Welcome to the Calgary Get Caught Reading blog!
Calgary Public Library, Calgary Transit, and well-known Calgarians are getting together to help raise awareness of the importance of reading and literacy. If you read in public you could ‘Get Caught Reading’ this February and win cool prizes from the Library. Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Cassie Campbell, and many other Calgary athletes have already been ‘caught’ reading. Be sure to check back on February 9th to see photos of some of your favourite Calgary athletes reading!
Help us celebrate the experience of reading by entering your name for these great prizes:
Ø Tuesday, February 9th is the launch of the 2010 Get Caught Reading promotion. Teams of local personalities, library staff, and volunteers will be on the C-Train looking to catch people reading on their way to work. Get caught and you could win a cozy scarf from the Calgary Public Library and Calgary Transit!
Ø Enter online or at your branch, and you could win an 8 GB IPod Touch!
Ø Any time in February in all of the library’s 17 branches you can enter to win a “snuggle up and read” prize package!
So Get Caught Reading! Join us at your library branch, on your commute, or on your computer. Celebrate your love of reading and connect with a whole community of booklovers.
Bookmark this blog to learn about Get Caught Reading activities and see photos of local celebrities caught reading.
Gerry Meek, Director Calgary Public Library
View footage from 2009's Get Caught Reading Events!
CTV News 2009 Video
Shaw News 2009 Video
In 2009 the Calgary Public Library celebrated Freedom to Read Week with a city wide youth essay contest. The top three essays by young people who understand the value of intellectual freedom are available to read here: Essay 1, Essay 2, Essay 3.
This year the contest is running again, so if you are interested in freedom, why not write about it! Just tell us why the Freedom to Read is important to you and you could win prizes or have your essay published on our website. The contest is open to all Calgary students in grades 7 to 9. You can learn more about the contest here.
Get writing!
Calgary, thank you for your enthusiasm for reading. Calgary Get Caught Reading continues to grow and its success is something you should be proud of. Reading bears mentioning not just because it is fun. Literacy is a fundamental skill that opens doors into different cultures, helps people get jobs, lets us navigate public transportation, and gives people a chance to express themselves.
Reading is very important to Calgary. Calgary Public Library locations are being used more than ever and we circulated over 16 million books, CDs, and movies to Calgarians in 2009. That numbers keeps growing and is a testament to how much value Calgary finds at its Library. A great statistic that we are very proud of!
Not every literacy statistic is easy to hear, though. Statistics Canada reports that more than nine million, or four out of ten, Canadian adults struggle with language, literacy, and numeracy problems every day. Repeated surveys by Statistics Canada show that there has been no improvement in this situation for more than a decade.
The prevalence of low literacy carries enormous costs for individuals and for society. Literacy skill has a major impact on health status, educational achievement, career success, and social engagement.
And there is so much to be gained from higher literacy, both personally and for everyone. Even a one percent increase in literacy nation wide would translate to a permanent increase of 18 billion dollars per year in Canada’s Gross Domestic Product!
These are just some of the reasons why Calgary Get Caught Reading is so important to us. It is why we are throwing a huge party and giving away prizes to encourage everyone to read.
The 2009 Get Caught Reading Team
This month get yourself reading regularly. Build on good habits, make friends by talking about what you are reading, and keep your brain active all year round.
We just caught these Calgarians reading!
Mayor Dave Bronconnier joins us to show that even when you help run a city you can still get into a good book.
Calgary-Montrose MLA Manmeet Bhullar reminds us that you should always re-read your favorite books whenever you can.
Ald. Joe Ceci has kindly offered to disclose that when he is not reading his Council agenda, a document as big as a phone book, he tones it down a little by reading about music at his desk.
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Ald. Linda Fox-Mellway sits back to enjoy a good book at the Central Library.
Calgary-Lougheed MLA Dave Rodney giving us his best reading pose.
Calgarians everywhere are reading, are you?
Proclamation
Reading is an essential part of our lives – it teaches, guides, informs, entertains, sooths and keeps us connected to each other and to the world. Get Caught Reading is a national campaign geared to promote reading as a fun activity, on par with many other leisure pursuits. The campaign's goal is to promote reading as a leisure time activity that anyone can do.
Whereas: Reading is vital to the social and economic development of our city;
Whereas: Research shows that reading and reading programs have a positive influence on learning and literacy development;
Whereas: Reading is essential to maintain the richness of our cultural diversity.
On behalf of City Council and the citizens of Calgary, I hereby proclaim the month of February 2010 as:
“Get Caught Reading Month”
Dave Bronconnier
Mayor