Olds rocks at reading.
On Jan. 25, Family Literacy Day, Olds Municipal Library spearheaded the community's entry into the province's Read For 15 Challenge, where residents were urged to read for at least 15 minutes, then relay that activity to the library. The goal is to promote the importance of literacy.
Olds emerged as the most “readerly” community in its category. It recorded 1,938 readers out of a population of 9,184; the highest figure among communities with a population of 4,001 to 10,000.
"We did very well," Olds library manager Lesley Sackett Winfield said in an email to the Albertan.
This is the third year Olds has joined the reading competition. Each year, 18 to 20 per cent of residents have reported reading for at least 15 minutes.
"We have seen a consistent increase over the past few years that we’ve participated. We saw an 18 per cent increase over last year. We’re very happy with Olds’ participation and look forward to an even bigger turn out next year," Sackett Winfield wrote.
"The smaller communities have a bit of an advantage since there are often school participation taken into consideration, so the winner of the overall has always been a community with a small population as far as percentage of population participating.
"In comparison with communities around our size, (Coledale, Hinton, Slave Lake) we are at minimum 5 per cent above their numbers," she added.
