Olds finished ninth in the province in a literacy competition.
Under the competition, held on Jan. 27 (Family Literacy Day), libraries across Alberta encouraged citizens to read for at least 15 minutes. Our goal: to promote the importance of literacy and have families read together.
This year, Olds Municipal Library participated in the Read for 15 challenge for the first time.
For the second year running, Donalda, east of Ponoka, was declared the most "readerly'" community in Alberta with 161 participants from a population of 259. That's 62 per cent of Donalda's population. In comparison, Olds placed ninth in the province with around 20 per cent of Olds residents reading for 15 minutes or more.
Olds Municipal Library counts this as a win for literacy. Our library is proud to have such an engaged town that really became involved in the success of this event.
Everyone from the local schools and the Olds College Learning Commons was participating. Even the Olds Grizzlys got in on the reading action. Plus, the Centre for Family Literacy attended the event and presented the Library with a legacy gift of new books for young readers.
Overall:
* 1,765 readers in Olds.
* 39 communities participated across Alberta (2016 and 2017).
* 65,972 readers participated.
* There were 989,580 reported reading minutes of participants across Alberta.
One of the lead organizers, Caroline Vandriel, director of Sylvan Lake Municipal Library said, "We are so encouraged by the enthusiasm of our communities during Family Literacy Day.
"In the future, we hope to garner more participation across Alberta and even all of Canada. We would like to thank everyone who participated for supporting their library and literacy efforts in their community."
Thank you Olds! We can't wait to Read for 15 with you on Family Literacy Day next year.
The Read for 15 challenge originated in the Northwest Territories (NWT) and has been promoting literacy since 1987. It was created by the NWT Literacy Council.
- Nischuk is the Olds Municipal Library's marketing coordinator.
"We are so encouraged by the enthusiasm of our communities during Family Literacy Day."CAROLINE VANDRIELDIRECTOR SYLVAN LAKE MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
