In the Summer of 2011, The Department of Education and Skills published their new
Literacy Strategy, Literacy and Numeracy for Life. The LAI was involved in the submission process for the development of this strategy. The strategy is a holistic approach to literacy development including preschools, schools, teachers, families, parents, libraries and other community services and supports.
Objective
Ensure that parental engagement in children’s learning is integrated into each school’s
School Improvement Plan.
Details
Enable schools ( through advice and guidance) to build effective working relationships with parents and communities to support learning: for example, schools should:

Encourage parents to avail of opportunities to participate in family literacy programmes organised in local libraries or provided by VECs or community groups.
Objective
Identify and learn from effective initiatives that enable parents, families and communities to support children’s well-being and learning and that strengthen links between home ,
ECCE settings and schools.
Detail
Involve schools and ECCE settings in parental and wider community initiatives that promote and support the acquisitions of literacy and numeracy skills ( e.g Shared reading, Maths for Fun, Library Services)
Objective

Develop and promote models of good practice and enable parents, families , communities, ECCE settings and schools to work together to support literacy and numeracy acquisition.
Detail
Develop, in co-operation with the public library service, models of engagement between schools, ECCE settings and libraries, to include areas such as selection and provision of materials, library membership schemes and planned library visits.
In response to the objectives of the strategy that include the role of the library service in
Ireland, the LAI established a taskforce:
LAI Taskforce to respond to the Department of Education and Skills’ Literacy and
Numeracy for Learning and Life Report, 2011
Terms of Reference
1. The Taskforce will consist of no more than 6 members who are personal members of the LAI. However, the taskforce retains the right to co-opt extra members depending on the workload of the taskforce or depending on specific expertise/knowledge requirements.
2. The members of the Taskforce should be drawn from a wide range of librarians working in the area of child literacy promotion and development.
3. The Taskforce shall be convened by a Chairperson who will be nominated by the
Executive Board, Emer
O’Brien.
4. The Taskforce shall hold at least 4 meetings during 2011-2012.
5. Minutes of all meetings will be circulated to the members of the Taskforce and to the Executive Board. Summary reports of the activities of the Taskforce will be made available to LAI members on the LAI Website.
6. In 2011-2012 the following areas are proposed as a focus for the Taskforce:

To create a clear picture of the family, children and school library services being provided by public library services across the country.

To extract a common list of services available in all area.


To assess the relationship between schools and/or their internal and external library services.

To examine how best to work with the teaching training colleges, the
National Teacher Training Council and the regional teacher education training centres.

To assess the relationship between early childcare providers and committees and the public library service in Ireland.
 To develop a line of dialogue with the Department of Education and Skill’s teacher inspector section, to explore how collaboration between schools and the public library service in Ireland can be standardised and formalised to deliver on the details of the objectives on pages 23-25 of the Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life report, 2011.
Members of the Taskforce
Chair: Emer O’Brien, Tipperary Libraries
Secretary:
Laura Joyce, South Dublin Libraries
Mary Reynolds, Longford County Library
Orla Níc Aodha, St. Patricks College, Drumcondra
Karyn Deegan, Wexford County Library
Catherine Gallagher, South Dublin Libraries

In November 201, the Dep. of Education and Skills, strategy implementation team hosted a m eeting Emer O’Brien, Mary Carlton Reynolds and Brendan Telling of the literacy taskforce.
Highlights of the meeting were as follows:

Agreement that the TOR are appropriate actions to movement the implementation of the strategy forward

Agreement that library awareness / training for teachers centrally and regionally is of great importance
 Agreement that a ‘model of engagement’ between schools and public libraries needs to be investigated.

The DES team asked us to report back with the results of our taskforce findings by the early 2012 and have agreed to meet again to discuss these.The areas that they showed a particular interest were:
 A list of the core services to children and young people that is offered by every library authority
 Examples of best practice from around the country that could be replicated or rolled out in other areas.
 T he library's involvement with early childhood providers…county chilcare networks etc.

The possiblility of a collaborative public information campaign around literacy
Information of note and interest to LAI :
 Each local Education Centre has been assigned a person to work with the
Director specifically on the implementation of the plan and they could be a very useful contact for us in our own areas.

There is no separate funding for the implementation of this strategy but they might be willing to work with us if we were preparing a booklet of some description promoting library services to children and young people or some project that would have a national impact.
To the Minister for Education and Science
To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the importance of keeping open public libraries; and if these amenities will be integrated into the development of the literacy and strategy programme..
-
Jonathan O'Brien. (Nominated by: Seán Crowe).

