On Saturday I made my way up to the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee for the orientation for new students pursuing their Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS). The MLIS degree is part of UWM's School of Information Studies (SOIS), ranked 15th nationally among Library and Information Science schools by the U.S. News & World Report. The school's Archives and Preservation program is also one of the top in the country, ranking 9th nationwide. High praise for the program in addition to the fact that UWM is close to home made picking UWM's Graduate School a no-brainer for me.

The orientation was mostly just familiarizing new students with resources like D2L and PAWS, but the best part was meeting some of the school's faculty, including one of my professors for this semester. It was also amazing to talk to some of the faculty and other incoming students about the diversity of careers you can get with an MLIS degree that are not in the traditional library setting. 

For example, assistant professor Donald Force uses his background in archival studies to help businesses with their record keeping to avoid legal issues. Another interesting professor I met was Jacques du Plessis. In addition to teaching multimedia and computer courses, Jacques also leads an annual study abroad trip to his homeland of South Africa where students learn about the roles of culture and technology in the access, use and interpretation of information – particularly how those roles play into raising awareness about HIV/AIDS. 

The spring semester officially began yesterday, and I'm extremely excited to get started in my coursework. Here's a look at the four classes I will be taking this semester with descriptions from their syllabi: 

Foundations of Library and Information Science (INFOST 501 – online): An introduction to the profession of Library and Information Science, this required MLIS course provides an historical framework and summary of the role of libraries and other information agencies in modern society, describes the general knowledge creation and distribution cycle, introduces major issues of information policy and ethics, provides examples of libraries, library types, other information institutions and introduces aspects of research and professional accomplishment and careers.

The Public Library (INFOST 736): This course explores the roles performed by public libraries in meeting educational, informational, recreational and cultural needs. Using a seminar format of reading and discussion, and drawing on the perspectives of guest speakers from the library field, the class will look at current and future challenges facing those in public library service. This course provides an overview and analysis of issues, trends and concerns relating to public libraries in the United States.

Library Materials for Young Adults (INFOST 646 – online ): This course offers criteria for evaluation and selection of materials for young adults, emphasizing current resources and techniques for reading guidance. Objectives for the course include determining who the adolescent is, what his or her needs are, what s/he wants to read and why; reading widely and critically books intended for and/or of interest to teenagers; becoming familiar with selection and evaluation tools for YA materials; exploring issues related to intellectual freedom and access to information in the YA environment.

Library Services for Children and Young Adults (INFOST 745 – online): This course serves as a foundation for developing, planning and programming library services to meet the needs and interests of children and young adults with particular attention to content and evaluation of literature for these groups. Successful library media and public library personnel whose responsibilities are in any way involved with the lives of children and young people must have knowledge of materials available, programming, networking and new technologies, methods for evaluating services and research on the subject of library services for children and young adults. 

I'm incredibly excited for this semester, as most of the classes I will be taking are directly related to what I want to do in the future as a youth services librarian at a public institution. Next semester will be filled with a few more required classes, like Organization of Information, Information Access and Retrieval and Research in Library and Information Science. But until then, I'll be more than content to read and discuss YA books and learn more about public libraries.

Earlier this week, Scholastic released the results of the fifth edition of its national survey on the state of kids and reading known as the Kids & Family Reading Report, and some of the conclusions are a bit hard to swallow. 

According to Scholastic, key findings from the report include:

• Half of all children ages 6–17 (51%) are currently reading a book for fun and another one in five (20%) just finished one.
• Both parents of children ages 6–17 (71%) and kids (54%) rank strong reading skills as the most important skill a child should have. Yet while 86% of parents say reading books for fun is extremely or very important, only 46% of kids say the same.
• Three-quarters of parents with children ages 6–17 (75%) agree “I wish my child would read more books for fun,” and 71% agree “I wish my child would do more things that did not involve screen time."

The report also shows that something needs to be done to sustain children's reading interest beyond age 8, after which it sharply declines. Another pressing issue raised by the report is the fact that boys aren't reading for fun as much as girls. In 2014, 56% of girls said reading was very important, whereas only 36% of boys agreed. Children's overall perception of reading importance even decreased by 5% between 2012 and 2014 – from 51% saying it is very important down to just 46%.

The fact that more than half of children surveyed are reading for fun is amazing, that is, if you're looking at the glass half-full. But to think that almost just as many kids aren't reading for fun is heart wrenching. And yes, it's great that most parents want to see their children doing things that don't involve a screen, but how on Earth has it gotten to the point that 71% of them are compelled to feel this way? How can parents get their children spending less time in front of a screen and more time reading for fun? 

We've all heard the expression "Monkey see, monkey do," and when it comes to reading, it's no different.

