THE AVAILABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF AWARD-WINNING MULTICULTURAL CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN NORTHEAST OHIO A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University College of Education, Health, and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Terry Benton May 2015 © Copyright, 2015 by Terry Benton All Rights Reserved ii A dissertation written by Terry Benton B.S., Youngstown State University, 1999 M.A., Youngstown State University, 2001 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2015 Approved by ________________________, Director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee William P. Bintz ________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Lori G. Wilfong ________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Marianne Martens Accepted by ________________________, Director, School of Teaching, Learning and Alexa L. Sandmann Curriculum Studies ________________________, Dean, College of Education, Health and Human Services Daniel F. Mahony iii BENTON, TERRY, Ph.D., May 2015 Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies THE AVAILABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF AWARD-WINNING MULTICULTURAL CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN NORTHEAST OHIO (178 pp.) Director of Dissertation: William P. Bintz, Ph.D. The purpose of this study was to investigate the availability and accessibility of multicultural children’s and young adult literature as represented by winners of ethnic- specific youth literature awards in selected public libraries in Northeast Ohio. The researcher searched Online Public Access Catalogs for winners and honor books of the American Indian Youth Literature Award, Américas Award, Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, Carter G. Woodson Book Award, Coretta Scott King Book Awards, Pura Belpré Award, and Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award. The data were analyzed for the frequency of occurrence of each title in the holdings of 36 library systems and 172 central libraries, branches, and mobile units within those systems. The results show that only six of the 172 library outlets in the study had more than 50% of the 449 books in the study, while 148 outlets had fewer than 30% of the titles. The average number of books held by library outlets was 85.4 titles, or 19% of the books in the study. This information should be of interest to teachers, librarians, teacher and librarian educators and their students, and others who are interested in multicultural youth literature, as it calls attention to the current availability and accessibility of multicultural youth literature in public libraries, and advocates for all children in this increasingly diverse country to have access to books that reflect their own culture and ethnicity, and other cultures and ethnicities, as well. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor and dissertation director, Dr. William Bintz, for his guidance and wisdom, and for being an inspiring teacher who encouraged me to accomplish my academic goals. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Marianne Martens and Dr. Lori Wilfong, for their support and patience, and for their valuable feedback throughout this process. I could not have begun this journey without the generous encouragement and support of Dr. Gary Salvner, and I could not have completed it without the generous encouragement and support of Dr. Milton Ruffin. I am deeply and sincerely grateful for both of them, as I literally could not have accomplished this monumental endeavor without them. I would also like to express my appreciation for Dr. Julia Gergits, Dr. Shearle Furnish, Dr. Jane Kestner, Dr. Ikram Khawaja, Dr. Teri Riley, and Dr. Martin Abraham for their support. Many thanks, also, to Dr. Rebecca Barnhouse, Dr. Steve Brown, Dr. Betty Greenway, Dr. Megan Isaac, Dr. Wendy Kasten, Dr. Anthony Manna, Dr. Hugh Thomas McCracken, Dr. Nancy McCracken, Dr. Virginia Monseau, Dr. Gail Okawa, Dr. Dolores Sisco, and Dr. Linda Strom. There are many others I would like to thank, including Ellen Banks, Melanie Loew, Sheila Maldonado, Cynthia Vigliotti, April Vosch, Rick and Gail Williams, the entire English Department at Youngstown State University, and the circulation department at Maag Library. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family for their patience during this long process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Public Libraries and Multicultural Youth Literature ...................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................ 7 Significance of the Study ................................................................................ 9 Research Question ........................................................................................... 12 Definition of Terms ......................................................................................... 12 Summary ......................................................................................................... 15 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................................................................... 16 Reading and Public Libraries .......................................................................... 17 Multicultural Children’s and Young Adult Literature .................................... 20 Youth Literature Awards................................................................................. 33 Research on Multicultural Youth Literature in Public Libraries .................... 37 Summary ......................................................................................................... 38 III. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 39 Background ..................................................................................................... 40 Restatement of the Question ........................................................................... 43 Procedures ....................................................................................................... 44 Summary ......................................................................................................... 57 IV. ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS ..................................................................... 58 Library Holdings ............................................................................................. 58 Summary ......................................................................................................... 99 V. DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................100 Discussion of Findings ....................................................................................101 Implications of the Findings ...........................................................................109 Recommendations for Future Research ..........................................................111 Limitations of the Study ..................................................................................111 Conclusion ......................................................................................................112 v APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................113 APPENDIX A. Books Used in Study .........................................................................114 APPENDIX B. Libraries Used in Study .....................................................................144 APPENDIX C. Communities Used in Study ..............................................................153 REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................160 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Library System Holdings of Books Included in Study ............................................... 59 2. Library Outlet Holdings of Books Included in Study ................................................. 62 3. Library Outlet Holdings of Coretta Scott King Award Books ................................... 72 4. Library Outlet Holdings of Pura Belpré Award Books .............................................. 76 5. Library Outlet Holdings of Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Books ..... 80 6. Library Outlet Holdings of American Indian Youth Literature Award Books ........... 84 7. Library Outlet Holdings of Américas Award Books .................................................. 88 8. Library Outlet Holdings of Tomás Rivera Award Books ........................................... 92 9. Library Outlet Holdings of Carter G. Woodson Book Award Books......................... 96 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Counties in Northeast Ohio ....................................................................................... 50 2. Libraries by County .................................................................................................. 52 3. Frequency Distribution of Library System and Library Outlet Holdings ................. 60 4. Library System and Outlet Holdings