ifla2010 s68 varaprasad

IFLA 2010, The Metropolitan Libraries Section

August 10-15, Gothenburg, Sweden

Unleashing the Power of Quest:

Two Innovative Projects to Reap the

Rewards of Reading

All Rights Reserved, National Library Board Singapore


Two Projects for a Creative Appetite

The Quest for Visual Engagement

Quest for the Perfect “Boy’s Project”

Read and Reap: The Project


In an ideal world…

Libraries would be valued as

treasure houses of

knowledge, all parents would

always promote reading and

children would always

choose the library as their

Sunday place of choice.


In reality…

Reading, despite its

importance, is but one

past time in a buffet

spread of television

programmes, exciting

computer games and all

other forms of

entertainment competing

for that precious free time

in between work or school


The Quest for Visual Engagement

Television

Computer

Games/ Online

Social Platforms

PSPs/ iPhones

Sports/ Other

hobbies

Visual

Kinesthetic


NLB believes…

In addition to promoting

reading, it has become

imperative to change the

perception of reading,

differentiating it from

schoolwork.


Two Projects, the Same Idea

1.A strong visual

element.

2. Interactive

3.Online presence


Quest: The Perfect Project for Boys

“One of the biggest reason boys fail at reading is that we turn

reading into work.”

- Michael Sullivan, from Connecting Boys with Books 2

Reading as play, not work

To find an innovative and fun programme that will make

children proactively choose to come to the library

To invoke the feeling of starting on an adventure

Target Group

7-12 years old children, particularly male reluctant readers


Quest: Trend Following

Revival of the

fantasy genre

starting with the

Harry Potter

phenomena

Evergreen

interest in

trading cards &

board games

http://sg.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0S0zu2PVBZKMQcAm6gl4gt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBqaWRlZWhnBHBvcwMxOQRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZAM-/SIG=1pm0aur7j/EXP=1243063823/**http%3A//sg.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view%3Fback=http%253A%252F%252Fsg.images.search.yahoo.com%252Fsearch%252Fimages%253Fp%253Dharry%252Bpotter%252Bbooks%2526js%253D1%2526ei%253Dutf-8%2526fr%253Dyfp-t-101%2526xargs%253D0%2526pstart%253D1%2526b%253D19%2526ni%253D18%26w=331%26h=500%26imgurl=static.flickr.com%252F234%252F444923212_d9601fc062.jpg%26rurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Fscottschultz%252F444923212%252F%26size=104.4kB%26name=Harry%2BPotter%2Band%2Bthe%2BDeathly%2BHallows%26p=harry%2Bpotter%2Bbooks%26type=JPG%26oid=8a0bc19b0230ec40%26fusr=scott.schultz%26tit=Harry%2BPotter%2Band%2Bthe%2BDeathly%2BHallows%26hurl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Fscottschultz%252F%26no=19%26tt=142279%26sigr=11kunhnpi%26sigi=11emtmuv9%26sigb=13rafthcf%26sigh=11at41aev

http://sg.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0S0zu2PVBZKMQcA4qgl4gt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBqcGI0b29tBHNlYwN4cGwEcG9zAzIEdnRpZAM-/SIG=168gflu7a/EXP=1243063823/**http%3A//sg.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images%3Fp=harry potter and the half blood prince%26y=Search%26ei=UTF-8%26x=wrt%26js=1%26ni=21%26ei=UTF-8%26fr=yfp-t-101%26fr2=

http://sg.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0S0zu2PVBZKMQcA6Kgl4gt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBqMnEwY2c3BHNlYwN4cGwEcG9zAzUEdnRpZAM-/SIG=15ksqm7i2/EXP=1243063823/**http%3A//sg.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images%3Fp=harry potter book covers%26y=Search%26ei=UTF-8%26x=wrt%26js=1%26ni=21%26ei=UTF-8%26fr=yfp-t-101%26fr2=


Quest is…

A reading programme that aims to convert

reluctant readers, particularly boys as lifelong

learners

A fantasy adventure story that children can follow

A collectible trading card game

A Reading Programme A Story A Game A Hobby

Quest supports the vision of the National Library Board, Singapore,

which is to be an inspiring beacon of lifelong learning where

knowledge is inspired, imagination sparked and possibility created

in the formation of creative individuals.


Quest as a Reading Programme

Launched in June 2009

60 illustrated cards done in Japanese manga style

Each card contains part of a fantasy story and can be

played like any other trading card game

Children collect and redeem cards by submitting their

loan receipts from book borrowing


The Quest format is

instantly recognisable to

children who take it upon

themselves to promote it

to their friends to increase

their opportunities for

card trading.


Quest in support of creativity

Creative Writing Competition

Children were invited to submit alternate endings to the story

Warmly received competition was an affirmation that children

were reading the story and not simply collecting cards.

“Hunt for the Rain Dragon” Drawing Competition

Children, youths and adults were invited to create a rain

dragon for the second installment of Quest.


