Author name: Katie Fox

Two years of preschool creates positive impact 50 years later

July 2019

A longitudinal study of the impacts of preschool participation found that the study participants as well as their children experienced a variety of positive outcomes. The original participants had lower rates of crime, higher rates of employment, better health, and better executive function than the control group over the course of their lives. Children of …

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99% of Colorado Talking Book Library patron survey respondents rated the overall quality of library service as excellent or good

June 2019

Patrons of the Colorado Talking Book Library continue to report being pleased with the quality of the library’s services. On the 2018 biennial patron survey, 99% of respondents reported that the overall quality of service was good or excellent. And, 95% or more respondents reported that the following areas of service were good or excellent:  …

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University of California System opts out of more than $10 million contract with scholarly publisher Elsevier

April 2019

The University of California System is made up of 10 schools and over 100 libraries, including several prestigious research universities, such as UC-Berkeley. Inside Higher Ed reports that the UC System “accounts for almost 10 percent of the research output of the United States.” And, Elsevier is an information and analytics company that distributes many …

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United Kingdom anticipates 9 million lonely people by 2030 and intervenes with reading

February 2019

The British government has been prioritizing addressing loneliness, including appointing a Minister of Loneliness. A recent report on social issues and reading, titled “A Society of Readers,” was produced by the non-profit The Reading Agency and the think-tank Demos. According to the report, in 2014 there were about 5 million people over the age of …

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Pilot to Measure Social and Emotional Learning at Denver Public Library

February 2019

How can you measure relationship-building abilities? How can you understand which of your library’s programs best support users’ development of skills like problem-solving? How can you determine whether the youth who come to your library need help learning how to ask a question?

At Denver Public Library (DPL), we wanted to answer these questions, which address a vital set of skills called social and emotional learning, or SEL. A key goal of our public library, like many libraries, is to provide experiences that positively impact participant learning and growth. Particularly with our youth participants, we hoped that library programs fostered SEL, but we had not yet found a way to measure it.

Forty-eight percent of the next generation of American youth identify as a racial or ethnic minority

December 2018

The Pew Research Center recently analyzed U.S. Census data to learn more about the next generation of Americans, who are currently 6 to 21 years-old. This generation, referred to as the “post-Millennial” generation, is “the most racially and ethnically diverse generation” yet, with almost half (48%) identifying as a racial or ethnic minority.  In 1986, …

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Common Sense Media study finds that high percentages of teens have smartphones, use them a lot, and have trouble disconnecting – even to sleep

September 2018

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that studies youth and media, recently released the 2018 “Social Media, Social Life” report on teens and social media. The report summarizes the results of “a nationally representative survey of 1,141 13 to 17 year olds in the United States.” Since the survey was last administered in 2012, there …

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US has higher percentage of preschool aged children not in pre-school than some lower income countries

July 2018

The World Bank recently published the 2018 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals.  One of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is to “ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” A key concrete measure being tracked for the project is “total enrollment in pre-primary education, regardless of age, expressed as a …

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Early literacy ranks as the most important topic on a survey of literacy professionals

May 2018

The International Literacy Association regularly conducts a survey of literacy leaders to find out what topics in literacy are trending and which topics are the most important. The most recent survey was open from August to September 2017. It had 2,097 responses representing 91 countries and territories. Classroom teachers made up the largest portion of …

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“Lost Einsteins” can be alleviated by childhood exposure to invention and inventors, particularly inventors of the same gender

March 2018

A recent paper from the Equality of Opportunity Project explores the question: “What factors induce people to become inventors?” The investigators looked into the origins of patent holders in the U.S. using tax records and school district data with test scores. The study reports that “children with parents in the top 1% of the income …

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