New funding will enable libraries to provide better access to books for children and young people in Victoria
The Victorian Government has pledged $1.1m to the Book Fund for the Premiers’ Reading Challenge, in an announcement made to coincide with this year’s Children’s Book Week.
It’s a welcome investment in children and young people’s recreational reading in Victoria, ensuring that younger readers have increased access to a diverse and exciting range of contemporary books and Australian stories.
The announcement comes off the back of ongoing advocacy from Public Libraries Victoria on the importance of supporting young people’s access to the joys and benefits of recreational reading.
Research shows that when young people choose to read regularly, they become more proficient readers1, do better academically2, and experience greater wellbeing and social cognition outcomes3.
As the Minister for Local Government Nick Staikos said at the announcement at West Footscray Library: “Reading not only supports a lifelong love of learning, but helps kids build important literacy skills that will remain with them for life.”
The Book Fund enables Victoria’s public libraries to purchase many of the books collected as part of the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, which are in significant demand.
It also aims to leave a longer-term legacy of replenishing the stock of books in public libraries for children and young people on an annual basis. Funding will be provided to councils, regional library corporations, Connected Libraries, Myli, Your Library, and Vision Australia to buy books and materials to support the challenge.
The annual Premiers’ Reading Challenge encourages children and young people to read a set number of books and record their efforts online. Since the challenge began in 2005, more than 4.75 million children and young people have turned the pages of more than 65 million books.
With Premiers’ Reading Challenges run in states and territories across Australia, this Victorian announcement provides an opportunity for other State Governments to consider adding Book Funds into their programs, as well as providing additional investment to their broader reading and literacy initiatives.
- Torppa, M., Niemi, P., Vasalampi, K., Lerkkanen, M. K., Tolvanen, A., & Poikkeus, A. M. (2019). Leisure
reading (but not any kind) and reading comprehension support each other – a longitudinal
study across grades 1 and 9. Child Development, 91(3), 876-900. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13241 ↩︎ - Sullivan, A., & Brown, M. (2015). Reading for pleasure and progress in vocabulary and mathematics.
British Educational Research Journal, 41(6), 971-991. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3180 ↩︎ - Sun, Y.-J., Sahakian, B. J., Langley, C., Yang, A., Jiang, Y., Kang, J., Zhao, X., Li, C., Cheng, W., & Feng, J.
(2024). Early-initiated childhood reading for pleasure: associations with better cognitive
performance, mental well-being and brain structure in young adolescence. Psychological
Medicine, 54(2), 359-373. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291723001381 ↩︎