For ORAL answer on Thursday, 19th January, 2012.
Reference Number: 2975/12
Minister Ruairí Quinn
Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life: The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020 acknowledges the important role which libraries play in literacy development throught engagement with learners, parents, early childhood education settings, schools and communities.
The Strategy envisages that libraries will support parents and families and help them to build and develop their children's literacy and numeracy skills. It also acknowledges the importance of close links between libraries and schools.
Officials in my Department have met with library interests to discuss models of engagement and to progress the implementation of actions in the Strategy relating to libraries.

A questionnaire was developed to ascertain the countrywide service provision in this area:
Local Authority :
 Do you have a childrens’ services librarian?
 Do branches have designated children’s librarians?

Do you have designated outreach staff for working with schools, families and childcare providers?
Family Services:

As an authority do you deliver a family learning programme

If yes – what does this include?

How many family learning projects took place in your authority last year?

How many people participated in the events?

Example of such projects
– Please comment:
Working with families in your authority, do you:

Undertake membership drives

Offer free/reduced membership fees to children/young adults/adults

Events programmes for families, children

Are such events free to attend?

Provide designated children’s libraries

Are all service points accessible/public toilet facilities/nappy change etc?

Do you provide internet access to children?

Anything else?
School Services

As an authority do you have a designated schools service

What form does this service take?

Do you bring books to schools via mobile, delivery etc

Does each branch library facilitate class visits

Does your service conduct outreach visits to schools?

Have you run a membership drive for school children

Do you communicate regularly with local schools
– via phone, in person, email, social media

Do you run an events programme for school children – is the programme delivered;

in library, in school

Are such programmes drafted by library authority, in consultation with schools?

How many such events were run last year?

How many participated in them?

IT Literacy programmes eg TTRS

Do you provide designated literacy/numeracy material

As an authority do you provide advice and support to teachers, teachers resource collections

Do local schools participate in literacy drives eg DEAR, One Book, One School

Do local schools have their own libraries/librarians?

If yes, do you provide a support service to such libraries eg advice, book stock etc

Particular services to DEIS schools, Traveller children, children whose first language isn’t English, gaelscoileanna?
The results of the survey showed allowed the taskforce to establish a set of ‘ Universal Services for
Schools , Families and Children’
10 Core services being provided by majority of public libraries
Free Class Visits
Free Block Loans
Free Storytime
Free Membership for Pre-School Children
Free membership to primary school children
Book selection based on school curriculum
Free advice and support to parents and teachers
Summer Reading Programmes
Regular Children’s Activities
Access to books outside of school term
Literacy support material
Variety of stock on offer to children/teachers/parents
Free computer/IT literacy access ie online research websites
Of Course many services run many more services such as membership drives, bookclubs, homework clubs, literacy programmes etc. but they are not nationwide.
The survey also gathered feedback on the impact of the Department of Education and Science’s
Schools Library grant withdrawal, almost 4 years.

The abolition of the schools grant has had a mixed effect, the majority of authorities have attempted to retain some service to schools; namely using block loans or a mobile library. Though declining budgets are effecting the sustainability of these services. Some feel the abolition of the grant has impacted most unfairly on rural schools who are now not able to access either their local branch library or the schools service.
Some though feel that the abolition of the grant has not really been noticed by the schools, they perhaps didn't realise that the service existed. One authority felt that they offer perhaps a better service than they did, in that the teachers can now choose what material they want. The majority of authorities do not have dedicated children services teams or staff.

It is well documented that children’s reading skills can decline during the long summer break without the regular reading activity at school. (Entwhistle, Alexander & Olson, 2000; Mraz & Rasinksi, 2007).
Summer reading loss can average two months of reading achievement each year, which some children may never regain. This loss can be compounded among disadvantaged children who have little or no access to reading material over the summer period. In Literacy and numeracy for learning and life Ruairí Quinn, Minister for Education and Skills, notes:
Literacy and numeracy skills are crucial to a person’s ability to develop fully as an individual, to live a satisfying and rewarding life and to participate fully in our society. Ensuring that all young people acquire these skills is one of the greatest contributions that we can make to achieving social justice and equity in our country.
The provision of quality summer reading projects by Library Authorities across the country can overcome the traditional ‘summer holiday dip’ in reading motivation and attainment. It can be the difference between children returning to school in September ready and able to read to their ability and children falling further behind their peers.
Library Authorities across Ireland have been working hard to keep children reading through the summer months. Of the 32 Library Authorities in Ireland, only 3 have no Summer Reading Project currently. The remaining 29 break down as follows:
In-House Summer
Reading project
Reading Agency
Summer Reading
Challenge
8
Other
14 7
Fourteen Library Authorities design their own in-house Summer Reading projects. All are created to encourage children to read during the summer months. Many feature loyalty cards and stickers or stampers of different variations. Prizes are often the incentives to keep children coming back to the library and to read more than usual. At the end of the summer, prize/certificate giving ceremonies are often held for those taking part.

