So very, very many reading ambassadors

johnboy said :

They can’t read? Or they choose not to read books?

As for the Library fanciers, how much are you willing to pay for the warm fuzzy of knowing there’s a Library somewhere abouts?

How many other services are you willing to see underfunded to retain this service?

So what other service needs the Library funds?

johnboy said :

They can’t read? Or they choose not to read books?

As for the Library fanciers, how much are you willing to pay for the warm fuzzy of knowing there’s a Library somewhere abouts?

How many other services are you willing to see underfunded to retain this service?

Whenever I go to the Dickson library it is packed, and many of the users are young adults. So I don’t think it’s really just a warm fuzzy feeling that speaks in favour of libraries. Many people still like books, and prefer them to the alternatives. Speaking of libraries as outmoded reminds me of predictions of the paperless office, something that I am yet to see.

I think they are still a relevant facility, and should be funded generously.

johnboy said :

They can’t read? Or they choose not to read books?

As for the Library fanciers, how much are you willing to pay for the warm fuzzy of knowing there’s a Library somewhere abouts?

How many other services are you willing to see underfunded to retain this service?

+ 1

would like to see cost-benefit analysis of ACT libraries ie $ per book lent out. i’m not saying there isn’t a place for providing literature to those unable to afford to buy books, but not convinced that the old school bricks n mortar library is the more effective and efficient way to go any more.

johnboy said :

As for the Library fanciers, how much are you willing to pay for the warm fuzzy of knowing there’s a Library somewhere abouts?

I don’t think it’s a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ so much as having a resource there and using it.

BimboGeek said :

Who doesn’t read?

I know too many people who can read and don’t. They just don’t regard books as a useful way to get information or enjoyment. It’s kind of sad.

Nah, it’s abject bullshit

i was just reading out this list to the better half and she wondered aloud how the CRDL were going to manage reading while they belted around in a circle knocking each other over. LOL.

vg said :

46% of the adult population IS functionally illiterate, not ARE.

By the way, that ‘stat’ is the biggest load of s*** I’ve ever heard

There is a clear delineation between illiteracy and functional illiteracy. Being functionally illiterate is not necessarily being unable to read, it is lacking the ability to comprehend and interpret the text, to understand and use information from the text to determine a course of action or draw conclusions. Whilst you may think that interpretation of text is some highfalutin concept that only those flash uni kids need to do, it can be as simple as reading the direction on a children’s cough medicine bottle packet or filling out a Centalink claim form.

Having spent my working life in and around the adult education sector, I have seen firsthand the extent of the problem. Kids with 12 years of school behind them shuffled off to TAFE for an adult lit program, university students unable to undertake basic writing tasks, adults made redundant and can’t find a new job because of their poor literacy skills. So your bulls$^%& stat is very real.

How about not spending money on pointless tripe like this and, instead, spend it on finding out why our schools can’t seem to teach basic literacy ?

vg said :

By the way, that ‘stat’ is the biggest load of s*** I’ve ever heard

Well, their methodology and data are laid out in pretty exacting detail. Perhaps you’d care to point out where the mistake(s) were made that renders the statistic worthless? Otherwise, on the one hand we have an ABS publication including 88 pages of data and explanation plus a 1.5MB spreadsheet of raw data. On the other we you dismissing it in one line as “the biggest load of shit I’ve ever heard” without further discussion. I’ve got a pretty good notion which side of the argument I find more compelling.