This thesis is a qualitative study of six full day childcare centres. The purpose of
this study was to identify the print literature resources that are present within a
representative sample of urban childcare centres. Data were collected using field notes and
manager interviews. A further analysis of the resources present allowed to the researcher to
evaluate the quality of the resources and to discern whether the early childhood educators
sampled have the resources to provide the foundation for a quality literature program. The
books were analysed using five elements, including; literary merit, age and accuracy,
physical condition, genre and developmental appropriateness, and quantity and
accessibility. A total of 2774 resources were present in the six childcare centres. Overall
the centres did not satisfy the elements for quality resources. Only 1% of the resources
were found to have been judged worthy of recognition through nomination or award. The
average age of the resources was 16 years, with an age span of 102 years, causing concern
for accuracy, especially for information literature. The physical condition of the print
literature resources did conform to quality guidelines, and it was discovered that physical
condition was the only reason for discarding a book. There were a variety of genres present
within the childcare centres, with the largest genre being information books. The second
largest genre was surprising, as TV/Toy books represented 19.5% of the total collections.
None of the centres met International Reading Association guidelines for quantity or
accessibility for classroom libraries. It was clear that quantity and cost were the most
important factors influencing the print literature collections in these childcare centres. / Arts, Faculty of / Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/16199 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Obera, Sheri Louis |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 7048656 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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