Eight Library Authorities take part in the Summer Reading Challenge in association with the Reading
Agency in London in 2011. This is a ‘shelf ready’ project. Children aged 4 to 12 are invited to read six books over the course of the summer holiday. They join at their local library and a summer reading challenge pack gets them started. There are stickers and rewards to collect along the way, with a certificate and often a medal, if they read six books. Especially themed collections can be purchased to accompany this project.
Of the seven Authorities remaining, most run various local activities through the summer. For example, one has two literacy projects stretching from summer to early autumn, in another authority different branches run different challenges and Cavan tie their summer reading project to Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann.
Common features that add to the success of projects are:

the involvement of local schools.

the use of the local press to promote the project

rewards to encourage children to return to the library.

visual aids in the library such as notice boards or Reading Trees that children could add their names to.

prize giving ceremonies to mark the end of the project, some with entertainers for the children, others with local celebrities presenting certificates/prizes.
The involvement of schools was noted by most authorities as the single most important factor in the success of the various projects. Approaches to the school in May were recommended. In some cases, local resource teachers and principals supported the libraries by advertising the projects and/or adding details of it on children’s end of year reports. In one authority the school used their texting system to remind parents to visit the library during the summer.
Anecdotal evidence shows a good gender balance in participants across various projects. Wexford
Libraries recorded that 54% of those completing their reading challenge were female, 41% male with
5% not noted.
Summer Reading projects increased issues and footfall in libraries across Ireland in July and August and drew positive feedback from children, parents and schools.

Parent of 2 boys taking part in Carlow Summer Reading project
– “I have 2 boys and while I have no problem encouraging the older boy to read, the younger boy is far more reluctant. However since the commencement of The Big Read, he cannot wait to get his card stamped and to start an other “.
National Project
The Reading Agency in London designs a Summer Reading Challenge that runs successfully across
97% of UK local authorities. The possibility of a national project being rolled out across Ireland should be given serious consideration especially as 14 Library Authorities currently design their own projects.
Many of these produce their own in-house material and must pay an individual design cost before they pay the cost of reproducing such material as loyalty cards and posters. (8 other Library Authorities buy in the Summer Reading Challenge from the Reading Agency in London.) Costs could be significantly decreased if a national project was organised. After what would now be a once off payment for design, the cost of each item required reduces exponentially the bigger the project becomes. For example:
Item
Loyalty Cards
Number purchased Cost Per Item
500 0.93cent
30,000 0.02cent
A4 Promotional
Posters
A2 Promotional
Posters
200
6,000
10
0.38cent
0.07cent
€7.50
300 0.92cent
(Prices as of March 2012. All prices calculated before VAT.)
The Department of Education and Skills could promote such a project nationally through the primary school network. A project of this scale would draw more interest from television and radio also.
Statistics for the country could be accumulated on agreed indicators (number of children starting the project, number of books borrowed etc). This would make an evaluation of summer Reading in Ireland a lot simpler than analysing the various different projects that currently exist.

Entwisle, D., Alexander, K., & Olson, L. (2000). Summer learning and home environment. In R.
Kahlenberg (Ed.), A notion at risk: Preserving public education as an engine for social mobility , pp.9-
30. New York: Century Foundation Press.
Mraz, M., & Rasinski, T. (2007). Summer reading loss. The Reading Teacher , 60(8), 784-89.