As someone who was raised as a bookworm, I will tell you from experience that my parents' reading habits served as the foundation for my own. I can still remember laying in the bed I shared with my sister, our mom sandwiched between us reading aloud while my dad laid at the end of the bed and listened along. I didn't know it then, but those countless nights spent reading with all four of us cramped on a tiny double bed would become some of my most cherished memories of us all together as a family. 

When it comes down to it, all it really takes to be a reading role model is a little effort. Here's a couple steps I would recommend to help get the children in your life reading.

Be seen: It's no secret that kids mimic the things they see others do, and this is particularly true for parents. Instead of coming home to plop down in front of a television or laptop, pick up a book and get reading. If you enjoy using eReaders, make sure you tell your kids that you're reading a book, not playing a game. The more kids see you interested in books, the more they will become interested too.

Read aloud: Even better than reading a book in the presence of your children is reading to them. Once your child is old enough, switch roles and have them read aloud to you! This is a great way to spend time with your children while having fun and improving their literacy skills.

Ask questions: When you read a book with your children, be sure to ask them questions to gauge their comprehension and interest in the book. Do you like this book? Who's your favorite character and why? What do you think will happen next? What is one thing you could ask the author if you could talk to him or her? Do you think this book would be a good movie?

The power of choice: According to Scholastic, 91% of kids say that their favorite books are the ones that the pick out themselves. What better way to do that than by bringing the children in your life to local libraries and book stores? 

Take a look at some of the graphs Scholastic generated showing what affects children's reading habits:

To see the full results from the State of Kids & Reading report, click here. To view the Kids & Family Reading Report in it's entirety, visit scholastic.com/readingreport.

I invite you to share your experience of being a reading mentor with me on Facebook or Twitter, using #TessaFoxReads. Tomorrow is National Readathon Day and a great time to get your little ones (and yourself) reading!

You know what the best day of the week is? Saturday. I mean, Sunday is cool too, but knowing that Monday looms just around the corner sort of puts a damper on things. But this Saturday – this Saturday is going to be extra special, because it's the first ever National Readathon Day!

According to publisher Penguin Random House, "40 percent of American adults are either at or below basic reading proficiency, and 14 percent are fully illiterate. But the trouble doesn’t stop there. Each year, millions of Americans – especially our youth – are losing touch with the power and importance of reading books. As Malcolm X said, 'People don’t realize how a whole life can be changed by one book.'"

To address this issue, Penguin Random House teamed up other bookish organizations like GoodReads,
Mashable and the National Book Foundation to create an event to raise awareness and funds to help share the power of literacy. And what better way to do that than dedicate an entire day to reading? As an added bonus, it gives you an excuse to lay in bed and read all day! 

How to get started

If you’re a reader:

• Create a Firstgiving Fundraising page to benefit the National Book Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit.
• Invite friends and family to donate to your effort.
• Check back into this site to find a participating venue near you or encourage your local bookstore or library to host a reading party.
• Join bookworms across the country for the inagural National Readathon Day Saturday, January 24th from 12-4 p.m. and make #timetoread!
  
  

How to host an event

If you’re a bookstore, library, school, or other venue:

• Tell Penguin Random House that you plan to host a Readathon party by emailing them at readathon@penguinrandomhouse.com
• Visit Penguin Random House's resources section and download supporting materials. If you're one of the first 200 venues to sign up, the publisher will ship a Readathon Day poster to you.
• Promote National Readathon Day in your store or library by displaying event signage and promoting it in your newsletter and social media efforts leading up to the day.
• Join bookworms across the country for the inagural National Readathon Day Saturday, January 24th from 12-4 p.m. and make #timetoread!

Now, unfortunately I won't be able to partake in National Readathon Day because I'll be at an all-day orientation for new graduate students pursuing their masters in Library and Information Science. Considering that this is really the first step of me becoming a librarian who will dedicate her entire life to promoting literacy, I think the book gods will excuse my absence. Plus, I spent my entire day off last week finishing the last couple hundred pages in A Storm Of Swords ... so that should count for something!

Still not sold on an excuse to spend your weekend working through that book you just haven't had a chance to get to yet? Take a look at what some Penguin Random House authors had to say about literacy and National Readathon Day. Here's to making #timetoread!

*To learn more about National Readathon Day, visit global.penguinrandomhouse.com/readathon

I've officially finished reading the first assigned title for my class Library Materials for Young Adults, and let me tell you, it was a doozy! Why? Because I was completely engrossed the entire book and then the end was nothing at all how I imagined. In fact, it had almost the opposite ending I had hoped for, but I somehow still managed to thoroughly enjoy it – now there's the sign of a truly good book!

