Early literacy programming and materials are an important part of the services offered by Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL).
Thanks to a partnership with the Success by 6 Early Literacy Program for Children with Visual Impairments, library customers can now borrow three different brand new literacy kits for children with visual impairments. The themes of the kits are “numbers”, “ABCs” and “bears”. And more kits are planned.
“These kits contain a variety of materials for different levels of visual impairment and include braille number blocks, puppets, tactile picture books, a magnetic board and brightly coloured magnetic numbers with braille,” says Laura Beswick, Divisional Manager of Collections and Support Services.
Interested customers can request a kit and it will be sent to their local branch. Like the Kindergarten Kits available from VIRL, these kits are available to all VIRL customers.
Early literacy kits for kids have been part of the library’s collection for a number of years and include a variety of materials that stimulate a child’s imagination and introduce children to the joy of reading.
These new kits are an addition to the Kindergarten Kits and Early Literacy Kits already available at Vancouver Island Regional Library.
Book club
If you love talking about books, you will love the new book club sets for teens and kids available for all customers of Vancouver Island Regional Library.
Sets of 12 books are available for a six week loan. To get started, ask your local librarian.
“We are starting the collection with 31 different titles, with more titles to be added each year,” says Fiona Anderson, Director of Library Services. “These book club sets are a great idea not only for young people, but for those who work with teens and children, including teachers and club leaders.”
Some of the books included in the book club sets are Alice in Wonderland, Binky the Space Cat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Nim’s Island and The Magician’s Elephant. Each set contains 12 books, a book club discussion guide, and if available, a DVD of the story.
The book club sets are kept at the Nanaimo Harbourfront Branch. Interested customers just have to place a hold and the set will be delivered to their local branch.
Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) is the fourth-largest library system in British Columbia, serving more than 430,000 people on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and Bella Coola on the Central Coast through 38 branch libraries, an eLibrary at virl.bc.ca, and a Books by Mail service.