Working group for youth literature and media

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The working group for young people's literature and media (AJuM for short) works nationwide and is part of the Education and Science Union ( GEW ). AJuM is committed to promoting reading and media education in kindergartens, schools, libraries, day care centers, universities and other institutions. Around 500 volunteers work in the AJuM who deal professionally and / or privately with children's and youth literature (e.g. teaching, educational, librarian staff and employees from the university sector).

Tasks and way of working

The AJuM works today with the aim of promoting reading not only in educational institutions. In the “Reading Promotion Network”, efforts are made at various levels to work together with other organizations promoting reading promotion, publishers, authors, etc. on various types of events. AJuM trains and advises literary educators in the fields of youth literature and media as well as school libraries and media libraries .

The AJuM ...

  • ... reviews current children's and youth literature and media from the point of view of literary aesthetic quality and with a view to use in educational fields. The reviews can be found in an online database.
  • ... organizes regional and nationwide training courses and specialist days.
  • ... develops materials and (thematic) lists of recommendations to promote reading.
  • ... publishes the magazine for children's and youth literature research kjl & m.
  • ... monthly awards the Reading Peter to outstanding books.
  • ... awards the Heinrich Wolgast Prize of the GEW for children's or youth media that deal with the subject of the world of work.

According to the union structure, each regional office in the regional associations of the GEW works autonomously, organizes the review activities, further training courses, consultations on a voluntary basis. The contact persons in the regional associations can be found on the GEW website.

The entire board of the AJuM meets once a year, in between the management committee conducts the business.

Review database for children's and youth literature

Assessment work continues to be the focus of activity. The basis is an agreement with the Arbeitsgemeinschaft von Jugendbuchverlagen eV (avj), which makes the new publications available to the reviewers in return for the promise that the reviews will be published in the AJuM database. Around 500 employees from schools, kindergartens and universities and the extracurricular reading promotion have been posting their reviews in the non-commercial, free and independent review database for children's and youth literature since 2003. As early as September 2005, there were over 10,000 reviews from over 100 publishers online. The number of visitors is around 2000 inquiries per month. The focus is always on the holdings from the last three years with around 20,000 reviews, often several on the same book or audio medium, which can be accessed via keywords, title, author, and free text search. Older reviews can be viewed via an archive function.

What does the database offer?

  • The database is maintained and updated by the AJuM. It is accessible to users free of charge.
  • The reviews are written by trained educators who are directly related to the target group and who incorporate these experiences into the discussions.
  • The database often offers several reviews of a title that provide a more nuanced picture of the book.
  • Keywords, recommendations for specific target groups and the search function enable a quick and successful search. The teasers provide an initial orientation.

Heinrich Wolgast Prize

The Heinrich Wolgast Prize was founded in 1986 by the Education and Promotion Agency (BFW) of the Education and Science Union (GEW) in the DGB eV to promote the representation of the world of work in children's and youth literature. The literature prize was named after the reform and literary educator Heinrich Wolgast (1860–1920), who was close to social democracy . The prize is awarded every two years and is endowed with 2000 euros.

An expert jury from the AJuM in the GEW is responsible for the nomination of the award-winning books, the determination of the winners and the awarding of the award. The jury, consisting of at least three members, is chosen by the entire AJuM board. In addition to the award winner, a list of recommended KJL titles on the world of work is compiled.

The Reading Peter - an award from the AJuM

The children's and young people's book market is relatively confusing with around 9,000 new publications per year. In order to offer young readers, parents, educators and teachers an orientation, the AJuM has been awarding the Reading Peter to outstanding, literary aesthetic and educationally valuable books since 2003 .

The Reading Peter is awarded monthly alternately to a picture book, children's book, youth book or non-fiction book. The Read Peter juries hold detailed discussions that allow in-depth insights into the book. These discussions can be downloaded as a PDF file from www.lesepeter.de. AJuM specialist juries consisting of two to four people determine the monthly Reading Peter book.

