In a new series of posts profiling our Network members and the work that they do we have asked each member of our network the same questions and we will post the responses here.
Our next network member isPeter Bjorkman, a Librarian at Bibliotek Botkyrka, Sweden and co-founder of the Literacy For All Network.
Contact Peter directly at peter.bjorkman@botkyrka.se
Describe what you do in your job from day to day. (Describe how your day to day practices are related to adult literacy)
I work as Librarian in Hallunda library, in Botkyrka Municipality, Stockholm Region. My work includes information services in the library, acquisition of media in linguistics and second language acquisition for adults (language courses, easy-readers, etc.), and strategic work in the field of public performances and discussions in the library. I also faclilitate programmes in the library for different age groups.
Choose and describe one programme that you did, or would like to do, regarding Adult Literacy in your library or institution.
I have worked with easy-reader books in a lot of settings and contexts. I have for example collaborated with a local learning center, where I held a reading group with seniors with very basic literacy skills. This autumn I will have two different reading groups for marginalized citizens in my community, in collaboration with a local work agency.
Name three things that you think public Libraries in Europe can contribute to help improve the literacy levels of Europe’s Adult population?
1) Focus on storytelling and public gatherings for all age groups, i.e. work consciously with the relationship between the spoken and the written word.
2) IT related courses.
3) Collaborate with local agencies relating to health, work, and education, in order to reach people with no or limited library experience.
What would you like to see happen in your country’s libraries in the next 12 months to help improve adult literacy in Europe?
Librarians working with adults will hopefully strengthen their focus on literacy and multilingual issues. More awareness is needed.
What do you think our Literacy for All Network can do to help libraries in Europe achieve these things?
Hopefully the network will evolve and become an lively meeting place for librarians around Europe working with adult education issues. In order to fully become that meeting place it needs to expand. Hopefully it will become so well organized in the future that it will be able to carry out projects of different kind.
Email Peter directly here.
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