Both the books we create and how we use these learning tools to engage diverse learners are important ways that Library For All supports gender equality and inclusion.
Technology enables us to include features to make learning more accessible to children who experience physical and/or learning disabilities.
The digital tablets in our Spark Boxes are easy to hold and navigate, and include accessibility features such as adjustable font-size and brightness.
We have worked with partners globally to create sign-language books and audio books to reach even more children with stories that engage them in learning and grow their literacy.
Our paper books can also be supplied with braille to support learning for children with vision-impairment.
Library For All’s collections are carefully curated to showcase stories that are culturally relevant, age appropriate and engaging, as well as socially responsible and empowering.
Among many criteria for the selection of Library For All stories, our Gender Equality and Inclusion collection honours the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG5 — Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
In every cultural collection, over 50% of our stories are written by women. When selecting stories and illustrating our books, we ensure over 50% represent women and girls in lead roles, or within gender diverse storylines.
For the purposes of child-friendly storytelling, our acquisition policy showcases a range of interrelated gender issues and gender equity concepts including:
Overall, we aim to represent a nuanced social environment that honours choice, agency and the shared responsibility of all members of society to strive for gender equality.
The book Out of My Window references an astronaut. This is a traditionally male job, but the astronaut in the book is a she.
We apply similar principles for the inclusion of characters who live with disability in our books. We seek to show characters with a range of disabilities in lead and supporting roles. This can mean publishing stories that explicitly feature characters with physical disabilities, while other times this could be depicting characters with different disabilities in illustrations or in supporting roles.
The book You Can Play Tooencourages participation in sports. It represents many types of people enjoying a variety of sports, including those with different physical disabilities.
