What activities might a school media specialist try to engage the various personality types in the school library? How do personality types affect children’s learning styles and choice of reading material? As a librarian, how can I better serve students using knowledge of personality types?

Carl Jung developed the idea of personality types in the 1920’s (Keirsey & Bates, 3). Jung described personality with three contrasting traits: Extroversion/Introversion (E/I), Sensing/Intuiting (S/N), and Thinking/Feeling (T/F). Myers-Brigg added a fourth trait of Judging/Perceiving (J/P) (Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 22).  Keirsey coined names for the four major personality types. They are the guardian (SJ), the Artesian (SP), the Idealist (NF), and the Rational (NT) (Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 8). 

Guardians

Approximately 38% of the American population is SJ type (Keirsey & Bates, 39). SJ students will like the order of libraries and will appreciate well-organized bibliographic instruction lectures. SJs will enjoy learning how information is classified and accessed.

Artisans

SP students, who make up 38% of an average student body, are not interested in the future payoff of education. They live in the moment (Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 246). The observant school media specialist will look for point of need opportunities to instruct SP students in information literacy topics such as research techniques and reliability of sources. SP students should enjoy hands on learning opportunities. These artistic personalities may enjoy acting out stories and story telling. Allowing SPs opportunities to come to the media center on a flexible schedule would allow them to choose media that interest them at the moment or to gain information at point of need.

Rational

Approximately 12% of students are Rational or NT type (Keirsey & Bates, 47). Supplying NTs with curriculum-supporting books and additional access to library resources might help NTs stave off boredom at school. Exhaustive topical book displays and online or printed bibliographies listing all the available books on a topic might be useful for younger NT students. In library instruction, NTs will benefit from understanding at a young age the Dewey Decimal System (DDS) used in most school libraries. For quick reference, a large wall poster showing the detailed division of the DDS would be especially helpful to NT students. Since NT students enjoy learning in-depth about topics, it would be especially important they understand the online catalog. NTs should enjoy library-learning games that involve fact-finding.

Idealists

NF students will compromise about 12% of the student body (Keirsey & Bates, 60). Extroverted NFs would likely enjoy booktalking and book clubs where they could explain why they liked certain books and discuss their feelings about them. NFs may enjoy peer tutoring (Wirths & Bowman-Kruhm, 32), so pairing NF students with reluctant readers or technophobes may be a strategy for library learning.

Personality Type and Reading Preferences

School media specialists would not want to force students into reading certain types of books based on personality. However, armed with basic knowledge of preferences, librarians could booktalk genres. They could also suggest new areas that students could explore in self-selected reading.

A school media specialist could also recommend books to students that have characters with similar or contrasting personality types. For example, all of the main characters in Stephanie Tolan’s  Surviving the Applewhites are SPs except the female narrator who is an SJ. SP and SJ twelve year olds would probably enjoy the story, but NFs, as well, because of its focus on relationships.

Artisans

Fairhurst & Fairhurst suggests that SP students will be most interested in books with action or fun facts (Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 148). A librarian could suggest new genres that contain action to SP students. For example, if the SP student liked westerns, I might suggest a science fiction title with western-style action, like Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow, a manga (Japanese graphic novel) series. Manga and graphic novels should appeal to SP students because of their visual content and text that is broken up into small chunks. If he or she was a high school aged reluctant reader, I might suggest viewing Joss Whedon’s space-western series, Firefly, on DVD and then booktalk additional reading choices once the student’s interest was piqued.

Guardians

Fairhurst & Fairhurst suggests that SJ students will like factual and historical books (Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 148). Suggestions for SJs could include book by Russell Freedman (historical fact) and historical fiction such as works by Karen Cushman and Richard Peck. SJs might also like some of the popular diary style historical novels like the Dear America series.

Rational

NT readers tend to like science fiction. Even if an NT student read science fiction exclusively, a librarian might suggest a different format. Therefore, if the NT student only read science fiction graphic novels, a school media specialist might recommend science fiction books like the Frank Herbert Dune series or the Star Wars series. Conversely, if a high school age NT only read science fiction books, I might suggest Yutaka Nanten’s Cowboy Bebop manga series. To broaden their horizons, I might look for historical fact books like Phineas Gage: a Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science by John Fleischman. Other ideas would be Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan series or Sherlock Holmes type mysteries.

Idealists

NF students may enjoy fantasy (Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 149). I might recommend the Tolkienesque Shannara series by Perry Brooks. NF students might enjoy fantasy graphic novels such as The Wizard’s Tale by Kurt Busiek and the Bone series by Jeff Smith. Readers of fantasy tend to like myths and legends, so a school media specialist might introduce NFs to the books in the DDC 291’s (comparative religion as in tales of the Roman gods), 398’s (folklore), and 753’s (symbolism, allegory, mythology, and legend).

Non-Fiction and Personality Types

All personality types can enjoy non-fiction books. NTs and some SPs would like “how things work” type books. When suggesting books for NT students, rather than general books, propose comprehensive books. SPs would like quick fact type books. For younger readers, some examples would be Julia Barnes’ 101 Facts about Our World series with topics like sharks, mountains, and oceans and Marty Crisps’ Everything Dog: What Kids Really Want To Know About Dogs. NFs might enjoy books dealing with emotions, relationships, and psychology in the DDC 150’s.

An understanding of personality types can be a valuable tool in the school media specialist’s metaphorical tool belt. It will assist librarians in collection development, reference, and reader’s services. It will also help school media specialists develop better methods of library instruction.

References

Busiek, K. & Wenzel, D. (1997). The Wizard’s Tale. La Jolla, CA: Homage Comics.

Crisps, M. (2003). Everything Dog : What Kids Really Want To Know About Dogs. Chanhassen, Minn.: NorthWord Press.

Fairhurst, A.M. & Fairhurst, L.L. (1995). Effective Teaching Effective Learning: Making the Personality Connection in Your Classroom. Palo Alto. CA : Davies-Black Publishing.

Fleischman, J. (2002). Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Keirsey, D. & Bates, M.M. (1984). Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types. Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis.

Tolan, S. (2002).  Surviving the Applewhites. New York : HarperCollins.

Williamson, J. (2003, Spring). Suiting Library Instruction to the Myers-Briggs Personality Types and Holland Vocational Personality Types of Engineering Students. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. Retrieved September 20, 2004, from http://www.istl.org/03-spring/refereed2.html

Wirths, C.G., & Bowman-Kruhm, M. (1994). Are You My Type? Or Why Aren’t You More Like Me? Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.

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