Public reading policies for youth
The DGMIC’s policy towards young people aims, in the field of books and reading, to facilitate access to the written word, to value the diversity of reading practices and thus to contribute, from an early age, to cultural awakening, to openness to others, learning about citizenship and building oneself. This policy can be found, in connection with the DRAC, the institutions and the national associations, in the dissemination of recommendations to book and reading professionals, the management of the national Premières Pages label and support for the actions of national associations working in this direction.
A framework for action: arts and cultural education
Arts and Cultural Education (EAC) is one of the foundations of cultural policy for young audiences. The Interdepartmental Circular no. 2013-073 of 3 May 2013 which makes the arts and cultural education pathway the framework for the deployment of actions aimed at young audiences specifies the modalities of implementation of the BEC policy: importance of the partnership as a tool to build the pathways, the need to discover the diversity of cultural places and practices, to intensify efforts aimed at audiences far from culture, to reiterate the three pillars of the EAC (cognitive contribution, meeting with an author, amateur practice of artistic gesture). Several other texts play a role in the implementation of BEC policies in France, starting with the Charter for Arts and Cultural Education presented on 8 July 2016 by the High Council for Arts and Cultural Education (HCEAC) , which defines EAC as an education in art and through art, thus emphasizing its role in citizenship education and personal emancipation.
One investigation Conducted by the Media and Cultural Industries Branch (CMIB) in 2013-2014, and released in January 2015, provided a better understanding of public library practices. This survey highlighted the strong involvement of municipal, inter-municipal and departmental libraries in BEC policies, although to varying degrees. Their actions are particularly developed towards 6-11 year olds, but adolescents and especially high school students are often neglected. Partnerships between libraries and schools are often of high quality, but their rare formalisation weakens them. The question of means also weighs on institutions, especially for libraries in small towns in rural areas. Although the means are often less abundant in these institutions, the network of libraries in the territory plays an important role in access to culture, in many communities where there are no other cultural structures and where transportation issues can become more prevalent.
In order to support institutions in the implementation of their projects, the DGMIC published with this study a guide of good practices in BEC for librarians. The National Library of France (BnF), through the Department of Pedagogical Action and the National Centre for Literature for Youth (CNLJ), also contributes to the dissemination of these good practices, relaying institutional recommendations and contributing to the training and knowledge of BEC’s book activities.
Support for national reading development associations
DGMIC supports every year a dozen associations working for the development of reading among young people:
- Several of these associations accompany book and reading professionals in their actions, through the dissemination of research work, the establishment of training courses and the organization of study days, national seminars, colloquia and reflection time on the development of reading. This is the case in the area of early childhood of the association ACCES and the Agence Quand les livres lien, as well as for teenagers of Lecture Jeunesse, which opened in 2016 an Observatory of reading practices of teenagers. The Centre for the Promotion of Children’s Literature (CPLJ) was also supported in 2016 to carry out a survey on the relationship to books of recreation centre animators, frequent partners of libraries. The work done by these associations fully benefits library professionals in the construction of their projects.
- The DGMIC also finances the mediation projects of several associations, with the aim of strengthening access to books, reading and cultural diversity: this is the case of the actions of the CRILJ and the League of Education. The associations Lire et faire lire and UNIOPSS, by organizing respectively reading sessions for children and pre-adolescents and participation in the Chronos prize for youth literature, encourage the development of intergenerational links between young people and seniors. The association L'arbre des connaissances produces on its side role-playing materials around the political, philosophical, ethical and cultural issues of the major questions of scientific and technical culture. The tools and actions proposed by these associations are frequently used in libraries. The Little Champions of Reading organizes a reading contest that brings the CM2 children who participate to appropriate their reading.
- In particular, DGMIC encourages actions aimed at audiences far from books and reading, either by encouraging these various associations to reach out to these audiences (such as reading and having them read), or by supporting specific action programmes: AFEV’s Accompaniment to Reading programme, the Street Libraries deployed by ATD Quart-Monde in neighbourhoods without cultural venues, or the trainings on supporting migrant audiences offered by Bibliothèques sans frontières fall within this framework. Finally, the CPLJ is accompanied by the Ministry for the deployment of the national device Des livres à soi, which sensitizes families to youth literature and allows them to build their first libraries of youth books.
