Establishing a Book Club with a Legislative Officer

Initial Contact O Received a call from the Child and Youth Advocate (CYA) in September of 2012 O Interested in starting a children’s rights book club

Meeting O The vision O What role the library would play O What role the legislative officer and his office would play O Dates / Frequency O Titles of books O Language - Bilingual requirements

CYA’s Vision O Create a book club for members of the civil service interested in children’s rights and well-being O Open to all civil servants

Role of the Library O Partner O Help with the book selection O Venue O Help with the invitation

Role of the Legislative Officer O Moderator of the Book Club O Logistics – mail out, registrations, correspondence with club members

Dates / Frequency O The book club would be launched on November 18 th, 2012 to celebrate National Children’s Rights Awareness Week November th. O It was decided that the group would meet 5 times a year. O They would meet at lunch time since the Legislative Library is within walking distance of most government offices.

Books O The Officer had a list of books in mind but asked for other suggestions. O Wanted books in both English and French. If a translation was available they could read the same book, if not a different French book would be chosen. O Since several copies of one title were already available it was decided that it would be the first book, after that they would decide as a group which books to read. O Discussed where to get the books.

Language O It was decided that two book clubs would be created, one in English and one in French O They would meet the same week but different days

How to Get the Word Out O It was decided that a mass would be sent to all civil servants inviting them to join the book club O Create an electronic invitation O They would use the library‘s mass ing list

Benefits to the Library O Raised visibility by being partnered with a Legislative Officer. O A copy of each of the titles read was donated to the library to be added to the collection. O Recruited new library users from club members.

Things I Learned O Librarian skills are appreciated. O It is great to have someone on staff that understands technology and who is creative.

The Future of the Book Club O In June 2013 a new Child and Youth Advocate was appointed. O In February 2014 the new Advocate hosted his first book club. Since then there has been no mention of it continuing.