Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
Reading for Pleasure in a High-Powered Middle School:
Is there Time and is there a Library?
Community Profile
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart is an all-girls Catholic school
located in an affluent section of Houston Texas. While located in an area close to
downtown Houston, the population represents demographics from many parts of
Houston and its suburbs. As the school does attract many nationalities and many
non-Catholics, the commonality is their affluent socio-economic status. The
numbers of students outside this socio-economic level are not enough to skew
any demographic statistic. The immediate surrounding area was chosen to
represent statistical information about the school population as it does reflect the
overall population of the school. Appendix A gives the United States 2000
Census statistics for the area surrounding the school.
A strong commitment to community is a hallmark of Sacred Heart
education. The following is from the Duchesne Academy publication addressing
the school’s commitments to its students.
As a Catholic school, one of the greatest strengths of Duchesne is its commitment to the
building of community as a Christian value. The building of community within classes,
among classes, with peers and with adults is inherently desirable. Relationships are seen
as the fabric of the school, and those relationships spill over into the wider community.
The ambiance of the school is that of a family spirit; that spirit enables the students to be
self-confident leaders in the world. The school community is built upon a love that binds
students and faculty and is founded on a core set of values that springs from the Sacred
Heart traditions and heritage.
A commitment to community means also a commitment to significant interaction with a
diverse population. Duchesne honors its diversity, and is enriched by a variety of ethnic
and religious peoples. Having such a rich diversity is a blessing for the Duchesne
community, which strives to respect and honor each culture and at the same time learn
from each.
Duchesne Academy is divided into three schools. The Lower School
serves Pre-Kindergarten through Fourth grade, the Middle School serves Fifth
through Eighth grades and the High School serves Ninth through Twelfth grades.
Two libraries serve the Duchesne community. The Lower School library is
housed in the lower school wing, while the Upper/Middle school libraries are
housed in a shared library in the Upper school wing.
Ethnographic Report
Reading for pleasure is very strong in the lower grades at Duchesne
Academy. The girls are encouraged to and given time to read for pleasure. Their
teachers read to them on a daily basis to encourage the love of reading. These
young girls visit the school library on a regular basis with their classes and on
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
their own time. However, it was brought to my attention that this habit of library
visits and pleasure reading was not occurring in the middle school. I made the
decision to find out if this information was true and if so, what the reasons for the
decline were. As a member of the library staff at Duchesne, and as one of the
librarians advocating in the lower grades reading for pleasure, I felt that this study
was needed in order to address any problems that might be occurring at the
middle school level.
The problems associated with getting teens to read for pleasure is one
topic that young adult librarians recognize and study. There are many factors that
effects whether a teen continues to read through these years and goes on to
become a lifetime reader. Barbara Will Razzano emphasizes one important
factor in an article titled, "Creating the Library Habit.” She found that a positive
pattern of adult library use is directly related to use as a child and youth.
The story of this field study begins with a rumor. This rumor came to me, a
Lower School Librarian at Duchesne Academy, from a parent of a 5 th grader. She
told me that her middle school daughter was complaining about the state of
reading materials and the friendliness of the staff in the middle/upper school
library. While the two collections share one space, their fiction sections are on
separate shelves and are identified differently. Being an avid promoter of
pleasure reading with my students in the lower grades, it disturbed me that these
same girls might be falling off the reading train because of lack of materials and
unfriendly staff. Therefore, I decided to do some observation and create a dialog
with some middle school girls to validate or squash this rumor.
I conducted observations of the middle school library environment and
conducted interviews, oral and written, with 5th and 6th grade students over a
period of two weeks. The total school population in these two grades was used in
this study to answer two major questions.
Do the middle school students use the school library for materials to read
for pleasure?
Is the library staff friendly when working with middle school students?
First, I spent 5 days sitting in the library during middle school break time to
observe the girls using the library. The daily morning break is a 15-minute period
where the girls are free to eat a snack, visit amongst themselves, play games,
and visit the library. In order as to not bring attention to myself, I pretended to be
doing work with my pen and notebook and it worked as no one paid me much
attention. I watched for girls reading magazines and books, girls checking out
fiction books, and any interactions between middle school girls and the librarians
or library staff. I recorded the numbers in my field notebook. They are organized
in the following chart.
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
# of
students
reading
magazines
2
1
3
2
1
# of
students
reading
fiction books
3
4
2
0
2
# of
students
browsing
fiction
shelves
without
checking out
books
1
2
2
1
1
# of
students
checking out
fiction books
3
5
1
2
3
# of positive
interactions
with
librarian/s or
library staff
3
5
1
2
3
It was interesting to note that four of the students came in alone,
sat down and read a book or magazine. On two days, the same two girls
came in and read magazines together. One girl came in all five days
alone and read a book that looked like novel; it was not a textbook. On
several days, small groups of girls entered to work together on their
laptops. They were studying or perhaps working on a project. The main
variable with this type of observation is that I do not know if the students
reading and checking out fiction books are doing so for pleasure or as part
of an assignment for school.
The interactions I viewed were with the middle school Librarian.
The Librarian did not actively pursue any interactions with the students
who were browsing the shelves or searching the catalog. When the
students approached the circulation desk, the Librarian was pleasant and
engaged in conversation with them.
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
After this period of observation, I arranged with the physical
education staff a time period at the beginning of their classes to conduct
interviews with 5th and 6th grade students. To gather the information I
needed to answer my two major questions, I formulated the following
interview questions:
1. Do you read books, magazines, or newspapers for pleasure
outside of required reading for school assignment?(oral response)
2. Have you visited the public library for any reading materials not
related to school assignments? (oral response)
3. Have you visited the school library for any reading materials not
related to school assignments? (written response)
If so, do you have any suggestions for improving the
library?
If not, why?
These interviews were very informal and were done outside on the
grounds of the school. As most of the girls know me as the lower school librarian,
they were not wary of my presence or averse to helping with my questions.
Sitting with them on the ground, I asked for their help in research on teen’s use of
the library for pleasure reading. I told them they would be asked some questions
about their reading and use of the library and it was important that they respond
honestly. In one session, this statement prompted one question from one
student. She asked, “Are you going to tell anyone what we say?” I told her that
her responses were not for public knowledge and would only be used by me in
my graduate school studies. This answer was sufficient as she chose to
participate. No one chose not to answer the verbal questions. Yet, some were
very interested and some looked bored.
The following chart demonstrates the responses by grade level.
5th Grade
6th Grade
39 students
42 students
Yes
No
Yes
No
Do you read books,
magazines, or newspapers for
pleasure outside of required
reading for school
assignment?
37
2
39
3
Have you visited the public
library for any reading
18
11
15
27
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
materials not related to school
assignments?
Have you visited the school
library for any reading
materials not related to school
assignments?
21
18
30
12
In order to ensure honesty and protect identity, the third question was
written on a prepared questionnaire. The following are results with answers that
appeared more than once indicated with a number.
5th grade girls who answered yes to question three gave the following
suggestions for improving the school library.