Rain Dragon Design Entries

Age

39

Age

41

Age

11

Age

17

Age

21


Quest in the Digital Realm

Diminishing Distances

The space between the physical and virtual world is being

eroded

Children continue interactions with friends from school on

social media platforms at home

The Digital face of Quest

Children can read the full story online, download colouring

pages, bookmarks and receive book recommendations

online

http://quest.pl.sg


Quest in the Digital Realm

The website has an average of 150 hits per day and

surpassed the 30 000 visits mark in less than a year


Quest in Numbers

Component Target Achieved (as at 31st

Mar 2010)

Quest Cards redeemed 480,000 1.33 million (+277%)

Loans generated 800,000 2.05 million (+256%)

Participants 40,000 70,000 (+175%)

% loans increased

from 9 to 12 years old

for period of project.

30%

% of boys participating

in programme

75%


Quest in Words

“My little boy was so keen on this that he keeps on borrowing and reading,

keeping all the borrowing receipts with hope, myself ending up as his

secretary, filing receipts.

I hope the cards can arrive ASAP and act as a driving force to encourage

little to children continue with their reading habits. Quest cards are worth

nothing to an adult but it acts as a form of invincible positive force to build

in children good reading habits.

Please do take care of this [project] and help to build our future

generations with more knowledge, quality, refinement as well as [turn them

into] graceful citizens for the next decades.”

- Chan Chunjin, parent

“Hi, I would like to really appreciate your efforts in encouraging people to

read more and more of books in this Computer age. In your latest step to

give away the quest cards, you would be glad to hear that my 6 year old

son is bringing 16-32 books [home] and reading them day and night to

return and collect more and more quest cards. So, thanks for all that

effort.”

- Neeta, parent


NLB BlackBox

Competition - Winner

Notable

Achievements

CAPAM International

Innovation Awards –

Semi Finalist (Finalist

to be announced in

July 2010)

NLB Outstanding

Innovation Team Award

2009 - Winner

Local and

Overseas Media

Mentions

http://www.google.com.sg/imgres?imgurl=http://www.apsc.gov.au/capam/capamlong.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.apsc.gov.au/capam/aboutcapam.html&usg=__YgKbh9U6ulZWV_jbXGOJurDrJ-0=&h=200&w=140&sz=7&hl=en&start=69&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=OMw5gsOedlG1gM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=73&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcapam%26start%3D63%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D21%26tbs%3Disch:1

What have you read today that

would inspire someone else?

All Rights Reserved, National Library Board Singapore21

What Exactly is Read and Reap?

Read & Reap is about reaping the harvests of reading

Encouraging seeds of ideas to grow from reading a literary extract

from a book

Catalyst for a whole new experience of reading AND SHARING.

The Components of Read & Reap

A literary extract – a sampling of some of the moments in a book

A catchy title like “You Lost Your Hair!”

A thought provoking question to kick-start the thinking process

Some recommended reads (I.e. if you like the extract – please,

please pick up some of these recommended titles.)


Literary Extract

Recommended Reads

An Eye-Catching Title

“You Lost Your Hair!”

Thought-Provoking Question:Do you have a deep dark secret

that you need to hide because if

people knew, they would see you

differently?


Why Read & Reap?

Fast with strong visual impact

In a fast paced world, people expect information to be easily

attainable and efficiently delivered

Think of a movie advertisement or maybe a movie trailer with a

caption that catches your attention. You move closer to take a

look at the poster and what you read inspires you to buy a

ticket to watch the movie. The Read and Reap project works on

a similar premise. A short extract is taken from a book and

highlighted with a caption. It uses a visual hook to draw its

reader in.


Reclaiming Reading

Bringing back the intrinsic satisfaction gained from

reading which defines reading as an enjoyable act

A common complaint of our children was that the book

was too thick, they have no time to read (too much

homework and free time is rather spent on television or

the computer)

Read and Reap makes reading digestible.


Why Read & Reap?

To assist in developing a curious and questioning mind

Opportunities for Conversation – we wanted our

children to share and talk about what they have read (not

just movies they have watched)

Thought-provoking questions related to their own

personal life-experiences can help them to connect with

the story on a more personal level.

Hope that the habit of reflecting and thinking will help

develop the critical thinking skills of our children.


Read and Reap from the Beginning

Historically Speaking…

Pilot phase:

August 2007 involving 15 elementary and secondary schools

Team worked closely with teacher coordinators

Schools received 2 sets of 3 extracts with accompanying “Spill It!” poster

Facilitation toolkit of recommended activities and discussion questions was also provided to aid teachers

Posters were placed at high traffic areas in the school compound and were changed on a fortnightly basis to give the students something new and refreshing


Raising the Project to life

Success with some minor issues like design and font size

Feedback from the Head of English in a primary school

“This is to share with you how excited my pupils are in responseto the poster (Read and Reap - Are you suffering fromFreckles?). The pupils were fascinated by the extract from theposter and decided to pursue more about freckles. Theydecided to read the book, Freckles Juice, so that they canrespond accordingly to the thought provoking question.”

