The Law on Reading Promotion and Support: About the School Library, by Maurizio Caminito (Forum del Libro)

INTERNATIONAL SEMINAL MEETING ON “THE EVOLVING CONCEPT OF ‘SCHOOL LIBRARY’ AND ITS PROFESSION” – ROME 02/04/2020
Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione
Department of Education
The Law on Reading Promotion and Support:g pp
About the School Library
Maurizio Caminito
President of FORUM DEL LIBRO
In collaboration with
#RomaTrenonsiferma / #RomaTredoesnotstop

BIO2
M. Caminito, Forum del Libro
BIO
Maurizio Caminito, Director of “Biblioteca Centrale per
Ragazzi”, Roma (1989-1996) and Rome Public Library
Network (2002 al 2008), taught (2008-2014) first
2
Network (2002 al 2008), taught (2008 2014) first
"Bibliography" at the University of Tuscia, and later "Computer
Science for Archives and Libraries" at Sapienza - University of
Rome. He has taken part as a speaker in several conferences
d t i i f lib i d t hand training courses for librarians and teachers.
He published the Manual of theYoung Internet Navigator
(Mondadori, 1997), one of the first Italian essays on the internet( ) y
usage by children. His latest publication in chronological order
is The library in the Cloud. Users and services at the time of
smartphones (La biblioteca nella nuvola…, Editrice Bibliografica,
2018) Since 2011 up to 2018 he edited a section dedicated to2018). Since 2011 up to 2018, he edited a section dedicated to
digital publishing in «LiBeR» (childrens’ literature and library
journal). Since February 2017 he has been President of the
“Forum del libro” [i.e., Book Forum] Association.

THE NEW LAW ON READING PROMOTION AND
02/04/2020
3
THE NEW LAW ON READING PROMOTION AND
SUPPORT
3
In the field of reading promotion in our country, certainly
the most significant event is represented by the recent
approval of the Law "Provisions for the promotion and
support of reading“ (13 February 2020, n. 15).
The approval of this law - it is important to underline it-
took place with Parliament's unanimous vote and comestook place with Parliament s unanimous vote and comes
after a long process that saw several proposals follow and
confront each other for at least a decade.
N b f h f h h l f hNow we must be aware of the fact that the result of this
long joint work, inside and outside Parliament, despite some
limits to which we will return, marks a very important
reference point for the diffusion of reading in Italy.p g y

THE “FORUM DEL LIBRO”
02/04/2020M. Caminito, Forum del Libro
4
THE “FORUM DEL LIBRO”4
The Forum del libro, like many other associative and
professional bodies, tried to provide a contribution of ideas
and proposals, which would define a picture as complete asand proposals, which would define a picture as complete as
possible of the interventions to be programmed.
https://forumlibro.wordpress.com/

SOME CONTRIBUTIONS BY“FORUM DEL LIBRO”
5
SOME CONTRIBUTIONS BY FORUM DEL LIBRO5

PROVISIONS FORTHE PROMOTION AND SUPPORT
6
With th fi t ti l f th l f d t l
PROVISIONS FORTHE PROMOTION AND SUPPORT
OF READING
6
With the first article of the new law a fundamental
principle is affirmed:
"The Republic, in implementation of articles 2, 3 and 9 of
the Constitution favors and supports reading as a meansthe Constitution, favors and supports reading as a means
for the development of knowledge, the dissemination of
culture, the promotion of civil, social and economic
progress of the nation, training and well-being ofprogress of the nation, training and well being of
citizens.
The Republic promotes interventions aimed at
supporting and encouraging the production,
conservation, circulation and use of books as
preferential tools for accessing and disseminating
content, as well as for improving the indicators of fair
and sustainable well-being.“

THE ARTICLES OF THE LAW 1
7
THE ARTICLES OF THE LAW - 17
The law defines several actions, among which
we remember:
- The need to adopt a National Action
Plan for the promotion of reading, every
three years, which identifies and defines its
aims, priorities and general objectives;
Th d ti f th "R di P t" (f- The adoption of the "Reading Pact" (from
the Spanish “Pacto por la lectura”) as the
main tool to involve libraries and other public
entities in particular schools as well asentities, in particular schools, as well as
private entities operating in a specific
territorial area interested in promoting
reading.reading.

