Establishing a Book C lub with a Legislative Officer

Establishing a Book Club with a Legislative Officer

Initial ContactO Received a call from the Child and

Youth Advocate (CYA) in September of 2012

O Interested in starting a children’s rights book club

MeetingO The vision O What role the library would playO What role the legislative officer and

his office would playO Dates / FrequencyO Titles of booksO Language - Bilingual requirements

CYA’s VisionO Create a book club for members of

the civil service interested in children’s rights and well-being

O Open to all civil servants

Role of the LibraryO Partner

O Help with the book selection

O Venue

O Help with the invitation

Role of the Legislative Officer

O Moderator of the Book Club

O Logistics – mail out, registrations, correspondence with club members

Dates / FrequencyO The book club would be launched on

November 18th, 2012 to celebrate National Children’s Rights Awareness Week November 18-25th .

O It was decided that the group would meet 5 times a year.

O They would meet at lunch time since the Legislative Library is within walking distance of most government offices.

BooksO The Officer had a list of books in mind but

asked for other suggestions. O Wanted books in both English and French. If

a translation was available they could read the same book, if not a different French book would be chosen.

O Since several copies of one title were already available it was decided that it would be the first book, after that they would decide as a group which books to read.

O Discussed where to get the books.

Language O It was decided that two book clubs

would be created, one in English and one in French

O They would meet the same week but different days

How to Get the Word Out

O It was decided that a mass e-mail would be sent to all civil servants inviting them to join the book club

O Create an electronic invitation

O They would use the library‘s mass e-mailing list

Benefits to the LibraryO Raised visibility by being partnered

with a Legislative Officer.

O A copy of each of the titles read was donated to the library to be added to the collection.

O Recruited new library users from club

members.

Things I Learned

O Librarian skills are appreciated.

O It is great to have someone on staff that understands technology and who is creative.

The Future of the Book Club

O In June 2013 a new Child and Youth Advocate was appointed.

O In February 2014 the new Advocate hosted his first book club. Since then there has been no mention of it continuing.