A breath of fresh air for the students, away

from the usual classroom lessons.


Jurong

Secondary


Assumption

English School


Libraries


Responses from students on posters

I regretted not visiting my grandmother frequently when she was still alive –Natalie

They always control our freedom.They should be more positive so that they can blend in with our lifestyle.

They show care about us but sometimes they just want to control our freedom.

I want to change into a hardworking me!

I wish that I will be a magician so that people who bully me will vanish and may be I’ll turn them into fat ugly pig!

Adults always like other children and their own child is stupid.

Adults think they know it all, they do not let us explain when we make a mistake and they do not give us freedom.

I would like to change my brain and make myself the cleverest person on earth

I want my family to change and become a happy family


@Unity Secondary

The students from Sec 3

participated in the related

activities during their

English lesson. The session

was conducted in school

library and 35 students

participated.


The Digital Face of Read and Reap

Students wanted to see what other students beyond their class and

school thought

SO WE CREATED A BLOG AT HTTP://READANDREAP.SG

An online repository of all extracts

A platform for students to leave their comments and see what other

people thought about the extract they have read

A distribution network for teachers to spread the work and download

more copies of posters and toolkits if they needed to

http://readandreap.sg/


http://readandreap.sg


Launch of Read and Reap

Read and Reap was officially launched at the inaugural School Library Symposium organized by NLB and Ministry of Education, Singapore on 30 May 2008

Each school received monthly extracts in A2-size posters, A2-size expression sheets and accompanying toolkits.

Additional posters and toolkits could be downloaded via the blog

Public Libraries also displayed the posters so that comments from the public could also be captured.

“My school has received a set of the posters from NLB and our

reading team is delighted to see the wonderful texts which can

serve our pupils well. We hope that you could provide our

school with another 28 sets of posters so that we could help

promote the initiative through a schoolwide event. I hope to

hear from you soon. Thank you so much!”


Feedback

FROM TEACHERS

“It encourages pupils to think and express their opinions and is another

way of improving their English. It gives pupils opportunities to write about

their opinions on issues related to them.”

FROM STUDENTS

“Interesting Material. Thought provoking as well. It is very interesting and

made us think out of the box. It makes us think further.”

FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

“I am supportive of this initiative. It encourages readers to ask questions

about what they read and try to apply what they have learnt in their lives.

And I would inform family, friends and relatives about the initiative.”

“I think Read and reap is the perfect platform for youths to share tips and

good reads, and the read and reap motion has done perfect job in attracting

youths to start reading and reaping from books.” – From Jia Wei (14 years

old)


The Case for Read and Reap

A simple initiative that is both easy, creative and best of all,

allows itself to be integrated smoothly into the time-

compressed lives of our readers

Why Read and Reap

Easy to Implement - it’s just one extract from a book on a poster

and it is up to the teacher/librarian to conduct discussions

Innovative and Flexible - The same extract can be used for

different age groups and interest groups (e.g. poster and blog).

Encourages the sharing and exchange of Ideas – users sharing

ideas and providing extracts in support of a user-centric community


One Year On: The Power of Fiction Competition

April 2009, teens aged 13-19 could participate in our Read and Reap

Competition titled “The Power of Fiction”

Individuals or teams had to submit a fully designed poster with all the

components and an extract of their choice. Aims:

Encourage young people to enjoy fiction

To help them realise that fiction is a powerful platform to facilitate thinking

There were 239 participants of which 65 submitted as

individuals.

Topics ranged from wars, women’s sizes, feminist concerns

and even library behaviour.


Winning Entries


Power of Fiction showed that Read and

Reap has youth appeal

“Thank you for organising such a great event, and I really enjoyed

making this poster, as I got to ponder more deeply about the book”

– Cho Soo Min

“I like the creative aspect and thought process which one would go

through when selecting an extract and question. The extract

selection was especially tough yet interesting because you have to

pick a concise part of the book to illustrate the full essence or point

of the story, without compromising on its content and meaning.”

–Vincent Lee


Read and Reap in Numbers

400 schools, 21 public libraries took part

2229 blog hits from all over the world

Approximately 100 blog entries and 450 posted comments.

More than 100 extracts submitted by the public (some were unsuitable and hence not posted on the blog)

Youngest contributor – 8 years old

Approximately 2300 subscribers on the email list


Conclusion: Reading is Alive

The challenge of engaging digital natives is real. Many

do not perceive themselves to be in need of libraries.

The world of reading is huge and includes both online content and

print. Statistics that reflect reading rates for print materials may only

be a skewed representation.

Quest and Read and Reap are bridges, using a preferred method of

delivery to present content for reading and the utilization of these

bridges have shown us that reading is still very much alive.


Thank You

ifla2010 s68 varaprasad

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