27 October 2020 Literacy Working Group online Meeting DATE: Tuesday 27th October 2020 2pm - 4.30pm. VENUE: Zoom Meeting Annual General meeting
The Meeting was Conducted Online: Zoom
The Meeting Commenced
The Meeting commenced at 2 pm
The Meeting Was Attended By Kate O'Grady - State Library Jacinta Craine – Sutherland Julie Just – Ku-ring-gai Sarah wild – Canada Bay Vanessa Isles – Reading Writing Hotline Jill Finch – Reading Writing Hotline Rachel Davis – ACT Libraries Stephanie Lee – Rockdale Library, Bayside Kerrie Kiem – Library Services Dee Why Meredith Campbell - Forster Library Mid-Coast Libraries Anita - Fairfield City Open Libraries Eva Resiak - Campbelltown City Library Robert Stewart – Singleton Library
1. Welcome Jacinta welcomed us on Zoom
2. Guest Speaker – Sani Dowa, Director of Philanthropy & Partnerships, School for Life Foundation Sani gave an inspirational talk about her organisation. School for Life is an Australian organisation that supports education in Uganda, especially for girls. They also run small adult classes as well. The school currently has three campuses and hopes to expand and introduce boarding facilities to increase the safety of the female students who often have to walk for hours through isolated forests, where they are at risk of assault, just to get to school. Sani showed a film about a student Diana and the impact education has on girls giving options beyond menial jobs and early motherhood. The organisation is doing wonderful work educating students in Uganda and opening up all the possibilities that education offers. They are funded by individuals, philanthropists and other fundraising methods. See more details of the presentation in the attached pdf: School for Life Presentation - Literacy working Group Meeting 27 October 2020.pdf
3. Reading Writing Hotline Report Vanessa Iles and Jill Finch from Reading Writing Hotline reported on research into front line community workers and the time and effort taken to assist the public fill in government forms.
4. AGM Nominations and election for Chair and Secretary Sarah Wild asked to take on the role as Secretary, there were no nominations for Chair of the meeting, and it was suggested that this role could be rotated through the group.
5. Planning for 2021 meetings It was decided that Zoom was a better format for meetings going forward, as it allowed regional libraries to more easily join. Suggested topics for future meetings included:
- Running of adult literacy programs in libraries
- Engaging and working with literacy tutors
- Outreach & creating partnerships with other literacy providers
- Reaching those with low literacy
- Collection development
6. Update from State Library Kate detailed that the State Library is getting a new series of wikis, and that there would be a new one for this group. She is not sure at this stage how much information would be migrated across or would need to be manually re-entered.
7. Set meeting dates for 2021 March 23 – Robert Stewart will co-ordinate this first meeting July 20 November 16
8. Reports from members on news, programs, initiatives. Eva from Campbelltown Library queried if other libraries were running English classes on Zoom, and asked what the benefits and difficulties other programs were facing. This led to a conversation about what other libraries were doing. Meredith from Forster Library spoke about the tutoring service that they have successfully set up at their library, though this is currently suspended due to COVID restrictions. Rob from Singleton Library spoke about the Adult Literacy classes that they run in their library, and that they use tutors trained through an Adult Literacy TAFE course.
9. Other business Next Meeting: Tuesday March 23, 2021 – 2 to 4pm – via Zoom