Specialized magazine for children's and youth literature kjl & m

kjl & m - the specialist magazine for:

  • Children's and youth literature and media in schools and libraries
  • Research on children's and youth literature
  • Media and literature didactic approaches
  • Work in school libraries and collaboration between public libraries and schools

Kjl & m is the oldest German-language magazine for children's and youth literature. Founded in 1893 as “Jugendschriften-Warte”, it now takes into account all forms of children's and youth media. Each of the quarterly issues has a focus and also offers articles on other topics in the "Spectrum" section. A wide range of materials and reviews offer everyone who deals professionally with children's and youth literature, comprehensive information and suggestions for practical use. In addition, there is an annual kjl & m special edition with a more detailed topic.

The history of the name: From June 1973 it was called Information Literature and Media (ILM); Information for young people's literature and media (IJM) from 1976; Contributions to youth literature and media (BJM) since 1993 and kjl & m since 2007.

Julim-Journal - an online magazine

The online magazine Julim-Journal presents collective reviews , thematic booklets to download, currently discussed books and media as well as activities in the KJL area. Every GEW member is free to work. An editorial group decides on the selection of contributions. The Julim-Journal is currently vacant due to a hacker attack.

Further tasks and fields of work

At the suggestion of the AJuM, the GEW names its members to the Federal Ministry (FSFJ) in the Federal Testing Office for Media Harmful to Young People . At the meetings of the BPjM, it is discussed and decided whether a product is to be classified as harmful to young people and whether it is indicated in accordance with the Youth Protection Act.

AJuM has represented the GEW at the Leipzig Book Fair with its own stand and participates in the event program since 2001 . It is also represented at the education fairs.

Contacts & network

The AJuM was a founding member of the umbrella organization Arbeitskreis für Jugendliteratur eV (AKJ) and has repeatedly placed members on the board and in juries. From 2006 to 2012 Regina Pantos from the AJuM was chairwoman of the AKJ. Through members of the AJuM, there are connections to the Friends of the Institute for Youth Book Research at Goethe University Frankfurt, the German Academy for Children's and Youth Literature in Volkach , the Federal Association for Cultural Youth Education (BKJ), the Friedrich Bödecker circles , the Society for Children's and youth literature research , to the Society for Media Education and Communication Culture eV (GMK) and to IBBY (= International Board on Books for Young People), the international umbrella organization with its two-year congresses.

About naming

With her work, she continues the long tradition of the United German Examination Committees for Youth Writings (= VJA). These were founded in 1893 by teachers' associations in various parts of the German Reich and promoted reading, primarily by publishing lists of recommendations for good youth books. After 1945 union members from various federal states were found to continue the work. First the old name was taken up again: In 1956, in issue 75 of MUND = Material and News Service of the Working Group of German Teachers 'Associations - GEW and Bavarian Teachers' Association, it read: "From the work of the United Youth Writings Committees". In the organization plan of the GEW at the same time it was called "Department of Youth Writings" .. In 1971 the name was changed to "Department for Literature and Media (VJA). As early as 1975 there were new guidelines under the name of" Arbeitsgemeinschaft Jugendliteratur und Medien (VJA) . In 1995 the addition VJA disappeared.

Archive inventory

Extensive collections of material, almost 12 meters of shelf space on the history of youth literature in Germany and from the activities of the youth literature and media working group for the period from 1950 to 2009 can be found in the archive of social democracy (AdsD) of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung . Almost all assessments of the VJA state associations or VJA state offices from the period 1966–1990 (central file from Hanover) are stored at the Institute for Youth Book Research at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Department of Newer Philologies. There you can also find the estate of John Barfaut , the chairman of the Hamburg youth literature committee and chairman of the VJA until 1933 and again from 1948 to 1960. The trade union archive on pedagogy of children's and youth literature at the Saxony State Association of the GEW in Leipzig contains the assessments from the Überlingen central file for the period 1991 to 2003 and assessments from Saxony from before 1945. Contact via archiv-kjlpaed-gew@gmx.de.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ( AJUM )
  2. ^ GEW - The education union: GEW - The education union. February 16, 2018, accessed March 20, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Working group for youth literature and media of the GEW
  4. ↑ wolgast-preis.de
  5. ↑ Reading Peter. Accessed March 20, 2018 .
  6. ↑ kjl & m - research.school.bibliothek
  7. ↑ July Journal