Foreign children's books translated into English matter to young readers in the U.S. for intellectual, literary, and pedagogical reasons, yet very few are published. How do U.S. editors select culturally conscious children's books from abroad to be translated into English for the U.S. market? This question was addressed by exploring the barriers editors encounter, the resources available to them, and their perceptions about the value of publishing translations. The theoretical framework consists of communications scholar Brenda Dervin's personal sense-making supplemented by Karl E. Weick's sensemaking from organizational psychology. Using two similar but not identical theories adds depth to the analysis, providing what anthropologist Gregory Bateson calls "binocular vision." The study was conducted in the U.S. from May to July 2008. A purposive sample of 93 children's editors was drawn from Children's Book Council member publishers. The study employed the participant selection model, a variant of the mixed methods sequential explanatory design. Phase I was a web-based survey. Phase II consisted of follow-up interviews. Ten subjects whose attitudes were least well predicted by a statistical regression model fit to the survey data were selected for interviewing. The literature suggested that editors are reluctant to publish translations because of the expense. However, findings showed that the most important barrier is reliance on reader's reports when editors cannot read in the language of the original. The cost of acquiring books from other countries when the dollar is low was of secondary importance. Editors' top-ranked motivation was a positive personal response to the book. Editors ranked the Bologna Children's Book Fair as their most important resource, but it is expensive to attend. The propensity to publish translations was stronger if editors are bilingual or see the industry as more open to translations than five years earlier. Replicating the study at a later date under a different political administration and economic conditions should reveal if editors' attitudes towards publishing translations remain consistent. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2009. / December 12, 2008. / Sensemaking, Sense-Making, Mixed Methods, Editors, Publishing, Decision Making, Translation, Children's Literature / Includes bibliographical references. / Eliza T. Dresang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Pamela (Sissi) Carroll, Outside Committee Member; Melissa Gross, Committee Member; Don Latham, Committee Member; Susan Stan, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182349 |
| Contributors | Goldsmith, Annette Y. (authoraut), Dresang, Eliza T. (professor directing dissertation), Carroll, Pamela (Sissi) (outside committee member), Gross, Melissa (committee member), Latham, Don (committee member), Stan, Susan (committee member), School of Library and Information Studies (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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