Brief : to assess the relationship between early childcare providers and committees and the public library service.
Method of Research: I asked all County & City Librarians to complete a 13 question survey on surveymonkey.com. Of the 32 services that I contacted, 29 responded so far. To gain a general insight into the support of literacy amongst preschoolers within the public library service some questions assessed the attitude/obstacles encountered/staff involved etc whilst other questions concentrated on childcare providers and the childcare committee.
Summary of Results
The public library service is very aware of the important role that it plays in developing preschool literacy (28 regarded it as very important) and 22 services surveyed support this in their Library
Development Plans.
Staff & Training
- 13 services have a dedicated staff member who looks after the area of developing literacy amongst preschoolers whilst in other services this is managed at branch level.
- 10 services indicated that staff have received training which supports the development of literacy amongst preschoolers.
- 16 services indicated that staff had not received any training in this area.
Training included storytelling workshops, family learning programmes, children’s literature workshops,
Frontline initiatives, and through other promotional initiatives NALA, CBI. Two services indicated that additional staff training would help improve awareness about the role that libraries could play.
Barriers which may hamper the provision of services to preschoolers/childcare providers
-budget constraints (19 services rated this a severe barrier)
- staff shortages (13 services rated this a severe barrier)
- untrained staff (only 3 services rated this a severe barrier, 11 services rated it significant, whilst 13 rated this as “not an issue”)
Public library service : services offered to preschoolers/childcare providers
Currently public libraries do provide a wide range of activities which support the development of

literacy amongst preschoolers;
Regular storytelling sessions: 26 services
Arts & craft sessions :
Author visits;
Library visits for mother & toddler groups & childcare providers
20 services
24 services
28 services
Blockloans to childcare providers
Workshops for childcare providers/parents
25 services
11 services
Other examples:
-Leaflets to help parents of children of all ages to develop their early literacy and numeracy skills.
- Websites promoting preschool material/dedicated space on website for parents.
- Outreach services - some library services provide outreach services to childcare providers e.g. visits to childcare facilities by staff for storytelling sessions or scheduled visits from the mobile library service.
Recently successful projects which cater for this target group include:

TTT (Toys, training & technology)
Kildare Library Service
Series of lectures to promote new accessible service for children with special needs. Toys and assistive technology can be borrowed through the library in Kildare.
Read2Me programme (South Dublin) Series of talks/activities by library staff for parents and carers: adapted from an American programme which identifies 6 pre-reading skills.
Ready to Read Outreach project
(Kilkenny Public Library Service)
Joint initiative with the library service
& the rapid coordinator. Outreach storytelling sessions & art activities ran for 8 weeks for 14 preschoolers aged 3 yrs old at a Family resource centre.
Start children reading (Cork City
Library)
14 preschools organised to make scheduled visits on a Thursday to the library. Collected by the community bus or brought by teachers themselves to the library.
Storyteller Residency Storysacks programme (Kildare library Service)
Aimed at parents of young children in homes where there are literacy problems
Mountains to See book festival picnic lunch (DLR)
Partnership project with publishing company “Kids Owns” (Waterford
County Library Service)
–
Storytelling, art and colouring for preschoolers.
“Wiggly Woo agus a cháirde” The book is the culmination of an ongoing project with Tramore Library involving 3-4 year olds as part of
Kids’ Own’s Travelling Library project .
Talk, Read, Write… Skills for school
Literacy Development for Under 5s
Promotion. Library Service and
Childcare Committees collaborated on a month of promotions and delivery of information session,

storytimes, family open days, backed with handouts and advice.
Relationship with Childcare Committee and public library services.
Childcare committees were established in 2001 and provide support to parents in looking for childcare options whilst also providing support to childcare providers in advising them in business matters, providing training and childcare information workshops. There are currently
33 Childcare Committees nationwide. There are two regional co-ordinating networks (the Southeast and the Border Counties) though they are moving towards a single national framework.
The partnership between public library services and their regional Childcare Committees is varied. 19 services indicated that staff were aware of the role of their Childcare Committees whilst 10 services indicated that their staff were not.
8 services who completed the survey said that they do not currently work with their local
Childcare Committee.
Many services have been successful in working on partnership projects whilst others have been less so. Anecdotally recent staff changes/shortages in some library services have hampered contact/partnership opportunities with Childcare Committees. Also in some cases, events organised have been poorly attended by parents/childcare providers.
Some examples of partnership projects/initiatives;
Stock : purchased textbooks & resource material for
Childcare providers in partnership with CC
6 services
5 services Storytelling sessions in crèches/ mother & toddler groups
Information workshops for crèche leaders
3 services

