The EWU Curriculum Center houses a wide variety of books and materials, including children’s and young adult fiction and non-fiction, comics and graphic novels, curricula for core and elective disciplines from preschool through 12th grade, books on CD, children’s magazines, teaching kits and tools, and more. The collection serves not only EWU Education and Children’s Studies students and faculty, but also local teachers, homeschooling families, and other members of the community. The collection is heavily used – its roughly 30,000 titles make up less than 10% of the circulating books in the JFK library, but account for over 30% of the library’s book circulation activity in an average year – and in recent years has been toured as a model space by directors of similar centers at public and private universities in the region.

The Center’s collections are improved every year by the purchase of new award-winning and recommended titles for all age groups and subject areas, including a commitment to growing the Center’s collection of bilingual materials and materials in languages other than English. Recent diversity audits of the picture book collection have helped broaden the Center’s representation of race and ethnicity, and of gender identity and sexual orientation. The Center’s long-term goal is to address representation along other axes of diversity, as well, including disability and socioeconomic status, so that the children and teenagers served by the Center’s collections see themselves, their families, and their communities reflected in the books they read.

The Center annually hosts dozens of instruction sessions for EWU undergraduate and graduate courses, and has a long history of welcoming visiting K-12 class field trips, preschool storytelling events, EWU student club meetings, and other gatherings for organizations and groups in the community. If you are interested in touring the Curriculum Center, in learning more about its collections or spaces, or in finding ways to help support the Center’s mission, please contact the Education and Children’s Studies Librarian, James Rosenzweig, at jrosenzweig@ewu.edu or at 509.359.4262.

EWU Libraries, with support from the Chertok Memorial Endowed Professorship, invites you to join us for this awareness-raising event at the JFK Library.

Kassahun Kebede will speak about representation issues related to immigration and refugees and his experience growing up in a book-scarce environment. Ellenore Angelidis will discuss representation and global experiences in children’s literature, and the challenges of publishing children’s books related to Africa.

Thursday, May 2, 2024 | 1:30 pm – 3 pm
JFK Library | Lower Level
Refreshments will be served.

Watch via livestream.

Kassahun Kebede, PhD, EWU Sociology and Justice Studies, is a cultural sociologist who has taught and conducted research for more than 15 years in both Ethiopia and the United States. His research includes various topics such as international migration, rural livelihoods, development-induced population relocation, and health disparities. He has been recognized with multiple awards for his teaching and research endeavors, and was chosen for EWU’s Chertok Professorship in 2023. Kebede is founder of the Libraries for Ethiopia Fund (LiFEF), a nonprofit focused on creating safe centers with books, computers and activities that support self-expression and learning.

Ellenore Angelidis is the founder and executive director of Open Hearts and Big Dreams (OHBD), a literacy project seeking to increase literacy by providing colorful, mother tongue, early reader books to children in need. The project, through “Ready Set Go Books,” involves creating, publishing, printing, and distributing children’s books, many of which are based in Ethiopia, with others about immigrant and refugee experiences. She is excited to share her journey with EWU students and everyone else. Learn more about OHBD online: https://openheartsbigdreams.org/

People needing accommodations can call 509.359.6201 three days prior to the event.