This document discusses linguistic equity in eBook collections available to school libraries worldwide. It analyzes data on the languages represented in collections from major eBook providers like Follett and the International Children's Digital Library. It finds that the vast majority of eBooks are in English, while only a small percentage are available in other languages, despite a large portion of the world's school-aged children speaking other native languages. This creates a linguistic divide and limits opportunities for children to read in their native languages. The document calls for eBook providers and initiatives to do more to address this imbalance and ensure linguistic equity proportional to the worldwide demographics of school-aged children.

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School Library eBook Providers and Linguistic
Equity: An Analysis of eBook Collections Available
to School Libraries Worldwide
Dr. Andrea Paganelli
Dr. Cynthia Houston
Western Kentucky University

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Linguistic Equity in ebooks:
What’s the big deal?
Reading is critical to lifelong learning and cognitive development
―Encouraging children to read—in any language—is one of the
best ways to enrich their lives as individual human beings, to
develop insights into and understandings of their own lives, to
become aware of the greatness of their cultural heritage, and to
deepen their interest in reading as a leisure-time activity‖ - Isabel
Schon (2006)
Linguistic Equity – opportunities for reading are equally available
in the native and second languages

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Linguistic Equity in ebooks:
What’s the big deal?
IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto – It is essential to
support ―all students in learning and practicing skills for
evaluating and using information, regardless of form, format, or
medium, including sensitivity to the modes of communication
within the community‖
Linguistic Equity in school libraries is critical for developing
cognitive skills in the native language, a child’s personal and
cultural identity, and contributes to a child’s feeling of
psychological safety in a multicultural society.

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Linguistic equity and eBooks:
What’s the big deal?
eBook utilization is on the rise
44 percent of school libraries in the United States offered
eBooks (397 titles per school)
Most eBooks are non-fiction
 High schools have the most eBook titles, while middle schools
were second; elementary schools had the lowest number of titles
Children are most likely to access eBooks on a dedicated
reader such as a Kindle rather than through a networked
computer.
Do eBooks providers offer linguistic equity?

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eBook Providers and Linguistic
Equity: Meeting the need?
Children of School age as
percentage of the population
Percentage of eBooks available from Follett by
language
Follett Worldwide commands 69% of eBook
market
Spanish English Other
Africa 41% 3.4% 96.6% 723 (0)%
Latin
America/Caribbean
28%
Asia 25%
Oceania 24%
North America 19%
Europe 16%
Most of the world’s children live in
countries who do not speak
English as their first language!

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Linguistic equity and eBooks:
Meeting the need?
International Children’s Digital Library
English
70%
Persian
10%
Mongolian
5%
Spanish
4% Other
11%
Titles by Language

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Linguistic Divide = Digital Divide
 Do eBook providers offer linguistic equity – NO, most of the world’s
children if they could access eBook titles, do not have access to eBooks in
their native languages
 eBook Providers are adding thousands of titles to their collections
daily, but not providing linguistic equity proportional to the worldwide
population of school-age children needing access
 There is a growing digital and linguistic divide in school-age children’s
access to technology and resources available through technology in their
native languages
 Worldwide, the correlation between average income of primary speakers
of a language and their access to technology is strong, meaning that the
problem for access to technology and native language content creation is
poverty
 This divide significantly impacts a child’s potential for developing lifelong
learning skills for the 21st century

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Do International eBook Initiatives
Address Linguistic Equity?
Affordable Access – Worldbank/IADP http://www.iadpnet.org
Facilitate low price, high volume distribution of eBooks and readers for
educational purposes in developing countries
Assumption that the lingua Franca for education is English
Worldreader.org – founded by Amazon.com executive
Use of mobile infrastructure and technology to provide local and
international digital books to children, families and communities who have
no books.
Working to provide native language content, primarily in Africa

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Discussion/Questions
 eBook Providers: ―Today the ability to communicate across cultures is a key
to moving up the economic ladder. Thus, like it or not, English, with all of its
mixed history and linguistic weaknesses, has become the de facto lingua
franca of the world.‖ - Richard Rowe, Open Learning Exchange CEO
 Authors - “We need to see diversity within the publishing field. We need
to see diversity in terms of reviewers, in terms of award committees. You
know, publishing is its own complex world. So, I always encourage
teachers and librarians to be leaders, to go into bookstores. And if they
don't see the books that reflect their children's lives, to talk to the
manager…I think we all have to be part of the change.” – Pat Mora, Latina
author
 Andrea.paganelli@wku.edu/Cynthia.houston@wku.edu, Western Kentucky
University
 http://www.slideshare.net/media3693