Organising events for National
Childminding week
“Kidsown” project in Waterford
County was organised in consultation with CCC.
2 services
Waterford County Library
Service
South Co. Dublin in conjunction with CCC :
Read2Me programme
Policy making :
This will be rolled out to CCC trainers in 2012.
One library service has a Senior Executive
Librarian on one of the subcommittees (Early
Learning)
Kilkenny County
Council Play policy
2007-2012 developed by KK local authorities included members from the library service and the KK CCC.
___________________________________________________________________
The final question in the survey looked for suggestions as how the public library service could further support the development of literacy amongst preschoolers
– the following list some answers given
- bookgifting in partnership with education sector or HSE/ national initiatives such as the Baby Book
Pack project with the HSE a few years ago
- Information booklets for parents and carers e.g. Reading with your child (similar to one issued by
Barnados recently)
- List of recommended reads suitable for babies and preschoolers
- More use of toys/games to improve verbal and literacy skills. More paired reading events with childcare workers/qualified teachers.
- Work more closely with County Childcare Committees
- Link with community groups and other agencies who provide family learning programmes/ literacy

schemes.
- A national campaign lead by the library service to encourage parents to read daily with their children.
- Increased training for staff in this area.
A number of surveys and questionnaires have been carried out which have informed the opinions and recommendations expressed in this report which was discussed at a meeting with the DES, 6 TH March
2012. The objective of these were:
To identify a list of core services to families, children and schools common to all Library
Authorities
Recommendation
Core Services have been identified
Department of Education and
Skills
DES to assist with the production and distribution of leaflets to schools and teachers organisations.
Library Association of Ireland
Taskforce has identified these core services and will develop and roll out marketing plan.
To assess the relationship between schools and/or their internal and external library services.
Recommendation
Discussions with library managers, Barnardos and schools all pointed to the ideas of ‘year round education system’ and ‘Out of School Education’ and that libraries should have a more defined role in
this area.
Department of Education and
Skills
Library Association of Ireland
DES to partner the LAI in developing National Summer Reading
Programme . A one- stop- shop for libraries with promotion in national media, endorsed by a ‘reading champion’.
Permanent partnership with the DES will be imperative to achieve successful cooperation with as many schools as possible and to make meaningful connections with the DEIS Summer Reading Programme.

How DES can help school/public library relationship

Engagement with and promotion of Library
Services needs to be a mandatory part of schools’ annual plans and part of
DES’s communications to schools on an annual basis.
LAI can provide list of library service recommendations
How LAI can help school/public library relationship

At a local level good relationships exist but nationally the LAI needs to strategically position itself to ensure that it is in a position to support education and literacy development.

LAI to work with SLARI to keep communications between second school libraries and public libraries services open.
To examine how best to work with the teaching training colleges, the National Teacher Training
Council and the regional teacher education training centres.
Recommendation
Initial investigations into this area are very positive. All organisations very enthusiastic about working together.
Department of Education and
Skills
Teacher Training Colleges enthusiastic about the possibility of a ‘library’ module forming part of
.
Initial Teacher Education in a more structured way. Support from DES at this stage is very important to progress this possibility.
Library Association of Ireland
LAI to work with ‘Libraries Unit’ of
LGMA and Literacy Coordinators ( need list from DES) to deliver the library courses to
Colleges guidance engagement with schools at local level .
Teacher Training
and Literacy Coordinators
LAI to provide support and
to all library authorities in the development of their library services to schools and their
To assess the relationship between early childcare providers and committees and the public library service in Ireland.
The relationship is very strong and it is acknowledge by both services that there is a need and enthusiasm for future collaboration to create a more effective ways of delivering literacy

development services to parents.
Department of Education and Library Association of Ireland
Skills
A ‘Book Gifting’ Scheme is strongly recommended as one of the most effective ways of getting ‘books in the hands’ of all children. It would bring a national campaign into peoples’ homes. Scheme would include:

Free Library Membership

5/6 books distributed once of twice before a child starts school.
 Supported by a readymade ‘Literacy Development Programme for
Under 5s’, to be rolled out locally.

Information from all relevant services providers locally and nationally.
Literacy Development for PreLAI needs to provide training for library staff in the area of pre-school schoolers needs to remain on the
National Agenda to ensure collaboration in effectively literacy development, storytime, family literacy and Aistear. delivering literacy development services to parents.
LAI to seek permanent representation at the regional and national childcare committee meetings/conferences and to feedback suggestions and issues to
Library Authorities
To develop a line of dialogue with the Department of Education and Skills to explore how collaboration between schools and the public library service in Ireland can be standardised and formalised to deliver on the details of the objectives on pages 23-25 of the Literacy and
Numeracy for Learning and Life report, 2011.
Department of Education and
Skills
DES to formally acknowledge the important role public libraries play in the promotion of literacy and numeracy and reading development and in the delivery of the literacy and numeracy strategy.