- DGMIC has worked with all these associations in recent years to strengthen their link with public libraries, through the development of conventions, the organization of meetings with associations of library professionals, or interventions on the occasion of the national days of these structures.
A national label: the Première Pages system
Launched in 2009 and led by the Ministry of Culture, the Premières Pages operation aims to label territories, mainly departments, for their policy in favour of book familiarization from early childhood (0-3 years). Building on the work of the association ACCES, DGMIC labels, subsidizes and valorizes via the website of the operation and participation in study days the actions carried out by libraries, in collaboration with the childcare services, to make of the book a tool of mediation between adults and thechildren, sensitize babies and their families to the contribution of reading at any age, reduce inequalities of access to the book and the culture of the writing, contribute to the artistic and cultural awakening from the prime-foster collaboration between book and early childhood professionals, and promote the diversity of children’s literature, especially French-language literature.
In 2018, 41 communities were certified under the scheme, including 31 departments: Premières Pages affects almost all French regions.
Beyond the facilitation of the operation’s website and a mailing list dedicated to partners, DGMIC contributes to the exchange of professional practices between the labelled territories, building on the diversity of their projects (book donation at birth, reading in the waiting rooms of PMI, partnerships with the CAF, organization of early childhood book fairs, training, accompaniment of communities of municipalities of a department, colloquia and study days, observatory of toddler practices). The organization every year of two seminars and frequent telephone contacts and meetings with the territories allows the development of concrete exchanges between book professionals and national partners (book and early childhood associations, BnF-CNLJ, Youth Commission of the Syndicat national de l'édition, Union nationale des associations familiales), opening new partnerships and strengthening existing projects, both through their inclusion in community policies and through the refinement of the actions carried out by libraries and their knowledge of the public.
Go to the library, to rethink the receptions of young audiences and their perception of the library
Rendez-vous en bibliothèque was launched in 2018 to rethink classroom-to-library receptions, improve the perception of these institutions by young audiences and thus develop their enjoyment of visiting libraries.
It is a question of arousing the interest of young people during class receptions, so that they understand libraries, no longer as mere spaces for consulting resources and lending books but as cultural places in their own right.
In several regions, to theexample of the actions implemented by the Regional Book Agency Provence-alp es-Côte ofAzure, the Ministry of Culture supports regional book structures and libraries to promote innovative receptions and original approaches.
For the evaluation of this programme of actions and the formalisation of good practices, the Ministry of Culture requested the association Lecture Jeunesse over the period 2018-2019.
An annual event: Go to book
Led by the National Book Centre (CNL) and CPLJ, the great festival of literature for the youth Going in book will hold its fifth edition from 10 to 21 July 2019. On the occasion of a highlight of about ten days, the event aims to develop the presence of books outside cultural places (public places, beaches, parks, campsites, swimming pools, etc.), and in collaboration with many actors addressing young audiences. The site of the operation invites all the book and reading stakeholders to relay the free actions implemented on this occasion; several events are labeled by the CNL and receive financial support.
In 2018, the event was attended by 700,000 participants, in the context of more than 7,000 events organized throughout the territory; the ephemeral literary amusement park installed at the departmental park of La Courneuve was the highlight of the event, next to an itinerant delivery car in several French cities.
A space to promote the activities of the DGMIC: the book and youth press fair in Montreuil
CMIB is present annually at the book and youth press fair (SLPJ), organized by the CPLJ, and held every year in late November-early December in Montreuil. Over a six-day period, 179,000 visitors, including many classes, meet publishers, authors and book mediation stakeholders; the last day is dedicated to professionals. The exhibition is an opportunity for the CPLJ to highlight the diversity of youth literature, through the realization of an exhibition, the holding of a market of youth literature allowing authors and publishers to meet contacts abroad, and the annual Transbook conference, a European project dedicated to the digital transition in the youth book industry.
Every year, the DGMIC stand showcases its public reading policies in favour of young people, presenting national schemes (Première Pages, Nuit de la lecture, but also the “Dis-moi dix mots” operation managed by the Directorate-General for Languages of France and the French language) and by welcoming national associations working on books and young audiences; A reading area for books distributed as part of Premières Pages, adapted to children, has been installed on the stand since 2015. Two round tables are also organized every year, in connection with the annual theme of the fair and the policy of the Ministry of Culture and Communication for young audiences. Participation in the SLPJ allows the DGMIC to communicate on its actions and to exchange with professionals interested in them.
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