National Year of Reading 2012 ( in Mandurah)

The National Year of Reading was adopted at the Australian Library and Information Association Public Libraries Summit, held in July 2009, at the National Library of Australia, in Canberra.

The Key Statistic: 46% of adults struggled with reading and writing The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) 2006 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Key National Aims For all Australians to understand the benefits of reading as a life skill and a catalyst for well being To promote a reading culture in every home To establish an aspirational goal for families, of parents and caregivers sharing books with their children every day

Why did we get excited in Mandurah?

% of children on track %of children developmentally vulnerable Physical health and wellbeing 78.8%10.8% Social competence74.5%7.5% Emotional maturity72.5%9.7% Language & cognitive skills (school-based) 64.3%14.2% Communication skills & general knowledge 78.8%8.1% AEDI Results

Service Transformation Mandurah Library Falcon eLibrary & Community Centre

Service Transformation Outward looking People focused, not process driven Hard to reach – including Indigenous community About literacy, not buildings Promoting ourselves

Mandurah: vibrant, prosperous, connected and sustainable…excited about our future! A Vibrant City A Prosperous City A Connected City A Sustainable City A City Excited About Its Future

Where did we fit in? - Enhance Mandurah’s sense of place, community spirit and connectedness - Continue to increase and promote opportunities for intergenerational participation in community activity - Facilitate the participation of young people in Mandurah events - Value & celebrate the growing diversity within our community - Work with partners to increase educational & lifelong learning opportunities

What really helped us? Having a Deidre Deidre Robb

Our main focus: Early literacy Disadvantaged people Adult literacy support

Our aim was to deliver a range of initiatives which would: Present reading as a fun, interesting and pleasurable activity Advocate for reading, literacy and learning Engage with a wide range of people including non-library members Engage with community groups Lay the foundations to increase literacy levels in the City

What did we do? Have a great launch event of course!

The Reading Hour Pyjama Party

Online Book Club The Online Book Club uses Facebook, Twitter and a blog to facilitate discussion on a different theme each month A different library staff member took responsibility for leading the discussion each month

First Wednesday Book Club Members shared book recommendations; reviewed new titles supplied by a local bookstore, swapped books and discussed other topics of interest to readers and writers The group will continue to meet beyond 2012 with members of the group now facilitating the meetings themselves and writing a blog containing their reviews and recommendations

Tailored Literacy Promotion Program Getting out and about and talking about books & literacy (in a structured way)

Partnerships Books-To-Go Workshops FIFO Parents Group Launch of reading sessions at the Parents Place Immunisations sessions

Significant outcomes & outputs Engaged in community consultation on new literacy development programs Forged new relationships with many community groups, organisations and key individuals Created a new Literacy Development Officer position in the restructured library team Re-oriented library services to be more outward looking and literacy focused Created significant professional development opportunities for library staff to be involved in many new outreach initiatives