8
THE ARTICLES OF THE LAW 28 THE ARTICLES OF THE LAW – 2
The law defines several actions,
among which we remember:
- The annual assignment of theThe annual assignment of the
title of "Italian Book Capital"
to a city that presents a
particularly effective project for
the promotion of reading in its
territory;
- The establishment of a
" ""Culture Card" as a measure
for combating educational and
cultural poverty

THE ARTICLES OF THE LAW 3
9
THE ARTICLES OF THE LAW – 39
The law defines other different actions, among
which we remember:which we remember:
- The attribution of the qualification of "Quality
Library" and the granting of tax incentives for
bookstores;bookstores;
- The modification of the legislation on discounts
on the sale price of books (the media attention
has focused above all on this topic, in the presence,p , p ,
however, of a deep division within the book supply
chain).

READING PROMOTION AT SCHOOL 1
10
READING PROMOTION AT SCHOOL - 110
We are now focusing on the set of initiatives planned for the "Promotion of reading at
school". As it is known in the Italian legal system, neither the school library nor, even less, the
school librarian’s job position are provided. From this point of view, the new law only partially
fsolves this long-standing question, even if it marks, however, a point in the desired direction.

11
The solution adopted requires that
a series of schools can be
id tifi d "Pole responsibleidentified as Pole - responsible
for the school library service
of all levels" and that these
schools can "organize training
for the staff of the networked
schools involved in the schoolschools involved in the school
library management".

12
There is no obligation to establish school libraries, nor is the
school librarian’s job position formally defined, but it opens
up to an organization of the school library service (amongup to an organization of the school library service (among
other things explicitly providing for a collaboration between
the school's networked institutions and those in the area,
with particular reference to the Public Libraries Network)
and a training and professionalization process is started for
the staff who deal with and will manage school libraries.g

13
In the face of this solution the professional community has been divided between those who
In the face of this solution, the professional community has been divided between those who
underline the limits of what is established by the new law and those who accept the
innovations contained in it. In support of the position of the incurable optimists (among
whom I also subscribe) it should be emphasized that the Law intervenes in a situation inwhom I also subscribe) it should be emphasized that the Law intervenes in a situation in
which, after years of immobility, in Italy the school library is now at the center of a series of
some significant initiatives, institutional and not.

NATIONAL PLAN FOR DIGITAL SCHOOLS
14
NATIONAL PLAN FOR DIGITAL SCHOOLS14
The first initiative concerns an institutional
intervention, the NATIONAL PLAN FOR DIGITAL
SCHOOL (PNSD Pi N i l S l Di i l )SCHOOL (PNSD - Piano Nazionale Scuola Digitale),
very well structured, launched by the Ministry of
Education in 2015, which explicitly provides for the
so called “Action #24” an action in favor of theso called Action #24 , an action in favor of the
development of "School Libraries as literacy
environments for use of digital information
resources”.resources .
Hundreds of Italian schools have used the funds of
this plan for setting up or upgrading their school
libraries.

THE COORDINATION OF SCHOOL LIBRARY
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THE COORDINATION OF SCHOOL LIBRARY
NETWORKS
15
The second initiative, which we could call a botton-up action, is the recent (November
2019) establishment of a coordination of existing school library networks, sanctioned by
the conference “First national conference of school library networks: network
t t i f t i bl h l lib ”strategies for a sustainable school library”

FINAL REMARKS
02/04/2020
16
FINAL REMARKS16
All this shows, in my opinion, that the
attention to the condition of School Libraries
in our country is evolving positively, also and
above all as a consequence of the tireless
work of numerous colleagues who have never
stopped dedicating their passion and
i lli iintelligence to it.
Thanks.

CONTACTS
02/04/2020
17
CONTACTS17
Mail to: maurizio@maucaminito.it

The Law on Reading Promotion and Support: About the School Library, by Maurizio Caminito (Forum del Libro)

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The Law on Reading Promotion and Support: About the School Library, by Maurizio Caminito (Forum del Libro)