Day 18: As rare as a white raven

Day 18

I had a good day yesterday working more on some analysis of bilingual books from the White Raven Catalogue, refining my analysis and adding in supporting literature. This is my favourite part of my job, shaping an argument in writing. As part of my writing I have had to give a little of the history of White Ravens, and look through some of the old catalogues. Reading more about Jella Lepman is very interesting, and makes me appreciate even more the special nature of the library I am working in. Here is something of what I wrote to give you a flavour:

The Internationale Jugenbibliothek (International Youth Library) was established in 1949 by Jella Lepman in response to the end of World War II. Lepman was a German journalist who relocated to London during the war and became a British citizen who worked for the Foreign Office, the BBC and the American Broadcasting Station in Europe. She strongly believed in the power of children’s books to promote peace and international understanding, and after returning to Germany in November 1951 she organised a meeting entitled ‘International Understanding through Children’s Books’ which was the birthplace of the International Board on Books for Young People, or IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People, 2017) which was registered as a non profit organisation in Switzerland in 1953.

            The Internationale Jugenbibliothek (International Youth Library) is the largest youth library in the world, and is based on the belief that children’s literature is an essential part of every society which must be “preserved, documented and shared” (Raabe, 2017, p. 4). Aside from its international fellowships promoting research in the library by up to 15 international scholars each year, the IJB also produces an annual White Raven’s (so named because of the rarity of the white raven) catalogue of 200 books from over 50 countries in 30 languages chosen from the thousands of books received by the IJB from publishers around the world. The books are chosen by the language and children’s literature specialists of the IJB to represent universal themes, high literary and illustration quality, and innovative design. This list is presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair each year, and in Bologna in the following year copies of the books are available for international visitors to the fair (Internationale Jugendbibliothek, 2017).