The Centre for Literacy of Quebec - Access to Literacy Project: Lifelong Learning Collections in Quebec Communities

This project, funded by Initiatives federales-provinciales conjointes en matière d’alphabetisation (IFPCA), is designed to improve the capacity of community organizations to provide literacy provision and support, especially in isolated or under-resourced Anglophone communities.

Library Resource Trunks

There are many English-speaking communities in Quebec where English reading materials are scarce. Although Community Learning Centres (CLC’s) are opening school libraries to the public, these libraries lack non-academic, adult-appropriate materials and youth fiction that might lure interested readers. So The Centre has assembled trunks of books selected in consultation with the user groups, which are being loaned for six-month periods to CLC libraries in Netagamiou, Mecatina, Gaspé-Percé and St. Paul’s. At the end of each loan period the trunks are located to one of the other sites, thus providing ‘fresh’ materials at regular intervals.

Assistive Technology for Learning Disabilities

Through consultation with expert providers, we have identified a selection of simple assistive technology programs that are available free of charge. We have provided workshops about these tools face-to-face and through videoconferencing, facilitated by LEARN Quebec.

See here for documentation and videos about the January 23 & February 6, 2009 workshops.

Lifelong Learning Collections

In September-November 2007, The Centre for Literacy launched satellite literacy collections in four communities in Quebec in collaboration with local partners. Two of the Lifelong Learning Collections (LLC's) are housed in Montreal; while one is in the Eastern Townships (Bury, QC) and one in Gaspé. These collections are housed in community libraries and learning centres. We are working with local partners in each community to ensure that collections reflect the specific needs of the population they will serve.

In most communities, it is very hard for adults with literacy difficulties to find materials suited to both their reading level and their reading needs. Through this program, The Centre for Literacy is providing access to a new range of high quality, easy-to-read materials for adults. The program will also promote the idea of reading for pleasure and help libraries to attract adults with literacy difficulties as well as other ‘non-traditional’ library users. In addition, it provides a wonderful opportunity for fostering new links between local community organizations.

The two Montreal collections are housed in the Atwater Library and Computer Centre, and the Eleanor London Côte Saint-Luc Public Library. The Atwater site has a special arrangement with RECLAIM, a local literacy provider that is promoting the collection among emerging readers by bringing its learners on library visits with their tutors. RECLAIM has also donated literacy books for several of the collections. The Atwater collection also contains materials for the large number of ESL students at the Tyndale-St Georges Community Centre in Little Burgundy.

At Côte Saint-Luc Library, the new literacy materials are making a valuable addition to a vibrant public library serving broad public needs in its municipality. The library has added its own purchases to the collection, which has many books appealing to the area’s large senior population and many others for immigrants who have yet to master a second language. The library is also reaching out to attract other new users of various backgrounds.

The Bury and Gaspé collections are housed in Community Learning Centres (CLC’s): the Eaton Valley CLC in Bury (at the Pope Memorial Elementary School) and the Gaspé CLC (at the Gaspé Polyvalent). In partnership with The Centre for Literacy, the Eaton Valley and Gaspé CLCs provide books to communities that are in need of English-language materials and, in collaboration with local literacy organizations (Literacy in Action and the Gaspésie Literacy Council), work to promote literacy in their communities, particularly among youth, seniors, families, and members of the First Nations population. In the process, it is hoped that the Lifelong Learning Collection will become a vital part of people’s lives, as well as a central component of CLC activities and programs.

This one-year pilot project is funded by a Quebec federal-provincial literacy grant.

Access to Literacy Projects

Embedding Literacy in the Community

Lifelong Learning Collections