Micro-environments in Libraries for Young Children
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24203/ajeel.v9i5.6764Keywords:
Children’s Library space micro-environment, Children’s Library furniture, Children’s Library space varietyAbstract
Most public libraries, small, medium, or large, offer a variety of services, facilities and amenities to their audience, depending on the assigned functions. The ideal size of space for children in public libraries cannot be calculated according to the population that it will serve, as is often the case with school libraries, but based on the activities to be developed and the characteristics of particular characteristics of childhood. Therefore, emphasis must be given primarily on the qualitative and secondarily on the quantitative characteristics of the children’s library physical environment. This paper presents answers on some basic questions. Do Public Libraries provide special space arrangements for children and their families in their establishments? Are Children Libraries “reading-rooms” suitably designed and furnished as to provide the necessary areas for reading, relaxing, playing or creating? Observations in several library facilities revealed some interesting findings concerning Children’s Library environments.
References
Dewe, M., Planning Public library buildings: Concepts and issues for the librarian, Burlington, USA, 2006.
Steele, F. I., Physical Settings and Organization Development. Reading, Massachusetts, USA, 1973.
Rankin, C., IFLA Guidelines for library services for children aged 0-18, IFLA, Netherlands, 2018.
Germanos, D., Walls of Knowledge, Athens, Greece, 2002 (In Greek).
Anastasakis, M., Redesigning the Library at School: A Proposal for Secondary Education. Greece, 2003.
Arvaniti, I., The school library as a factor of the educational environment dynamics: space and educational process. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 2012 (In Greek).
Kostelnik, M. J., Whiren, A. P., Soderman, A. K., Stein, L. C. & Gregory, K., Guiding children’s social development: Theory to practice. Australia, 2002.
Kemple, K. M., Arranging the environment to support peer interaction. In Let’s be friends: Peer competence and social inclusion in early childhood programs (pp. 30-54). New York, USA, 2004.
Moore, G.T., The physical environment and cognitive development in child-care centers. In C.S. Weinstein & T. G. David. (Eds.), Spaces for children: The built environment and child development (pp. 41-67). New York, USA, 1987.
Gibson, J.J., The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston, USA, 1979.
Curtis, D., Carter, M., Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press, 2003.
Berris, R. Miller, Ε., “How design of the physical environment impacts early learning: educators’ and parents’ perspectives”, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood vol.36, no 4, pp. 102-110, 2011.
Olds, A. R., “Psychological and physiological harmony in childcare center design”, Children's Environments Quarterly, vol. 6, no 4, pp. 8-16, 1989.
Olds, A. R., Child Care Design Guide. New York, USA, 2001.
Feinberg, S., Kuchner, J., Feldman, S., Learning environments for young children: Rethinking Library Spaces and Services. Chicago, IL, USA,1998.
Blaska, J. K., Hasslen, R., “Environmental impact: What we can learn from Swedish early childhood settings”, Day Care and Early Education vol. 21, no 3, pp. 29-33, 1994.
Maslow, A. H., Motivation and personality. New York, USA, 1954.
Chandler, W. L., “A Teacher space or a learner place?: Reconsidering the classroom environment”, International Journal of Learning vol.16, no 9, 261-267, 2009.
Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. F. The development of place identity in the child. In: C. S. Weinstein & T. G. David (Eds.), Spaces for Children. The Built Environment and Child Development (pp. 21-40). New York, London, 1987.
Moore, G.T., “Effects of the spatial definition of behavior settings on children's behavior: A quasi-experimental field study”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 6, no 3, pp. 205-23, 1986.
Rankin, C. (Ed.) IFLA Guidelines for Library Services to Children aged 0-18. Den Haag, Netherlands, 2018
Babbie, E. R., The basics of social research. Belmont, CA, USA, 2008.
Cohen, L. Manion, L., Morrison, K., Research methods in education. London; New York, USA, 2000.
Harms, T., Clifford, R. M., Cryer, D., Early childhood environment rating scale. New York, USA, 1998.
Latimer, Κ., Sommer, D. (Eds.) Post-occupancy evaluation of library buildings. Berlin/Munich, Germany, 2015.
New South Wales State Library People places Post-Occupancy Evaluation, Australia, 2012.
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/poe_survey_template.pdf
Robson, C., Real world research: a resource for social scientists and practitioner-researchers. Oxford, UK, 2002.
Ministry of National Education and Religion, Greek Guidelines for Greek Public Library Buildings. Athens, Greece, 2004 (In Greek).
Oldenburg, R., Τhe Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. New York, USA, 1999.
Aksakal, N., Theoretical view to the approach of the edutainment. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 186, pp. 1232–1239, 2015.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Stamoulia Polyzou, Nikos Zygouris, Kafenia Botsoglou, George I. Stamoulis, Denis Vavougios
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
- It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
- The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
- The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.