The Library and the Disadvantaged Reader

Abstract

DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE are apathetic toward and anxious about any organization in which there is a credibility gap between what it purports to provide and what it actually does provide. The effective library enables the disadvantaged person to find answers to his immediate problems. Disadvantaged people may have to go through one stage of using the library for practical immediate information before they can accommodate themselves to use the library for aesthetic satisfaction. The purpose of this article is to summarize current research findings in reading and to describe programs and practices about the disadvantaged as they relate or may relate to the library and librarians. The article has been divided into a number of sections in order to discuss the various aspects of reading research and practices. The final section consists of a variety of implications which have been culled from the research and the reported practices, as well as the experiences of the authors of this article in working with the disadvantaged learner. FAMILY STATUS AND HOME ENVIRONMENT In identifying characteristics of the disadvantaged learner, the home environment has received considerable attention. Bloom, et at., stated that the home is the single most important influence on the intellectual and emotional development of young children. They noted that there were fewer books in lower class homes, and that children were read to less frequently and spoken to less by their parents than upper class children. Their environment has been described as overcrowded, noisy,

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