The Observer took a moment to sit down with the Agassiz Library to discuss the importance of Family Literacy Day, which takes place on Friday, Jan. 27.
The special reading day was conceived by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999, and set aside to create a national awareness around the importance of reading and participating in literacy-related activities as a family.
“The library always likes to use any type of an awareness day to spread the love about libraries and literacy,” said Agassiz Library Supervisor Terrill Scott.
Scott is on board with a campaign she initiated called “A Literacy Walkabout”, where she and new Community Access to Literacy and Learning Coordinator at Agassiz Harrison Community Services, Leonne Beebe, will be taking bags of books and library literature to the streets of Agassiz and Harrison.
“We’re going to walk around town and say Happy Literacy Day — we’re going to businesses, we’re going to The District of Kent, we’re going to talk to people on the streets, adults, children and we will give them an Agassiz Library to go bag,” she said.
The aim of the “Walkabout” is to get families reading about resources in the community, and to promote Family Literacy Day, while providing lucky recipients with a free children’s book.
“People get very excited with a new book that they can keep and do something with — it’s taking literacy to the streets.” she said. “People don’t go to institutions anymore, people are busy, people are working so we have to go to them and we try to be creative in how we do that,” said Scott.
Scott started bringing literature to the streets last year with a comparable initiative called Guerrilla Literacy.
“I liked that name because it was a little subversive and it was a little different,” she said of her initial impetus for community outreach.
Partnerships are huge in bringing programs like these to the community, as Scott connects with the different stakeholders to see her ideas come to fruition, on a budget.
“That’s how we make small towns bigger — through partnerships,” she said.
Last year, Scott hit 23, with the number of bags she handed out, and this year she hopes to dispense at least 30 bags to the community on Friday.
“That may seem like a small number, but a connection in a small community is huge, and it has a ripple effect.”
Literacy has been strengthened locally in the past couple of years according to information Scott has gleaned from the Early Years Development Index, which acts as a guideline for the library to stay on track with its growth opportunities and initiatives.
Libraries are hugely diverse and there are different branches of literacy to engage in whether they be financial, life, or even numeracy.
“We are a hub in the community so it’s nice that people have access and it’s free.”
The library is home to more than just books, with an impressive collection of audio books, DVD’s and CD’s as well as a host of special events, clubs, and programs there is something for everyone.
“Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development, improving a child’s literacy skills dramatically, can help a parent improve their skills as well,” said Honourary Chair of Family Literacy Day Barbara Reid in a press release statement.
For more information on the library and its programs go to www.fvrl.bc.ca or phone 604-796-9510.