Reflections on book and reading policies of the municipal secretariats of education of the State of Rio de Janeiro

abstract This article aims to analyze issues related to the composition of collections and the organization of school libraries in the municipal educational networks in the municipalities of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The analysis presented are part of the research about "Childhood, language and school: a literary reading in question", developed in PPGE-UFRJ, whose results came about through from the responses to the questionnaire distributed to the 92 municipal departments of education of the State of Rio de Janeiro and that had a response rate of 62 (67%). To support the analysis about the establishment of these library collections, this essay dialogues with the work of Britto (2011), Chartier (1996), Corsino (2010) and Paiva (2012). In order to offer a reflection about these libraries, we anchor our work in studies by Campello (2010), Mollo and Nobrega (2010) and Perrotti (2004). Some results stood out: the important place occupied by the municipal departments of education in buying collections for public schools, beginning at kindergarten level; the choice of printed materials and children's literature books; and the configuration of the library as a place for books and the important role that reading has in elementary education.