AFLIG acknowledges that there are many different definitions of literacy. For the purposes of a common definition, AFLIG recognizes the one used in the International Adult Literacy Surveys (IALS and IALLS) developed by Statistics Canada and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Literacy is defined as “the ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activities at home, at work and in the community – to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.” This definition recognizes that people have different literacy abilities and that literacy is not an all or nothing situation. AFLIG further acknowledges that there are many literacies and that literacy is about reading the world as well as the word. Literacy in English or French for newcomers is also recognized as a serious issues as is the difficulties that adults may have with literacy in their own language.
The researchers reviewed reports and articles on libraries and literacy. They interviewed librarians who attended the 1995 Summit and other librarians who did not to find out what has been accomplished in the last decade, what the challenges are, and what still needs to be done. They talked to library staff across the country about their literacy initiatives. This information was used to develop cases of successful initiatives for this paper. The AFLIG Steering Committee for the Summit developed a survey to collect information from libraries about their literacy initiatives. The survey was posted on the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) in March 2006. Please see http://www.nald.ca/Sommet/ for the French survey and http://www.nald.ca/Summit/ for the English survey.
Responses were received in both English and French. Anglophones from every province and territory responded to the survey. Francophones from Quebec, Atlantic Canada and Ontario completed the survey. This data was analyzed as of April 20, 2006. See selected survey responses in the Appendix.
The 1995 Libraries and Literacy Summit provides a baseline for examining what has happened with libraries and literacy over the last decade.
Return to note 1 From the 1995 National Working Summit on Libraries and Literacy: Public Libraries and Literacy: Toward a National Frontline Strategy.