National Simultaneous Storytime 2014

National Simultaneous Storytime is a free annual event organised by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) to encourage a love of books and reading for children. It provides a connection between the community and the Library and is celebrated by children all around Australia being read the same book at the same time. This year, National Simultaneous Storytime, which has been running for fourteen years, was held on May 21 at 11.00am as part of Library and Information Week (ALIA, 2014).

National Simultaneous Storytime is an event held in local Public Libraries, schools and childcare centres and uses a children’s picture book written by an Australian author, promoting the value of reading through age appropriate literature. In 2014 the book chosen, Too Many Elephants in this House, was written by award winning children’s and young adult author Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrated by Andrew Joyner (ALIA, 2014).

The event encourages awareness of Public Libraries and helps to promote storytime activities regularly held in Libraries across Australia. Such activities play an important role in developing language and literacy skills in young children (ALIA, 2014). Programs such as pre-school storytime support parents in their role as their child’s first teacher and provide early learning opportunities for children in a fun and literature based environment (Kelly, 2012, p. 181).

I attended National Simultaneous Storytime at Concord Public Library. It had been promoted within the Library with posters and on the Library website. Storytime was held in a light and bright space bounded by the picture book collection. This is a friendly and welcoming literature based environment for children and over forty-five children were in attendance. The songs and books read on the day had an elephant theme, with the final story being Too Many Elephants in this House. The children were informed that it was National Simultaneous Storytime and that children all over Australia were participating in the event. At the end of storytime, the children made an elephant mask during craft.

This was an enjoyable event to attend and one that is important on a Children’s Librarian’s calendar. It is recognised that the early exposure of babies and children to books and being read to can have a significant effect on their literacy and language development, central to ensuring children meet their developmental potential (Bundy, 2007, p. 173). National Simultaneous Storytime promotes reading as an important life skill and encourages parents to read to their children on a regular basis. My observations were that this shared reading event was a highly enjoyable and positive experience for both parents and children.

References:

Australian Library and Information Service. (2014) National Simultaneous Storytime. Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/nss.

Bundy, A. (2007). Looking ever forward: Australia’s public libraries serving children and young people. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, 20(4), 173.

Dubosarsky, U. (2012). Too many elephants in this house. Illustrated by Andrew Joyner. Sydney: Penguin Books Australia.

Kelly, C. (2012). Building a learning community: the Brimbank Libraries strategy. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, 25(4), 181