Reading, Information Literacy and Professional Development

We begin this issue of IFLA Journal with a personal view of ‘Reading Sources and Reading Spaces in Honduras’, by Denice Adkins, an associate professor of library and information science at the University of Missouri School of Information Science and Learning Technologies. Based on her observations during a visit to Honduras as a Fulbright Scholar in 2008, the paper presents an observer’s study of reading in Honduras, focusing particularly on the availability of reading materials and spaces dedicated to reading and literacy practices. The environments studied included bookstores, libraries, schools, and Internet cafés, as well as streets and shops. Reading books was observed to be relatively uncommon and primarily done in an educational context, but other reading materials, including newspapers, magazines, and text messages, were far more commonly used and far better integrated into Honduran society. The author suggests that libraries could play an important supporting role in Honduras’ efforts to establish universal literacy.