Libraries and the literacy issue have a long involvement together. Our primary focus is reading, and our mandate includes responding to community needs. Libraries try to have the right material for the right person at the right time - that includes literacy learners, tutors and other providers. It's clear, too, that literacy has an important role in libraries’ workings. As the “people’s university,” the public library is a resource for lifelong learning and information needs; literacy fits naturally into this picture.

Libraries are often more accessible and less threatening than schools for learners. Unfortunately libraries aren't always very good at getting the word out about themselves and their involvement in the literacy issue, so I was very pleased when NALD asked me to write this article!

Literacy services in public libraries are normally grouped into three categories:
- literacy collections;
- literacy instructional programs; and
- literacy support services.

Let’s define these categories in terms of actual library activities. For example, the literacy collections category includes the basic activities of providing print and audiovisual materials for learners, tutors and other providers. Providing computers and basic skills software is another related activity. Creating new materials - such as books, audiocassettes, videos, or computer software - complements the collecting process of this category.

In the literacy instruction category, the primary activities include recruiting, training, and placing volunteer tutors and recruiting and placing students. The library in this role may also conduct these activities jointly with another literacy provider or in support of community literacy projects. Another feature of this role is raising library staff’s awareness of the literacy issue: of the characteristics of people who have limited reading or writing skills, and of learners’ general needs.

In the literacy support services category, the key word is “cooperation.” Examples include jointly publicizing area literacy services, participating in a literacy coalition, referring persons in need of literacy education to the appropriate providers, and promoting the literacy issue in general. Providing library facilities for tutoring, classes and tutor training sessions is also part of this category.

Given different community needs and community services, it’s natural that libraries’ involvement in literacy will vary. It is not as simple as saying you’re involved or not. Instead, it is accepted that libraries will emphasize different roles in their literacy services and may select activities from any of the three categories that best fit their situation. In Canada, Regina Public Library (Gail Douglas) and North York Public Library (Joan Robinson) are acknowledged leaders in library-literacy service, and I encourage readers to contact either for more information/examples.

It would be unthinkable for a librarian to NOT make suggestions for further reading, and so I close with a highly selective personal list. Please remember libraries when the literacy issue comes around. Whether it’s resources on the Internet, where to get learners’ writings published, or a partner for an International Literacy Day event, COME TO THE LIBRARY. Open our doors and see what we have for you!

Suggested Reading:
(Not in your library? All these items are available through interlibrary loan - ask your librarian!)

Ives, Suzanne. Come to the Library Series. [An introduction to public libraries for adult learners and literacy providers] Burnaby: British Columbia Library Association, 1996.

Quigley, Thomas. Public Libraries & Literacy: Towards A National Front Line Strategy. [Report of the Canadian Library Association’s National Working Summit on Libraries & Literacy] Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1995.

Salter, Jeffrey L. and Charles A. Salter. Literacy and the Library.Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1991.

Scheel, Grace. Libraries and Literacy. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Culture and Communications, 1989.

Singh, Sandra. “Literacy Planning, Evaluation and Programming: A Bibliography” Feliciter vol. 43, no. 9 (Sept. 1997) pp. 32-39.

Thomas Quigley is the Head of the Joe Fortes Branch in the Vancouver Public Library System. He works in library and literacy issues at local through international levels. He is currently the convenor for the Canadian Library Association’s Action for Literacy Interest Group. He was the first winner of the Canada Post Flight for Freedom Literacy Education Award.

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