More chairs

Change the color of the library to blue

Organize the books better

Get more books that interest me

Get more newspapers and magazines

Update the books

Elongate the due date

Advertise the books more

Get specific books (titles were given)

Check out magazines and get newer ones monthly

Check out encyclopedias

Make it less noisy

Make sure there is a librarian you can ask for help

There needs to be more people to help you

I like it the way it is
6th grade girls who answered yes to question three gave the following
suggestions for improving the school library.

No suggestions

There can be more librarians so that you don’t have to wait while she is helping
someone else.
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
 I like it the way it is.

Have more computers for searching

Have more cookbooks

More colors and better books

Make the books User check out so that we could check books out without the
librarian(s).
5th grade girls who answered no to question three gave the following reasons.

Mrs. Carson (English teacher) lets us check out books in her room (15)

Allot of books I like aren’t there

I don’t have time to go there

The books I like are always checked out

I don’t find any magazines there that I like.

I don’t like to read (2)

I don’t like having to renew books.
6th grade girls who answered no to question three gave the following reasons.

I never get around to going there. (8)

They don’t have the books I like (5)

I have read all the books I like in there

I don’t have time (7)
From the observations of the library during break time, it could theorized
that the middle school students are not using the library for pleasure reading in
large numbers. The number of girls observed in the five-day period represents
less than 5% of the total population. However, these observations cannot
adequately answer the initial questions, as there are other periods within the
school day where students might read and/or check out books for pleasure.
These observations show that the 15-minute morning break period is not a period
of heavy pleasure reading in the school library.
The observations did show that the library staff, during the time I was
there, worked with the students in a friendly, helpful manner at the circulation
desk. It does demonstrate some merit to the written comments “make sure there
is a librarian you can ask for her.” It is not possible to make definitive conclusions
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
from these observations, as the library staff was aware that I was in the library at
the time.
The interviews provide a more accurate picture of pleasure reading the life
of the 5th and 6th grade girls. 95% responded yes to the question about pleasure
reading. Over 50% responded that they visited a school or public library to fulfill
their pleasure reading needs. Their reasons for not visiting the school library are
varied but do not indicate strong negative feelings about the library, librarians or
library staff.
In order for fieldwork to present complete data for these questions in this
setting, I feel that it is necessary to expand the observations and interviews to the
7th and 8th grade students. With only the current data in hand, I feel the picture is
not complete. Future study of these students would either corroborate the data of
the 5th and 6th grade students or tell a different story.
Reflections
At first, my ideas of observation and interview seemed like an ideal way to
find the answer to my questions about the Duchesne middle school girls and their
reading for pleasure. I also hoped to get some insight into the negative feedback
I was given about the library and its staff. I think now that the information I got
from the parent was isolated, not part of a larger problem. I found this experience
very intimidating, as I have never done anything like this in any educational or
professional activities. Knowing your user’s needs and preferences is an
important part of being an effective librarian. This can be difficult when working
with young adults. Whether conducting specific, extensive fieldwork such as is
done in an ethnographic study or simply watching and talking with and reading
about young adult users, the librarian is much more apt to be “in tune” with their
needs if they search out information about their teen patrons.
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
Bibliography
Razzano, B. (1985). Creating the Library Habit. Library Journal. 110. 111-115.
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart. (2002). Parent Handbook. 12.
Appendix A
Population
Census Tract 4302, Harris County, Texas
Total:
1,531
White alone
1,260
Black or African American alone
7
American Indian and Alaska Native alone
0
Asian alone
190
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone
0
Some other race alone
43
Two or more races
31
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet
Family Income
Census Tract 4302, Harris County, Texas
Total:
397
Less than $10,000
6
$10,000 to $14,999
16
$15,000 to $19,999
13
$20,000 to $24,999
0
$25,000 to $29,999
12
$30,000 to $34,999
10
$35,000 to $39,999
23
$40,000 to $44,999
30
$45,000 to $49,999
18
$50,000 to $59,999
41
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Jean Pfluger
SLIS 5960
Ethnographic Field Study
Spring 2003
$60,000 to $74,999
34
$75,000 to $99,999
68
$100,000 to $124,999
17
$125,000 to $149,999
27
$150,000 to $199,999
20
$200,000 or more
62
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet
9