On Tuesday last week the 3rd edition of the World Through Picture Books was launched at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Rotterdam. This was a great achievement for IFLA’s Libraries for Children & Young Adults (C&YA) section and in particular for the editors, Annie Everall OBE from the UK and Australia’s Claire Stuckey. As the Chair of IFLA’s Division E 2021-2023 which included the C&YA section I was very aware of the excitement in creating this 3rd edition but also the frustrations that COVID presented in building engagement at some levels.
The programme was launched in 2011 and the first edition of favourite books from 30 countries was published in 2012. The 2012 edition was replaced by an expanded second edition in 2015. The third edition features the lists of the favourite picture books from 57 countries, in 37 languages and includes 530 books. It is a fully digital catalogue which is downloadable free of charge and printable. There are also ideas on how to use the program and activities to support it.
Two exhibition collections of the books have also been created, thanks to generous donations by the publishers. These are based in the National Libraries of France and Japan and are available for libraries to borrow and exhibit. In my previous life as a library manager I was in the process of negotiating a loan of one of these exhibitions to to coincide with the annual Festival of International Understanding in Cowra NSW when a certain pandemic struck!
Recently I have been working with a library service on their LOTE (Languages Other Than English) collection and the World Through Picture Books was an obvious suggestion as a content source. These books are considered classics within their country/language of origin and for that reason are relatively accessible. Research shows that immigrant communities place great value on introducing their children and grandchildren to works in their first language and using recognised titles adds value to this.
Here in Australia we are at the tail end of Children’s Book Week and across the country there have been book week parades in libraries, schools and preschools. Our adored grand nephew and godson, Teddy, attended his first book week parade as a firefighter. Photo attached for cuteness factor. Teddy loves reading and is lucky that he has parents who value books and read to him every day. He is also fortunate to come from a multicultural family where languages other than English are spoken. I’m now thinking ahead and considering how cool would it be to use the World Through Picture Books to source titles in these languages to pop into Teddy’s next care package. A great way to introduce him to these languages and and expand connections with other family members.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the third edition, a super achievement.
Jan Richards Consulting 