popular and was soon brought to German and Switzerland. According the concept of the plan every person decides which books to deposit and borrow, and whether to return or exchange borrowed books for others. Everyone who has some excess books or simply wants to share funny literature with others is allowed to remain books in ‘the street box’. A street library it’s another one way how to make time run in a one stroke, especially when you wait for a bus or simply stay in a queue.

As a rule, the simplest public bookcase looks like an ordinary wooden or glazed cabinet, open or with doors. In a cafe, shop, or university building, such cabinets or bookshelves may not differ at all from ordinary furniture. Those cabinets that are installed on the street often differ not only in a bright design, but also in construction and material. The design varies from antique solid oak cabinets to hand-painted houses, birdhouses, shelves, plastic tanks, telephone booths, iron canopies, and entire bus stops.

Some examples of street libraries:

1. In New York, a bookcase has become part of a bus stop and a phone booth: you can always read while waiting for the bus or hiding from the rain.

2. Another example of a street library in New York. The bright yellow design is visible from afar and is made of lightweight and inexpensive plastic. The street library itself is designed in such a way that a person can take shelter from the rain.

3. In the suburbs of Toronto, there is a unique outdoor library that works from the sun's rays.

4. In Mexico City, a white A47 van runs through the streets. Every day he stops at a new place so that people from different areas can read books for free.

5. A street library in an old phone booth

6. The idea of a public bookshelf appeared in Russia around the 2010s.

The phenomenon of street library is close to bookcrossing. But there are some distinctive features. The essence of bookcrossing is as follows: a person registers his book on the website, an individual number is assigned to it, a special sticker is attached where this number is recorded, then the book is left in any public place.

The next one who finds the book registers it on the website, leaves a review and releases the book again into "everyday use". Books can be left on the benches, in public transport, in cafes, in hospitals, under a tree. Usually rare interesting books are released on a trip that everyone would like to read.

Street libraries are similar in function to bookcrossing. People bring books there and can pick up the ones they would like to read, with the only difference: literature does not need to be registered.

As for Belarus there aren’t any street libraries in the country. And the idea of organizing a street library on the territory of the gymnasium appeared.

Street libraries can make people read books more often, because the access to them is easier, books are stored in a public place, it doesn’t require any effort to take them and, moreover, it is absolutely free.

It was suggested that it would be a good idea to try to create a street library with books in English. It’s quite difficult to find such books in our town, but at the same time many people have books in English at home and they have been lying idle for several years. And if to share these books they could be useful for someone else. It’s such an awesome way to learn and improve English.

PART 2

Practical part

The work started with a questionnaire. The students of the 8^th forms were asked about the libraries to find out their attitude to the libraries. The research was conducted in 3 forms: 8”A”, 8”B” and 8”V”. (Reference 1)

69 students took part in the questionnaire.

The 1^st question was: Do you visit libraries?

- 15 students answer “YES”

- 54 students answered “NO”

The 2^nd question was: What library do you prefer?

- 3 pupils named School Library

- 5 students named Children’s Central Library

- 2 students named District Central Library

- 8 students named National Library in Minsk

- 19 students named Home library

- 54 students named Online Library

The 3^rd question was: Do you know anything about Street Library?

- 3 students answer “YES”

- 66 students answered “NO”

According to the survey it was found out that there aren’t a lot of people who actually love books and who read them so often. The necessity of something that will solve the problem of books little popularity is evident and the street library is an appropriate solution. Only a few students are aware of such a phenomenon as a free street library. Teenagers love novelties, unusual things, and the new format of the library could interest them.

It’s rather difficult to find a book or a newspaper in English in our town. Many people prefer to read a paper version of a book or magazine. It's so nice to flip through the pages. But buying English editions is quite expensive and you have to wait for delivery from online stores. After reading, another question arises: where to put a magazine, newspaper or book? Just put it on the shelf with the idea that it will ever come in handy? Not great, admittedly. Also very often parents buy children's books with fairy tales or adventure stories, and when children grow up these books become unnecessary. And instead of giving these books for recycling, it is better to share them with someone who may be interested in them. Why not bring a book or magazine to school and leave it in a free library?

