The school library and reader development during the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract:

The covid-19 pandemic brought challenges to teaching-learning processes that were predominantly face-to-face and generated major changes in educators' work methodology due to social distancing. In this context, how did reading mediate through school libraries in Brazil? What were your mediation and reading encouragement strategies and actions put into practice remotely, as well as the resources used in this process? This scenario and these questions are the guiding thread of this work, in which the theoretical framework that guides this discussion includes related themes, such as the importance of reading, digital culture, the impacts of the pandemic on the classroom and the contribution of the library school. To collect data for a qualitative and quantitative research, a semi-structured electronic questionnaire was applied to professionals in charge of school libraries in the country. Subsequently, some respondents to this questionnaire were invited to a semi-structured interview. The research subjects reported successes and difficulties in promoting distance reading with reader-users, and reaffirmed the importance of reading, the school library and reading mediation. We found that respondents from school libraries in the Southeast region developed more actions to encourage reading compared to professionals from other regions. The results indicated that professionals working in the school library were able to promote interaction between the school library, reader training and the digital environment, and that with the availability of time and planning it was possible to mediate reading even with social distancing.

Keywords:
school library; reader training; reading mediation; distance learning during the pandemic