Biblioteca escolar: possibilidades, limites e contradições

Abstract

School libraries are rare; most depend on individual initiatives and seem fragile and ephemeral. Although there is a curious consensus among teachers and researchers that they contribute, or could contribute, to the dissemination of knowledge essential to human development and the improvement of education, there is an extensive body of work that identifies their low effectiveness. this thesis sought to answer the question: “why is a school library so difficult to establish, if everyone agrees on its necessity?” To aim this end, two approaches were taken: the first, of conceptual nature, examined academic propositions and analyses, attempting to verify their foundations and how they propose the school library and why they do not find support in reality; the second movement, focusing on examining the paradox between the announced conception and the reality in which the school library is not or barely implemented, directed the research towards the Amazon region, particularly in western Para, considering the experiences of revitalization or creation of school or community libraries coordinated by the Grupo de Pesquisa, Estudo e Intervenção em Leitura, Escrita e Biblioteca na Escola (Research, Studies and Intervention group in reading, writing and literature at school) - Lelit, most of which, after a brief period of success, went into decline. 26 works were considered, including 16 direct acts of interventions and five observational studies. From the analyses and examination of concrete experiences, it is concluded that, although creating a library is possible (and necessary), it requires more than goodwill and individual initiatives. The difficulties are not limited to the absence of adequate physical spaces and collections, involving issues related to school dynamics, collective adherence and management commitment, as well as the very understanding of formal and non-formal education. By articulating theoretical reflections, empirical experiences, and formative trajectories, it was possible to understand that the difficulty in establishing and maintaining a school library reflects broad contradictions in the cultural and political dynamics themselves and in the ways of doing education, including the devaluation of culture, the reduction of the school to pragmatic functions, and the reproduction of inequality. in short, creating a library is a challenging task because the obstacles encountered are embedded in a societal model of accumulation and exclusion, which subordinates education, and consequently reading, to mercantile interests and the logic of efficiency and productivity.