DES to act as a funding partner for relevant products within overall National
Literacy Programmes such as a ‘books in every hand’
Library Association of Ireland
LAI to secure representation on national and regional educational policy bodies such as NCCA, CCC,
Bardnardos etc.
LAI to continue to support educational and literacy development services as part of the strategic vision for Library Services in Ireland.

scheme (An independent
Social Return on Investment
Study in 2010 found that for every £1 invested by the state in Bookstart, £25 of social value is returned) and for the Financial
Sustainability of Public
Library Services to Schools

DES to support the representation of LAI on national and regional educational bodies such as
NCCA.

Comments

DES are going to take the reports and discussions from our meeting and discuss internally. They want to schedule a meeting for early summer . We strongly highlight the resource issues library are dealing with and the reality of supporting initiatives discussed above with diminishing stock and staff.

There is no separate funding for the implementation of this
Active Recommendations to LAI , Executive Board

LAI to continue to support educational and literacy development services as part of the strategic vision for Library Services in Ireland.

The abolition of the schools grant has had a mixed effect and service levels vary considerably from county to county. The majority of authorities do not have dedicated children services teams or staff but have tried to retain some schools service post grant abolition. This is a hugely important service e that needs much more internal debate, agreement and commitment to drive forward. Taskforce proposes that a costed schools library service business plan is developed and debated at EB and county and city librarians section, an agreed version is then proposed to the DES and Dep. pf Children and Youth Affairs.

LAI to work with SLARI to keep communications between second school libraries and public libraries services open.

LAI to provide support and guidance to all library authorities in the development of their library services to schools and their engagement with schools at local level. ( include feedback from Barnardos)*

LAI to seek permanent representation at the regional and national childcare committee meetings/conferences and to feedback suggestions and issues to Library Authorities

Training and Support for Public Libraries engaging with Pre-school Services

Encourage the use of more toys/games to improve verbal and literacy skills.
 Support services to develop paired reading events with childcare workers/qualified teachers.
 Encourage county and city library services to work more closely with County
Childcare Committees

Suggest services integrate stops at strategic pre-school services into general or schools mobile services.
 Supports services to link with community groups and other agencies who provide family learning programmes/ literacy schemes.
 Establish a national campaign lead by the library service to encourage parents to read daily with their children
 Provide training for library staff in service provision to pre-schools. pre-school

* literacy development, storytime, family literacy and Aistear.

Facilitate the sharing of best practice examples and develop peer forums
 List of recommended reads suitable for babies and preschoolers
 Source and make available information booklets for parents and carers.
Recommendations- awaiting progress from external body

NALA have proposed developing a National literacy Campaign. NALA and DES would like us to work together on this, one stop shop for Literacy information, promotions, programmes, events, products. This was discussed at length at the meeting of the 6 th with emphasis on the need for this resource NOT to be NALA branded and for it to be a
‘generic place’ where all literacy relevant initiatives in the country could hang from including summer reading, pre-school reading development programmes and products.

Our findings has been discussed at a meeting with the Early Years Education Policy Unit in the Department of Education and Skills, co-located with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Catherine Hynes. They are to come back with a wish list for public libraries and pre-schools, which we can then respond to. LAI to work with ‘Libraries Unit’ of LGMA and Literacy Coordinators ( need list from DES) to deliver the library courses to
Teacher Education Centres and Literacy Coordinators

Promotion of 10 core services – Universal Services

LAI to support the continuance and growth of the successful summer reading programme with best practice sharing, training, and depending on response from DES , the provision of a nationally themed programme that libraries can reuse.

PDST
– Mary Manley – contact has been made) and NCCA and the newly appointed literacy Coordinators with the Teacher Education Centres.Each local Education Centre has been assigned a person to work with the Director specifically on the implementation of the plan and they could be a very useful contact for us in our own areas.

Endorse bookgifting in partnership with Department of Education and Skills

Barnardos would encourage us to work with home liaison officers to establish a flow of books into vulnerable homes.

Summer gap is best in transition years from pre-school to primary and from primary to secondary, can we support the schools and families in any way.
– Barnardos