One hundred and sixty seven library staff completed the CLA Survey of Library Literacy Services and Programs. The survey was posted on the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) web site in March 2006. Selected responses were analyzed for the purposes of this paper during the week of April 17, 2006.
87.95% or 146 responses were from public libraries. This is an excellent response rate of as there are 700 public library systems in Canada. For a more detailed breakdown of selected responses, please see Appendix 1 in this report.
The results show that the large majority of libraries service relatively small communities. Almost 60% service populations of 25,000 or less. 31.73% serve populations of 50,001 to 250,000. By contrast, only 9.38% indicated they serve populations over 250,000. Furthermore, the results show there is a large discrepancy across these libraries’ budgets. The majority (56.41%) have a budget of 250,000 or less whereas 29.49% have a budget of one to ten million dollars.
The response rates were as follows:
The results show that the majority of libraries are providing information, referrals, space, and materials with respect to their involvement in literacy. They are also involved in outreach, and community organizing activities. This involvement decreases for partnership activities with literacy organizations. The results also show that the minority of libraries are involved in advocacy with government and actual adult literacy instruction. Furthermore, few libraries are linking technology and literacy.