According to a 2013 YouGov/Huffington Post poll only 28 percent of the 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed had read a book in the last year – ONLY 28 PERCENT, FOLKS! This is why I am such a reading advocate: I believe that if more people read books, the world would be a better place. Not just as a whole, but also for individuals. Even science thinks you should read more books – just take a look at some of these fascinating factoids from The Huffington Post.

If you want to look fabulous at 50, you need to start forming good habits at a young age, like eating healthy and getting regular exercise – and the same goes for your brain. If you want that organ in your noggin to stay sharp in your golden years then you better get reading now, according to published research in Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology. 

"'Based on this, we shouldn't underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,'" study author Robert. S. Wilson, Ph.D., of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said in a statement obtained by The Huffington Post.

Reading might even stave off Alzheimer's disease, according to research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2001. The researchers could only identify an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship, but I'd like to think it can make a difference nonetheless.

"'The brain is an organ just like every other organ in the body. It ages in regard to how it is used,'" lead author Dr. Robert P. Friedland told USA Today. "'Just as physical activity strengthens the heart, muscles and bones, intellectual activity strengthens the brain against disease.'"

According to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, getting lost in a good fiction book can boost your empathy. According to the Dutch study, two experiments showed that empathy was increased in people who read a fictional book, but only when they were emotionally transported into the story. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that sort of the point of fiction? 

So go ahead, get lost in that story. Have a crush on the main character and cry when the author kills him off – it turns out it's good for you!

Bibliotheraphy is an expressive method that uses an individual's relationship to the content of books, poetry and other written words as therapy. Oftentimes combined with writing therapy, bibliotherapy has been shown to be effective in treating depression.

Reading self-help books can also be beneficial in cases of severe depression. According to a University of Manchester meta-analysis published in 2013, people with severe depression can benefit from "low-intensity interventions," like interactive websites and self-help books, as much or more than those who are less severely depressed.

I'm always up for blog post suggestions, so when my friend Sarah told me about a book her cousin wrote I figured I would check it out and see if it merited a post. And boy, did it.

Meet Zoey Mercado, a young poet who just happens to have Down syndrome. And what does someone as unique and talented as Zoey do? He publishes a book, of course.

Zoey's 2014 self-published book Hope For My Future: Thoughts on life with Down syndrome is a collection of poetry written between 2007 and the present. Below is an excerpt from the book – a poem titled "Broken Man," which Zoey explains was written about his high school experience.

It is through poems like this that Zoey is able to open his world up to his readers. His poetry conveys a range of emotions – from sadness to confusion, hopefulness to happiness – all of which share an intimate view of life with Down syndrome that some people may never be exposed to if not for his poetry.

The back cover of his book reads, "Zoey hopes that through his poetry others will appreciate the depth of his creativity and his passion for writing. He would also like to encourage all persons with disabilities to find their voice through the arts."

I hope they can too, Zoey. You're already setting a great example for others to follow suit. Thank you for letting us take a look into what life is like through your eyes. Keep writing! And I'll keep reading.

If you're interested in purchasing Zoey's book (it's under $7!) visit Amazon or CreateSpace.

A December report on British public libraries recommends that for public libraries to survive today, they must begin taking cues from coffee shops.

"The wi-fi connection should be delivered in a comfortable, retail-standard environment, with the usual amenities of coffee, sofas and toilets," the report states.

While I would argue the majority of U.S. public libraries already offer most of these services (albeit the coffee) they also must expand their digital services like e-lending if they are to continue to be viable, or so NPR explains. I think an online presence for individual libraries is also a must to ensure their survival. For example, just look at all the good social media has done for the Ferguson Municipal Public Library!

The idea of libraries mirroring coffee shops sounds nice. I can just imaging sipping a hot Chai Tea Latte while pursuing a book in the back of the stacks – but there's one flaw. Many public libraries ask that their patrons do not eat or drink inside the building to avoid messes, especially food and beverage stains inside books. But if there's one thing I've learn from working at a circulation desk – and believe me – those stains (and others) have already found a way into most books. Maybe we can pass a mandatory sippy cup rule?

January also means it's almost time for me to begin my graduate school program. Just this morning I registered for the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's new student orientation for Masters of Library and Information Science students. I'm extremely excited to jump back into coursework (who would have thunk?), so I've already started reading some of the required young adult books for one of my classes.

I found myself not blogging as regularly as I would have liked to during the holidays, but now that they're over I am rededicating myself to publishing a minimum of three posts a week. Expect a lot of updates about my grad school experience once I begin classes at the end of the month. I also have a stockpile of library-related articles that I will begin posting later this week.

Thanks for reading and following me on this journey!