{"id":1680,"date":"2018-04-21T04:02:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T03:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/?p=1680"},"modified":"2018-04-21T04:02:11","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T03:02:11","slug":"children-services-at-miyoshi-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/2018\/04\/21\/children-services-at-miyoshi-public-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Children Services at Miyoshi Public Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Guest Blogger<\/p>\n

Hitomi Takeuchi<\/p>\n

I visi<\/span>ted the <\/span>Miyoshi<\/span> Public Library<\/span> in Miyoshi Town,\u00a0<\/span>located<\/span> in northwest of Tokyo, 30<\/span> kil<\/span>ometer from Tokyo Central, about one hour by train. The population is about 38,000. The Library<\/span>\u00a0is\u00a0run by the Miyoshi <\/span>L<\/span>ocal <\/span>Town G<\/span>overnment.<\/span> The <\/span>circulation per capita of Miyoshi Public Library<\/span> is 11.20 books per a user a year, compared to t<\/span>he average number <\/span>of Japanese public library of<\/span>\u00a05.5. \u00a0And the library has maintained its<\/span>\u00a0top rank <\/span>in the past sixteen years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason for my \u00a0vis<\/span>it to the library is because it<\/span> provide<\/span>s<\/span> very good children<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s services.<\/span> The first\u00a0<\/span>is the Book Start S<\/span>ervice. \u00a0The <\/span>second one<\/span> is Book Club S<\/span>ervice<\/span> for the elementary level children<\/span>.<\/span> A<\/span>nd the third one <\/span>is that <\/span>library<\/span> provide<\/span>s<\/span> good<\/span> support and have good <\/span>relationship to the <\/span>school<\/span> librar<\/span>ies. \u00a0<\/span>There are eight schools, five elementary schools and tree junior high schools<\/span> run by<\/span> the Miyoshi <\/span>local <\/span>Town<\/span> Government<\/span>.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The head Librarian, Tomoko Shirota, a children<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s service professional, and she especially emphasizes the children<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s services.<\/span> She said that during the child period<\/span> is very valuable time to <\/span>child<\/span> get<\/span>s<\/span> used to read.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><<\/span>https:\/\/www.lib.miyoshi.saitama.jp\/libguide?13&pid=29<\/span><\/a>><\/span><\/p>\n

Book Start<\/span> Service<\/span> & Book Start Plus Service<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

In Miyoshi Public Library,<\/span>\u00a0the<\/span> Book Start Service is targeted at babies four months and beyond. \u00a0The professional children<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s librarian reads the picture<\/span> book <\/span>with parent and baby. <\/span>And after the reading hour, the baby will <\/span>be <\/span>present<\/span>ed<\/span> a picture book from the library. <\/span>You can see<\/span> it in<\/span> the <\/span>picture above\u00a0<\/span>that<\/span>\u00a0when\u00a0Ms Tomoko Shirota <\/span>reads the picture book to the four month<\/span>s<\/span> old baby, the baby <\/span>seems<\/span> very eager to look at <\/span>the book and listen to <\/span>the <\/span>librarian<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s reading voice.<\/span>. The <\/span>L<\/span>ibrarian said that it is very important to read the picture book <\/span>attractively for the baby <\/span>because maybe it is the first time <\/span>for the baby <\/span>to look <\/span>at <\/span>the book<\/span> and listen to the reading<\/span> voice.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>It is definitely important how<\/span> baby feel about the book reading hour<\/span>. The librarian tr<\/span>ies<\/span> to make the reading hour<\/span> attractive and<\/span> interesting<\/span>\u00a0b<\/span>ecause t<\/span>his is the first experience for <\/span>not only the four month<\/span>s<\/span> baby <\/span>but<\/span> also for the parent<\/span> to listen to<\/span> the <\/span>storytelling<\/span>.<\/span> Through reading the <\/span>picture <\/span>book,\u00a0<\/span>almost all <\/span>baby ha<\/span>ve<\/span> good reactions like smiling and <\/span>speaking aloud. \u00a0Parent <\/span>understands that<\/span> the baby who is not speaking <\/span>language\u00a0<\/span>yet, can understand<\/span> the picture book through<\/span> the baby<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s reaction and feeling,<\/span> The librarian said that<\/span> the Book Start Service<\/span> make<\/span>s<\/span> the <\/span>problem of <\/span>child abuse <\/span>in Miyoshi Town <\/span>decrease\u00a0<\/span>because <\/span>through the reading <\/span>the picture book<\/span> the parent can better\u00a0<\/span>communicate <\/span>to their <\/span>baby.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the baby is two years old, the <\/span>baby<\/span> have the<\/span> tooth examination by the doctor. \u00a0At that time it is also the time of<\/span> Book Start Plus S<\/span>ervice. \u00a0A<\/span>gain <\/span>the baby and parent ha<\/span>ve the picture book reading time<\/span>\u00a0together and <\/span>are <\/span>present<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0with a picture book which\u00a0<\/span>they will\u00a0<\/span>enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Book Club Services<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Miyoshi Public Library organizes two Book Clubs for boys and girls.\u00a0 They are two groups by their age, one club for the first and second grades in elementary school.\u00a0 The name of the club is Kamii Club. Kamii comes from a hero\u2019s name in the most popular Japanese children\u2019s book;\u00a0 the second club is for children from the third to sixth grades, and is named Elmer Club.\u00a0 Its name comes from the book titled My father\u2019s Dragon<\/em> written by Ruth Stiles Gannett. \u00a0The activities of the clubs are storytelling, book talk and reading from a selected book list.\u00a0 The activities run every fourth Saturday of the month.<\/p>\n

School Libraries<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are eight schools in Miyoshi Town.\u00a0 Every school has the a school library and school librarians.\u00a0 School librarians try to make children familiar with reading books.\u00a0 They provide the booklist which is the books reading during elementary years.\u00a0 So after six years, students finished reading all the books on the book list.\u00a0 The Miyoshi Public Library and eight school libraries have not only the computer network but also the human relationship network.<\/p>\n

The Miyoshi Book Reading Declaration<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Miyoshi Public Library declared that Miyoshi Town is the town that \u201cLove Reading and Promote lifelong reading all over the Town\u201d in April 2016.\u00a0 Ms Hideko Nagano who is a famous writer of picture books is the illustrator of the promotional poster for this Reading Declaration, and Ms Hiromi Watanabe who live in the Miyoshi Town, designed it.\u00a0 In the poster, it says that that the Library has decided that every 23rd <\/sup>\u00a0day of the month is \u201cthe Day to Love the Reading and a Reading Day\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Miyoshi Town, people from baby to senior love the reading and share the reading joy by reading together.\u00a0 Through reading together people can have closer relationships. The reading makes people filled with love, dream and intelligence, and makes people to a happy and satisfied life.<\/p>\n

In 2002 and 2014 the Library was awarded as the Library with superior children\u2019s reading activities by the Ministry of Education of Japanese Government twice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After deciding the Miyoshi Book Reading Declaration.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Four members of the Koshigaya City school library study group visited the Miyoshi Public Library. The second from the left is the Head Librarian of the Miyoshi Public Library, the first from the right is the author of this blog article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Guest Blogger Hitomi Takeuchi I visited the Miyoshi Public Library in Miyoshi Town,\u00a0located in northwest of Tokyo, 30 kilometer from Tokyo Central, about one hour by train. The population is about 38,000. The Library\u00a0is\u00a0run by the Miyoshi Local Town Government. The circulation per capita of Miyoshi Public Library is 11.20 books per a user […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":795,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5203,246],"class_list":["post-1680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-children","tag-japan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1680"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1689,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ifla.org\/public-libraries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}