The June Canavan Foundation Joins the Middle And Upper Primary Reading Pathway Project in Papua New Guinea.

Library For All Australia is pleased to welcome the June Canavan Foundation as a new funding partner on the Middle and Upper Primary Reading Pathway Project. 

This project, initiated by Library For All in early 2019, will provide a freely available continuous pathway of age appropriate, culturally relevant reading materials for children who currently lack access to these resources in Papua New Guinea.  

With the support of the June Canavan Foundation, Library For All will extend the scope of the project to include an additional 20 original children’s books for Middle and Upper Primary students, and will deliver these for free through the award winning Library For All digital library application. 

On announcing the funding, Anne Gripper, Foundation Chair of the June Canavan Foundation, said “the Foundation was established in 2010 to honour the memory of Dr June Canavan and builds on her humanitarian work in the areas of sport, health, education and conservation. The Middle and Upper Primary Reading Pathway Project aligns to our aims to improve educational outcomes in Papua New Guinea and we are pleased to be supporting Library For All in this important endeavour”. 

The project is already well underway, with more than 45 new titles produced since March 2019 and a further 35, including new books funded by the June Canavan Foundation, due for completion by April 2020. 

Library For All’s Specialist Librarian (Content Strategy and Publishing) Dr Lara Cain Gray said that “this funding presents an exciting opportunity to provide extended reading opportunities for older readers. Our aim is not just to help kids learn to read, but to encourage a culture of lifelong interest in reading. The Middle and Upper Primary collection will include lively, informative non fiction and creative stories designed to increase a reader’s vocabulary and really cement their interest in books and education.” 

Library For All has a vision to deliver relevant books and educational resources to more than 20 million children by 2030. This project helps provide for up to a million readers who, without access to these resources, face the almost insurmountable challenge of developing literacy skills without access to reading materials. 

Library For All is an Australian not for profit scale up disrupting the global publishing industry by making high quality, age appropriate and culturally relevant books and educational resources accessible to all, equally. More than 130,000 people are now reading with Library For All.