Many CEGEPs have suspended purchases of books and documents for their libraries in recent months. The reason? The imposition by Quebec of surprise investment thresholds, which CEGEPs cannot exceed. The entire book chain suffers; and at the front, the teachers and the students, even reading itself. Last text in a series of three.
Today’s CEGEP reader is a hyperconnected person. Like his teachers, his society. In 2024, while literature is in competition with the “screen economy”, in competition with TikTok, the Legault government is letting support for college libraries, important for developing the love of paper books and reading, according to the opinions of specialists collected by Duty.
“Quebec recently declared itself in favor of staggering austerity regarding the supply of new literary corpora and documentary resources in CEGEP libraries,” said, revolted, Amélie Lemieux, president of the Quebec section of the Association international organization for research in French teaching.
If the trend continues, the burden on teachers will be greater and greater, the expert predicts. “Teachers are going to have a lot more pressure. They will have to innovate further to stimulate engagement with reading, to find ways to reduce the gap between books and everyday life” of these young people with superimposed screens.
This already meant, for them, working to revitalize and revalue the paper book. “It will be increasingly difficult to interest these young people in reading paper if they do not have access to it. »
Because access to books is important to discover them, specifies Mme Lemieux. In an open letter sent to Duty after her interview, she highlights the “categorical” results of the most recent Quebec survey on the discovery of cultural products and digital technology. “Physical consultation in a bookstore, store or library ranks third (64%) of the means used to discover books by Internet users aged 15 and over in Quebec,” recalls the document.
“The discoverability of titles therefore depends, among other things, on the locations in which available works are located. For the age group of 15 to 29, the statistics rise to 70%,” continues Amélie Lemieux.
For her, depriving young people of access to books in libraries is an obstacle to literary discoveries and, “ultimately, to the development of their reading skills”.
When asked if it was aware of the impacts this had on the ability of professors to obtain the works they need to teach, or on bookstores in Quebec, the Ministry of Higher Education replied that it had imposed this level of investment this year for college establishments in the name of “sound management of public finances”.
No explorations, no explorations
The director of studies at the Cégep de Sherbrooke, Sophie Meyer, knows this issue. In his establishment, as in many others in Quebec, the literacy challenges are acute. And the impact of measures that undermine libraries is direct. “To attract young people to reading, to really give them a taste for discovering novels from Quebec and elsewhere, we are going to be limited this year. And probably next year,” she confided during a recent interview with Duty.
Because his library must stick this year to “essential” purchases, that is to say strictly to the documents listed in the lesson plans. No additional literary discovery can slip in there. “We have just cut purchases which also allow culture to develop”, laments Mme Meyer.
Even the educational research of teachers is prevented. “Often, we bought [des documents, des livres, même des jeux de société] that the teachers explored and tested to find educational avenues. »
“Afterwards, it became material for certain courses or, in the case of games, for interventions carried out by the staff involved – by special education technicians, for example. That is no longer possible,” laments the director of studies.
“For a student to be minimally engaged in reading a literary work,” adds Amélie Lemieux, “he must see himself in the books he reads, or in the emotions that are mobilized, or in the social issues that exist there. Literary news then helps.
Marika Chartrand-Ly, 19, confirms this. “Not only should there be new products in school libraries, there should especially be some, and contemporary works, in teaching. »
“Teachers shape 90% of my literary background and my creative curiosity,” estimates the woman who attended CEGEP at Édouard-Montpetit and is beginning her literary studies at UQAM. “It would be nice to see more literary news. »
Concrete literature
“Middle school students must have access to renewed knowledge and be able to consult and borrow in-depth books and new literary releases,” also believes the National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL).
“We share the concern of the National Federation of Teachers of Quebec: if we wish to interest young people in Quebec culture, college libraries must remain rich places of discovery and acquisition of knowledge,” chants in turn Geneviève Pigeon, president of ANEL.
Does reading teaching specialist Amélie Lemieux have a recommendation for these CEGEP libraries in crisis?
“I believe that we must focus on collaborations between establishments, with municipal libraries, perhaps university libraries. There could be interlibrary loans or access. We’re going to have to move towards that. In short, “teaching students to use other libraries” is what the library offers which teaches future teachers how literature is learned and taught.
“Literature has this essence, like philosophy, this kind of intangible perfume which means that we don’t really know why, concretely, we read it, why we study it. Over time, we understand that it helps us develop critical thinking. Opening towards the other. The reduction of xenophobia. That it increases fictional empathy. May it help you to be able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. »
“It plays a crucial role in the CEGEP years, those of the end of the development of identity, of the transition to adulthood,” reports Mme Lemieux.
“And if we don’t have access in our place of study, in our establishment, to the latest literary developments in our society, what message are we sending to the population? They say that literature is not important,” concludes the specialist.
With Zacharie Goudreault
