National Report of 2009 Program Statistics - Executive Summary / Key Findings

2009 TD Summer Reading Club

Final Report of Program Statistics
For Library and Archives Canada

January 2010

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 over 90 library branches. Each branch within the Toronto Public Library was sent a link to complete their own evaluation form.

In some 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 603 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, 517 evaluations were collected between August 27th and October 23rd, 2009, yielding a submission rate of 86% and a response rate of 88%

Throughout this report, the results from the 2009 TDSRC program are being compared with those obtained in previous years, beginning in 2005 and continuing through 2009.

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, 603 library systems participated in the TDSRC program during the summer of 2009. Within these 603 systems, a total of 1,962 branches (localities) participated in the program.

In total, 274,170 reading kits were distributed across Canada by the participating libraries, as well as 121,350 posters. The number of TDSRC materials handed out to children, teachers, daycare providers, parents and other caregivers totals 395,520.

An estimated 273,262  children registered for the TDSRC 2009 program. Girls comprise 150,331, or 55% of the participants, while the 122,932 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 7.8  million. The circulation recorded on children’s library cards is approximately 5.4 million.

Program Statistics

A total of 27,352 programs and activities were organized around this year’s club theme entitled Agent 009. Total attendance at these programs and activities amounted to 519,065 children, which translates to an approximate average of 19 children per activity.

Overall, 39% of library systems ran their summer reading club exclusively as a drop-in program, whereas only 18% of the systems ran theirs solely as a reading club. Almost a third (32%) of the systems ran the summer reading club both as a drop-in and as a club. Another 10% did not indicate using either approach.

In total, 72% of the library systems used stickers as incentives for children to read more books. Among these systems, over 118,128 children reached the target of collecting all nine stickers.

Among the library systems that collected these statistics, each child on average reported on 3.6 books and spent 4.5  hours reading.

On average, each child read approximately 7.1  books, which calculates to a total of 1,947,142 books read as part of the summer reading club¹.

Promotion of the Program

62% of the library systems indicate that their library staff made visits to schools and daycares to promote the summer reading club. In total, 10,322 visits were made to schools and daycares, and 491,594 children were reached by these means.

Roughly 83,000 participants (30%) first heard of the TDSRC program through staff promotion in the branch, while about 59,000 (22%) first heard via a presentation at a school or daycare. Another 52,000 (19%) were participants from last year.

Overall Satisfaction

Satisfaction was exceptionally high across the libraries. Greater than 89% of libraries are “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the theme, the quality of the logbook, and the relevance of content in the logbook. Almost as many (88%) were satisfied with the visual representation of the theme in the materials. Greater than 4 in 5 libraries (84%) 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 (22% of library systems who answered this question listed this as an indicator). Other indicators include increased reading habits and getting ‘hooked’ on reading (16%), and positive parental feedback (including spending more time with family, and having discussions about books). Participants having fun (13%), and increased membership and visits to the library (12%) were also commonly cited as reading successes.

The most common testimonials from parents, caregivers and/or teachers were their overall enthusiasm and appreciation for the program (31%), and that the children are reading more frequently (29% of library systems and branches who answered this question gave this testimonial). Comments also indicate that the reading skills of children improved (23%), and that the kids mention how much they enjoy the program (17%).

A number of different themes are proposed for future programs, the most popular ones involved animals or pets, fantasy/adventure, space and road trip/travel.

A number of systems commented on the excellent program and high quality of the materials provided. The most common suggestion for the TDSRC program is that the design of materials needs to be improved, as well as the quality of the posters/stickers. There are also requests to have the program material sent earlier, and a suggestion to run an online forum or blog for librarians to access and share information.

The following tables summarize some of the key statistics collected.

1 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.