The first ALIA Top End Symposium: Powering our Territory

Darwin Public Libraries Family Literacy Program

Frances O'Reilly
Children and youth services librarian, Darwin Public Libraries

History

The rationale behind the Darwin Public Libraries family literacy program comes from the obvious link between libraries and literacy. Whose literacy are we talking about? We are talking about the literacy of the potential users of libraries. The continual discussion about falling literacy rates in Australia must give libraries food for thought as their core business depends on the literacy of the community it services. It affects the resources selected to go in the library, the funding to provide those resources, amenities and facilities. It was seen that the time was right to use the libraries' unique position within the community to provide a program whereby family members and care givers could learn about the advantages of reading, writing and information dissemination and how simple daily practices can build strong literacy skills.

Time was taken to look at programs offered interstate and overseas. Decisions were made about the style of program, which would mesh with the plans and goals of future services to be offered by the public library service in the Northern Territory and a possible facilitator chosen. A developmental grant was sought to fund a two-day workshop on family literacy by an acknowledged successful provider of these programs in Australia; someone who had also looked at family literacy in America.

Heather Fisher, co-ordinator of children's services at Gosford City Library, facilitated the workshops funded by the grant. It was seen as essential local staff had the training and hence the confidence to present the program at regular intervals for it to benefit their clients in the long term.

Once the workshop had been held there was a period of contemplation, discussion and planning during which time the objectives of our Family Literacy Program, the budget necessary to carry it out and format most likely to meet those objectives successfully were thoroughly examined.

Two objectives from the developmental grant formed the basis of today's program, they are:

• To show the value of family literacy
• To promote literacy in a simple, free, relaxed way that is within all families reach.

Format of the program

It was decided to hold the program twice a year, provide free child care and advertise extensively through schools, pre-schools, day care centres, media and at library story times. The brochure not only outlined the sessions, it also covered the objectives of the program.

Appropriate staff was budgeted for to ensure the smooth running of childcare so parents and caregivers felt relaxed and able to participate fully in the 90-minute sessions. The first venue was chosen using Australian Bureau Statistics demographics so we began the program in an area with a lot of young families.

Rather than just expounding the value of reading and telling stories it was decided to cover four topics in the program linking them all back to reading, storytelling, comprehension, writing and information.

The first session looks at literacy in its broadest sense, and touches on the topics to be covered in the rest of the program. Several well-known picture books feature in this session. At every session questions are invited, discussed and answered while handouts provided an opportunity for participants to revisit the information at a later date.

Session number two looks at reading and comprehension. The presenter again uses books to model strategies to be tried at home. The books are bought and home made, ranging from few words to language rich stories. The presenter steps participants through making books at home, books designed to capture their interest and imagination. The modelled approach to reading and comprehension, includes word attack, is based on current Northern Territory teaching methodologies. This is also the case in session number three when spelling and writing are looked at. Every day tasks such as writing shopping notes, taking messages during a phone call, leaving a message on the table for another family member, reading the instruction manual for a new piece of equipment or a new game or following a recipe become strategies in literacy acquisition. The value of active listening, labelling everyday items around the house and daily story times are reinforced as the sessions progress. It becomes very obvious to the participants literacy is a continuum beginning when a baby is born and continuing throughout their life. The more fun it is and the more pleasure received from the literacy skills acquired the more they will be practiced and the stronger the skills become.

Session four looks at information literacy and aims to show parents and caregivers children are born researchers. Parents and caregivers are shown ways to hone and refine the children's skills as they are given an understanding of the theory behind resource base learning. The potential of the role of libraries in family literacy is demonstrated here and in every session. Participants see and have the opportunity to borrow materials [each session] that they can use to follow up on the theory of that particular session. They become more at ease finding their way around the collection and their confidence in the library becomes a tool to help their children.

Session five has been added, after a review of the first program and it covers the Internet in literacy acquisition. This is a hands on session involving the reference area and the Internet. It allows parents and caregivers the opportunity to ask questions that have been lurking in the background of their minds in an open, user-friendly forum. This session is designed to give parents and caregivers some idea of the wide range of reference tools available and how to manage them. They are shown kid safe sites, well-designed, user-friendly sites as well as good book materials. The sessions have a low level of over lap to ensure participants feel secure. All materials used in the sessions come from the Darwin Public Libraries collection, participants are told how to access the materials and how to find additional resources as part of the session. They are encouraged to come in at their own convenience and to follow up on points of interest to them. The Non fiction, Parenting collection and picture book sections are highlighted during the library tour, which is a vital ingredient in session one.

The format is reviewed after every program. That review is based on feedback from the participants whether it is verbal or written. Evaluation forms are handed out at the discretion of individual presenters after their sessions as well as an evaluation form for the whole program.

Response to the program

People are always interested and often surprised that we offer the program free of charge. Every session is booked to our limit, which has been set so childcare and materials can be budgetted for and presenters are prepared with sufficient hand outs and folders for all participants. Unfortunately not everyone arrives as per the booking sheet but we have found people try to catch up a 'missed' session the next time the program is run. We have had student teachers attend as well as parents and caregivers. The number of fathers attending is growing which is a reflection of the growing increased participation by males in childrearing.

The feedback on the evaluation forms is usually so congratulatory that it is useless as a reviewing and planning tool. Handing out an evaluation sheet at the end of each session has been trialled by one presenter and the returned forms had more specific comments for change.

We are targeting people in general using pre-school and school newsletters, the paper and radio but most of our participants are library users who value literacy for themselves and want to make sure they do everything possible to give their children a great start.

We are aware we are not reaching many parents/caregivers who have English as a second language or parents/caregivers unsure of their own literacy skills. These concerns along with mundane issues like time and venue are under discussion in our evaluation ready for 2004.

The future

Darwin Public Libraries will continue to budget for the program to be run at least twice a year. The numbers of participants is not waning; we have a booking for next year's February program already. We have areas of the Darwin population we know we need to reach so participation is set to grow.

Story times, which are supportive of this program and essential to building lifelong lovers of literacy, are growing in popularity. People want the skills to not only enjoy a book but to share that enjoyment with their children. Our core business is inextricably linked to the community's literacy skills. It is hard to love reading if you are not confident of your literacy skills, we see we have a place within the Darwin community to help build skills that give a lifetime of pleasure and opportunities.