Loh, Chin Ee

Dominant visual narratives of reading tend to portray readers as solitary individuals deeply immersed in reading a single text in a quiet, undisturbed spot. Yet reading is both social and solitary, and takes place in different kinds of spaces, not all quiet and not all undisturbed. This visual essay examines how reading as everyday practice is situated in social spaces, and is appropriated by individuals as well as members of a collective for its own uses. In this visual essay, we draw on our ethnographic research of reading to examine the connections between space and reading as social practice. We focus on reading activities in school and particularly on the space of the school library, historically associated as a space for reading, to understand not only the kinds of reading that occur in a space meant for such purposes, but also how students negotiate such spaces and practices for their own purposes.

Much research has documented the strong correlation between independent reading and academic achievement, and the school library can serve a crucial role in encouraging reading. Drawing from one case study out of a larger dataset of six schools, this paper details how one school transformed its school library, making it a central place for reading within the school. Data collected provided evidence of the kinds of strategies, programmes and design that works to encourage reading. Data collection to help us understand the reading and school library culture included: A school-wide reading survey, interviews with the principal, teachers and students, library observations, timed counts, narratives and time-lapse photographs of library space contributed. Factors for building a reading culture include: (1) Curating the book selection for readers, (2) Making books visible (3) Creating programmes to excite readers, (4) Designing spaces for reading, and (5) Building an ecology for reading.