Recently I was asked how I find current and relevant research related to children’s librarianship. Let me introduce you to my secret research weapon called HELP Reads. HELP stands for The Human Early Learn Partnership which is “a collaborative, interdisciplinary research network, based at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.” My alma mater is pretty cool.
Their mission is to create, promote, and apply new knowledge to help children and families thrive. To that end, every month they release a research review which “aims to expand awareness of topics in human development, particularly social epigenetics, social determinants of health, socio-emotional learning, Aboriginal children and youth, and family policy.” And this research review is a GOLDMINE, friends.
To help spread awareness of the research and to encourage my fellow library workers to read it, I’ve decided to share their reports every month and highlight a few articles that look interesting to me. My goal is to help their research reach a broader audience and to push children’s librarians to think critically about how we can apply it to our work with kids and families. I’m sure some of these articles will make their way to the Library Services for Children Journal Club.
September 2019 Research Review
Here’s the 2019 HELP research review. At the beginning of the review they share the Editor Picks. You can visit their website to see the archive going back to 2015. Here are a few articles I’m going to dig into:
Play Today: B.C. Handbook
I’m interested in this handbook because it was written by the B.C. Ministry of Education and takes into account the new B.C. Early Learning Framework and School Curriculum. With play being such a big topic in early literacy, I’m interested in learning more about the types of play and strategies to support play-based learning. A great resource to keep in mind when advocating for play in the future.
The Psychobiology of Emotional Development: The Case for Examining Sociocultural Processes
This article from the Developmental Psychobiology journal caught my attention because I’ve been thinking a lot of the sociocultural context of early literacy. Especially with regards to Every Child Ready to Read. I’m interested to learn how this affects emotional development and what role the library could possibly play.
National Progress Report on Early Learning and Child Care
I love getting the big picture. This report from the government of Canada gives the lay of the land for each province’s pressing issues and goals. I think this information is really good to know about in terms of advocating for funding and designing programs that match government goals.
Using Two-Eyed Seeing in Research With Indigenous People: An Integrative Review
This one stuck out to me because I’ve never heard of two-eyed seeing and I’m intrigued. As researchers become more aware of the implications of “studying” Indigenous people, I hope more Indigenous-led methods of research are taken into account.
Which articles grab your attention? Where do you find current research related to our field? Hit me up in the comments.