Adult mediation of preschool children’s use of mobile technologies in public libraries in Taiwan: A socio

This study explores characteristics of caregivers’ mediating behaviours for supporting preschool children’s emergent literacy development mediated by mobile technologies (i.e. laptops, tablets and smart phones). Design-based research in the action research framing was used to examine the process of adult-child interaction and communication in nine Involve Me workshops at five public libraries between 2013 and 2014 in Taiwan. A deductive-inductive thematic analysis identified examples to illustrate main forms of caregivers’ mediating behaviours: ‘focusing’, ‘affecting’, ‘expanding’, ‘encouraging’ and ‘regulating behaviour’. This study embraces the role of media mentorship in libraries, but acknowledges such a role demands training for library practitioners in order to effectively support children’s and families’ literary needs in the digital age