The possibility of creating a street library was discussed with the headmaster of the gymnasium and she supported the idea.

There were some pros and cons of the project:

The pros were:

1. The street library would make English books more accessible;

2. People would have a chance to share books with each other;

3. Old or strange books might find new fans;

4. More and more people would start reading English books.

The cons were:

1. Vandals might damage the box.

2. The box could be damaged by precipitation

3. People might not remain books in exchange for those they borrow.

4. Some books might be too old and boring that no one would be interested in reading them.

In order to prevent some problems it was decided to take the following steps:

• Install the bookcase inside the gymnasium to keep it safe (with the help of a technology teacher we made and installed the library booth on the 2^nd floor). Of course it’s not exactly the street library I mentioned above. It’s a little free library.

• Class supervisors have to conduct explanatory conversations with the students of the need for a responsible attitude;

• I’m going to monitor the quality of the books that will be kept in the library.

The work started with the discussion of the design of the library. There were some ideas. But we stopped at the idea of a bookcase stylized as a London telephone booth. It’s caused by the fact that the library with English books was going to be made.

Afterwards a place was selected for the installation. The 2^nd floor is the floor of the English language classrooms, so exactly it was chosen as the location of the booth.

Then a bookstand was bought on the Internet and the technology teacher constructed the booth and painted it red.

The campaign of collecting English books started and the library was filled. The students from the whole gymnasium participated in it. We gathered some dozens of books.

The next step was to install the booth and fill it with books. Also the rules of using the library were printed in two languages Belarusian and English. (Reference 2)

The book booth was installed in May.

From the very first days the students were very interested in the novelty. But at first, students just approached, leafed through the books and magazines, took pictures next to the booth, but they did not take books. Then thanks to the conversations held by teachers and the volunteer group, the library began to be used. It was noticed that some books had disappeared and some new books appeared on the shelves of the book booth. So the books exchange process began.

The quality and quantity of books are monitored. It turned out that the most popular is children's literature: fairy tales and short illustrated stories, comic books.

To make the book booth more popular it was decided to encourage reading through extracurricular activities. The teachers ask the students to read English literature and make book reviews. Thanks to the booth students do not need to search for books in bookstores or download them from the Internet.

In the future, it is planned to create a street library outside the gymnasium for any books in any language.

CONCLUSION

The Street Library concept is a quite literary revolution which is taking place across the globe. Many avid readers are joining this new library phenomenon making books available to anyone who passes by. People from all walks of life with a book or book collection who would like to share with others are welcome to join this reading revolution which is a much needed symbol of trust and hope in our modern world.

In the course of this research work the main goal was achieved. It was found out the preferences of the students, organized a campaign to collect books and made up a little free library in the gymnasium - an indoor variant of a street library. The students from all classes are interested in the project. They come and read English books during the brakes and take them home.

Thus we can come to a conclusion that every library should keep up with the times and meet the requirements of modern society.

Obviously this little modernization will bring a lot of assistance to those who want to read more but cannot find appropriate literature for themselves.

The results of this work may be useful for everyone who wants to collect a street library in their school or community and introduce people to reading books.

List of literature

1. http://www.ala.org/educationcareers/careers/librarycareerssite/typesoflibraries

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_bookcase

3. https://lala.lanbook.com/ulichnaya-biblioteka

4. https://www.weekendnotes.com/street-libraries/

5. http://znay-ka.blogspot.com/2013/07/2.html

Reference 1

(Reference 2)

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«ГИМНАЗИЯ №2 г. СОЛИГОРСКА»

МИНСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ

УЛИЧНАЯ БИБЛИОТЕКА, КАК СПОСОБ ПОПУЛЯРИЗАЦИИ ЧТЕНИЯ

СРЕДИ ПОДРОСТКОВ

2021

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