Interagency Cooperation: Children's Fire Safety Literacy Reading and Discussion Program Initiative at Illinois Fire Service Institute Library

Ruan, Lian; Richardson, Diane; Habing, Kelda; Ehrenhart, David; Liu, Shuyi

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114472 Copy

Description

Title

Interagency Cooperation: Children's Fire Safety Literacy Reading and Discussion Program Initiative at Illinois Fire Service Institute Library

Author(s)

Ruan, Lian; Richardson, Diane; Habing, Kelda; Ehrenhart, David; Liu, Shuyi

Issue Date

2022-07

Keyword(s)

• firefighters
• fire safety
• reading program
• special library
• interagency cooperation
• children

Abstract

Awarded by the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) Library, which is the statutory fire academy library and the only fire science-dedicated library in Illinois, has received an American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries award, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Through interagency cooperation, the IFSI Library will develop a new Children's Fire Safety Literacy Reading and Discussion Program. Illinois firefighters statewide have been invited to participate by reading and leading discussions of children's and teen's fire safety educational books to support their departments' public fire safety outreach programs. Firefighter participants will also include the Illinois Fire Service Institute's regional representatives, who oversee the education and training of the region and have the closest relationships with local fire departments. The IFSI Library will purchase 83 Children's books, including multi-lingual items on fire safety suggested by the firefighter participants to support the new program. The books purchased for this program will include fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction, and memoirs for the preschool through high school level written m English, Spanish, Polish, and Chinese for racially and ethnically diverse populations. The books will be included in the IFSI Library's circulating collections that will be available to the general public. The program will comprise fifteen to twenty minutes of the firefighter reading one humanities fire safety book, followed by discussion questions posed by the firefighter related to the book. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign iSchool graduate student employees, in partnership with the firefighter presenters, will develop the discussion questions before the reading. These questions will focus discussion on the history of fire safety, fire prevention, and fire service diversity. The program will also allow time at the end of each discussion for those in attendance to ask questions. The goal is for attendees to leave the program with an increased awareness of fire safety, an acquaintance with local firefighters and their profession, and a burgeoning interest in fire history and the demographics/diversity of the fire service. The program will strengthen the tie between firefighters and local communities.

Publisher

Shanghai Scientific and Technological Literature Press

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114472

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