National Report of 2008 Program Statistics - Executive Summary / Key Findings

2008 TD Summer Reading Club

Final Report of Program Statistics
For Library and Archives Canada

December 2008

Proprietary Warning

The information contained herein is proprietary to Library and Archives Canada and may not be used, reproduced or disclosed to others except as specifically permitted in writing by the originator of the information. The recipient of this information, by its retention and use, agrees to protect the same and the information contained therein from loss, theft or compromise. Any material or information provided by Library and Archives Canada and all data collected by Harris/Decima will be treated as confidential by Harris/Decima and will be stored securely while on Harris/Decima's premise (adhering to industry standards and applicable laws).

Acknowledgements

Harris/Decima would like to extend its thanks to the many people who assisted with the TD Summer Reading Club (TDSRC) Statistics and Evaluation project. In particular, we would like to thank Lianne Fortin, Program Manager, Library and Archives Canada, for her guidance and commentary throughout the project. We would also like to thank the provincial and regional coordinators for their assistance in communicating with their library systems, as well as the library systems that took the time to compile the statistics from their branches and affiliates. Lastly we cannot overlook the contribution of the individual libraries that devoted their time to providing their program statistics.

The TDSRC is made possible thanks to the joint initiative between TD Bank Financial Group (TDBFG), Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the Toronto Public Library (TPL).

Executive Summary / Key Findings

Objectives and Methodology

LAC's interest in conducting this study is to provide TD Bank Financial Group with accurate information about the success of the TD Summer Reading Club (TDSRC).

As libraries are organized differently in each province and territory, LAC had to identify a common denominator to respond to the evaluation. For most regions, the library systems were identified as the online evaluation respondents. A library system refers to either the main branch of a library with many library branches, an individual library, or a regional library system with many affiliated libraries. In some cases the evaluation respondents were the individual libraries, making the Programs statistics more precise than they were in previous years. Such an example is the Toronto Public Library whose system includes 99 library branches. Each branch within the Toronto Public Library was sent a link to complete their own evaluation form.

In most regions, the individual library branches were asked to provide the necessary information regarding the program to their library system using the Statistics and Evaluation Form found on the reading club website and in the Staff Manual. The library systems then compiled the data and filled out a unique online Statistics and Evaluation Form on the TD Summer Reading Club, using Harris/Decima's online evaluation tool.

This year, Harris/Decima sent out 582 email invitations in both official languages to public libraries (systems) within the eleven participating provinces and territories, explaining the process of evaluating the program. In total, 495 evaluations were collected between August 28^th and October 9^th, 2008, yielding an 85% response rate.

Throughout this report, the results from the 2008 TDSRC program are being compared with those obtained in the three previous years i.e. 2005, 2006 & 2007.

Research Results

The research highlights include the following:

Statistics on Participation

Within the eleven participating provinces and territories, there are currently 752 public library systems, for a total of 2,740 localities. Of the 752 library systems, 545 library systems participated in the TDSRC program during the summer of 2008. Within these 545 systems, a total of 1,798 branches (localities) participated in the program.

In total, 272,300 reading kits were distributed across Canada by the participating libraries, as well as 99,251 posters. The number of TDSRC materials handed out to children, teachers, daycare providers, parents and other caregivers totals 371,551.

An estimated 269,112 children registered for the TDSRC 2008 program. Girls comprise 149,279, or 55% of the participants, while the 119,834 boys represent 45% of the participants. The table below shows the age distribution of the girls and boys that participated in this years' program.

The estimated number of children's library materials circulated within participating library systems reached just over 6.4 million. The circulation recorded on children's library cards is approximately 3.7 million.

Program Statistics¹

A total of 27,258 programs and activities were organized around this year's club theme entitled Laugh Out Loud. Total attendance at these programs and activities amounted to 499,412 children, which translates to an approximate average of 18 children per activity.

Overall, 36% of library systems ran their summer reading club exclusively as a drop-in program, whereas 25% of the systems ran theirs solely as a reading club. Almost a third (28%) of the systems ran the summer reading club both as a drop-in and as a club. About 11% did not indicate using either approach.

In total, 69% of the library systems used stickers as incentives for children to read more books. Among these systems, over 114,462 children reached the target of collecting all nine stickers.

Among the library systems that collected these statistics, each child on average reported on 3 books and spent 5 hours reading.

On average, each child read approximately 7 books, which calculates to a total of 1,999,070 books read as part of the summer reading club².

Promotion of the Program

65% of the library systems indicate that their library staff made visits to schools and daycares to promote the summer reading club. In total, 8,608 visits were made to schools and daycares, and 511,426 children were reached by these means.

Roughly 77,800 participants (29%) first heard of the TDSRC program through staff promotion in the branch, while about 62,000 (23%) first heard via a presentation at a school or daycare. About 50,000 (19%) are last year's participants.

Overall Satisfaction

Satisfaction was high across the libraries. Greater than 85% of libraries are "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the theme, the quality of the logbook, and the relevance of content in the logbook. Around 4 in 5 are satisfied with the visual representation of the theme in the materials, and the program poster. Around 3 in four libraries (76%) were satisfied with the website overall.

Comments and Suggestions

An increase in the excitement of reading and sharing books is reported as the most common indicator of reading successes from the reading club (24% of library systems who answered this question listed this as an indicator). Other indicators include increased reading habits (16%), increased membership and visits to the library (14%), and the prizes and stickers given as incentives to read (10%).

The most common testimonials from parents, caregivers and/or teachers are that the children are reading more frequently (24% of library systems and branches who answered this question listed these as testimonials). Comments also indicate that the reading skills of children improved (22%), and that parents were enthusiastic and appreciated the program (15%).

A number of different themes are proposed for future programs, the most widespread ones relating to animals or pets, fantasy/adventure, and the environment.

A number of systems comment on the excellent program and high quality of the materials provided. The most common suggestion for the TDSRC program is that the posters and stickers can be improved, to send the program material earlier, and also to provide space to include information on the posters, invitations or logbook.

The following tables summarize some of the key statistics collected.

1. Only libraries that had recorded this information provided data for this section. Because data is not available for a number of libraries that completed the evaluation form, too many assumptions would be required to extrapolate the statistics to all 1,798 participating localities. Thus, results shown in this section are based on only those that answered these questions.

2. Total number of books reported on and total hours read has not been extrapolated due to the low numbers of systems that provided this information.