Who is Library For All?
Library For All is a not-for-profit organisation and believes education brings opportunity. Operating for over ten years, we are a global team of authors, illustrators, designers, curators, developers, and entrepreneurs, with a passion for improving the lives of children through technology-enabled learning tools.
With origins as a digital library, Library For All has grown to become a leading education technology developer and mid-tier publisher of high quality, culturally diverse and age-appropriate children’s books, delivered digitally and in print on demand.
Library For All is evidence backed and invests in supporting early years literacy and numeracy education, knowing this support directly impacts how a child will learn and develop in the future.
What is Our Yarning?
Our Yarning is a growing collection of literacy-based books for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Work on Our Yarning began in March 2021 and has the goal of creating 500 culturally relevant and age-appropriate reader books for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The collection of books for children are written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reflecting culture, country, connections, community and family across Australia.
The Our Yarning Program is lead by Dr Julie Owen, Cultural Advisor and Education specialist, guided by community and cultural best practice, and advised by an active Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group.
What language are Our Yarning books written in?
We decided to create books, first, in English. This is the national language of instruction, and it is the language that most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children speak. The colonisation of Australia reduced the number of languages spoken fluently by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from 300 to just 100 today. It is now more common than not that most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children learn to speak English in the home, learn English at school, and scarcely use a traditional language even as a secondary language. In addition to alignment to the national language of instruction, we know that the attainment of literacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in English is important in a predominantly English-speaking country.
Library For All recognises the importance of organisations and projects focused on language restoration and preservation of hundreds of languages and the value that language nests and centres play in this journey. Our focus is complementary in nature and works to improve literacy attainment, at scale, with books and educational resources that are aligned to the national language of instruction. Over time we dream of a free digital library that encompasses many traditional languages.
Many of the Our Yarning books include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander words interspersed throughout to describe plants, animals, people and activities.
The Our Yarning program is very open to working with language centres, language nests, and localised language projects to publish collections of titles in language where there is demand.
How does the Our Yarning team work with communities and organisations?
The Our Yarning team responds to requests for information from organisations and communities who know of our work, who the team have connected with through networks, or who have received our promotional material.
The Our Yarning team will only work with communities and organisations where an invitation is extended to the team. With this invitation the Our Yarning team will develop activities based on the invitation and include planning and delivering workshops, information sessions or further community meetings.