Street Smart: Urban Fiction in Public Libraries

Irvin Morris, Vanessa

Street Smart: Urban Fiction in Public Libraries

Irvin Morris, Vanessa

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11213/824

Date: 2013-05-15

Abstract:

Description:

“Street Lit is all about stories: Stories that come from real lives lived in neighborhoods where streets, sidewalks and corners interweave and intersect and connect… Stories about human beings who walk, talk, and think, laugh, cry, and drink, fight, make love and raise kids, sometimes right on stoops and porches… Stories about communities where money can be seemingly scarce or found hidden underground a mainstream economy… as above, so below…” —Vanessa Irvin Morris Join PLA and presenter Vanessa Irvin Morris for this on-demand webinar highlighting the popular literary genre, street lit, also known as urban fiction. Morris not only explores the historical context for the genre as well as the characteristics and sub-genres, she also provides concrete ideas for collection development, readers’ advisory, and programming. This archived webinar was originally presented May 15, 2013. Running time: 58 minutes. Learning Outcomes: At the conclusion of this on-demand webinar, participants will: Understand the evolution of street lit as we know it today; Articulate the difference between urban fiction and street lit; Refer to established resources for the purpose of collection development and readers advisory. Instructor: Instructor Vanessa Irvin MorrisVanessa Irvin Morris is assistant teaching professor of library and information science at the iSchool, College of Information Science and Technology at Drexel University, Philadelphia. She has career experience serving in various libraries: academic, special, school media, and public. Her research focuses on librarian professional development and literacy practices enacted and learned via social media platforms. As author of the award-winning book, The Readers Advisory Guide to Street Literature (2011, ALA Editions) and the blog site, “StreetLiterature.com,” Morris is a highly sought out expert on the genre of urban literature and inner-city literacies. Her doctorate’s degree is in reading/writing/literacy from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

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