The International Board on Books for Young People has housed a collection for books for young people with disabilities in Norway since 1985. Last year, libraries worldwide bid on hosting the next collection. The Toronto Public Library was selected, and, as of this year, the collection is featured at the North York Central Library branch.
On Nov. 13, members of IBBY and involved TPL staff led a guided tour of the collection, which includes about 4,000 books, both in traditional and accessible formats for young people of varying abilities, and titles featuring themes of disability and characters who are disabled. The collection is for reference only, though many of the books in the collection are also in circulation at the TPL.
The collection receives annual submissions from IBBY’s 76 member countries, and compiles a bi-annual shortlist of about 50 outstanding titles. The 4,000 books now at the North York Central Library are all catalogued in the TPL system and will rotate through being shelved, while still owned by IBBY. (In Norway, the books were catalogued on a school library system, so less publicly accessible.)
The mandate of this collection, “for and about” young people with disabilities, is to “encourage production, promotion and dissemination” of such materials. They are also used as a teaching tool; for example, this January there will be a professional development opportunity for TPL children’s librarians hosted at the North York Central branch.
The 2015 collection, which will be revealed at a press conference in March for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, will come from submissions of books from the past four years, or outstanding books that are not in previous collections. Publishers and individuals are welcome to suggest books to be nominated to IBBY Canada, who will put forward official nominations along with other IBBY national sections.
Here are a few highlights from the IBBY collection:
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- Leigh Turina, lead librarian for the IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities, and Heidi Cortner Boiesen, who was director of the collection while it was housed in Norway.
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- Leigh Turina, lead librarian for the IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities, and Heidi Cortner Boiesen, who was director of the collection while it was housed in Norway.
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- Simplified text accompanied by a Braille version.
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- Simplified text accompanied by a Braille version.
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- Some books in the collection are in accessible formats, or adapted for reading and development needs. Others are in traditional formats, and deal with subject matter related to disability.
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- Some books in the collection are in accessible formats, or adapted for reading and development needs. Others are in traditional formats, and deal with subject matter related to disability.
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- Books in sign language appear throughout the collection, for various ages. Children’s librarian Leigh Turina mentions that these books are also helpful for disabled parents to read to and with their non-disabled children.
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- Books in sign language appear throughout the collection, for various ages. Children’s librarian Leigh Turina mentions that these books are also helpful for disabled parents to read to and with their non-disabled children.
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- <I>Willow’s Whisper</I> (Kids Can Press) is one of the Canadian titles to be featured in the collection.
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- Willow’s Whisper (Kids Can Press) is one of the Canadian titles to be featured in the collection.
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- Beautiful tactile books are hand-sewn in various countries including Japan and India. This wordless Japanese tactile book is “authorless” as it is made collaboratively by a group of women.
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- Beautiful tactile books are hand-sewn in various countries including Japan and India. This wordless Japanese tactile book is “authorless” as it is made collaboratively by a group of women.
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- IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities
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- While books in accessible formats may be limited in terms of what can be checked out, they are often useful references for educators, who can make their own versions using existing formats.
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- While books in accessible formats may be limited in terms of what can be checked out, they are often useful references for educators, who can make their own versions using existing formats.
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- The collection features books with innovative formats, such as this raised maze activity book meant for visually impaired children. This fold-out format allows children around a table to use different pages at the same time.
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- The collection features books with innovative formats, such as this raised maze activity book meant for visually impaired children. This fold-out format allows children around a table to use different pages at the same time.
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- Here, a picture book is shown in a simplified version in its original language, Swedish, as well as in Blisssymbols. Bliss symbols are unique in that they are universal and do not conform to any individual language.
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- Here, a picture book is shown in a simplified version in its original language, Swedish, as well as in Blisssymbols. Bliss symbols are unique in that they are universal and do not conform to any individual language.
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- In recent years, Turina says Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) have been favoured over Blissymbols.
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- In recent years, Turina says Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) have been favoured over Blissymbols.
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- This book is geared for young people on the autism spectrum. The pointer is meant to encourage motor skills, though Turina says some educators prefer young people to work on these using their hands.
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- This book is geared for young people on the autism spectrum. The pointer is meant to encourage motor skills, though Turina says some educators prefer young people to work on these using their hands.
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- Books in Braille are featured throughout the collection, in various forms and for various ages and development levels. Here, Braille text accompanies a texturized animal picture, in one of the few non-fiction titles in the collection.
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- Books in Braille are featured throughout the collection, in various forms and for various ages and development levels. Here, Braille text accompanies a texturized animal picture, in one of the few non-fiction titles in the collection.
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