Page 167 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

of eBooks to the 276 Basque libraries that are part of the network. Unlike the rest of Spain’s autonomous communities, which offer a digital lending service through eBiblio, it is the only one with a model of its own.
According to data provided in 2015, on its first anniversary the catalogue offered nearly 10,000 titles – considerably more than the 1,500 items it had when launched. Loans totalled 27,438 digital books and 9,216 people logged onto the platform during the period. In 2017 the figures released by this platform were 14,000 items and 20,146 users. By the middle of the year 28,629 downloads had already been made.
The library is a place for integrating digital and print culture, a showcase for the possibilities the digital sphere offers and a place for training and building skills in the use of devices and fostering the full development of individuals as digital readers. This other aspect has an unquestionable importance and significant social impact because it democratises access to the digital era and lessens the risks of widening the digital gap between different sectors of society.
Making digital content available to all citizens and equipping them with the devices needed to read them and teaching them how to use them is the cornerstone of boosting digital reading. Many experiences have been based on these approaches and are aimed at all kinds of audi- ences, from children who have not yet learned to read to older people who are discovering
the advantages of technology in general and of digital reading in particular.
Lectores de pantalla, a pioneering programme carried out with young children and families
This pioneering programme (Screen readers)191
is an initiative of Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez and was designed to provide a working model that makes it possible to enhance reading
on paper and on a screen from the earliest ages. Using a method based on play, group explora- tion and guided individual practice, it is built from connections between children’s literature and ICTs and takes a broad approach that encompasses other essential areas of childhood learning. Its content classifies it as a programme for digital literacy (a first approach to the use
of elementary computer and digital reading applications) and visual literacy (training in the interpretation of images and their narrative function in books).
It sprang from a number of specific actions designed to incorporate the use of new tech- nology into pre-readers’ everyday practice in a natural manner in the library and soon spread to the school environment: early years and the first years of primary education. The work is based on a very careful selection of good-quality reading materials in a variety of types and formats. Dig- ital blackboards and desks are also used, as well as tablets, among other technological devices. The sessions are based on first-hand experimen- tation with all these devices and with materials specifically designed to foster understanding of the content.
The programme is structured around a dynamic character (the superhero Leo+), whom the participants must help complete a series of trials requiring skills associated with the use of digital devices. As well as practicing using these media, they can engage in a number of activities that combine play, motor skills and children’s litera- ture. The activities are organised into modules that group together content related to the basic concepts of the language of the screen, books and Internet surfing. When the sessions are over, the mediators (parents or teachers) receive a
set of educational worksheets with games for reinforcing the sessions, among other resources.
AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2018
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Readers in the digital age