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#IndiraNaidoo-Harris, #HarinderMalhi, #Sikhhistory, #TheOntarioLibraryAssociation, #OntarioElementarySocialStudiesTeachersAssociation, #TheOntarioArtEducationAssociation, #SikhHeritageMuseumofCanada, #TheOntarioAssociationofGeographicandEnvironmentalEducators, Ottawa, Feb 22 (Canadian-Media): Indira Naidoo-Harris, Minister of Education, joined by Harinder Malhi, MPP for Brampton-Springdale and Minister of the Status of Women, announced this week at Sandalwood Heights Secondary School in Brampton that Ontario is developing new resources on Sikh history and heritage to help students understand Canada's diverse history and people, media reports said. “I firmly believe that Ontario’s publicly funded education system must support and promote diverse perspectives. Through these resources, students will now have the opportunity to deepen understanding of Sikh heritage and the contributions of the Sikh community to Canada. These tools will help students further their knowledge of global issues and Canadian history,” said Naidoo-Harris 
Indira Naidoo-Harris. Image credit: Facebook page
The voluntary curriculum-linked resources are reportedly being developed by: The Ontario Elementary Social Studies Teachers Association, The Ontario Art Education Association, The Ontario Association of Geographic and Environmental Educators, and The Ontario Library Association in partnership with the Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada.
The Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada is located in Mississauga, Ontario, and is a Canadian organization celebrating the unique history, culture and legacy of Sikh Canadians. It is dedicated to advancing and promoting knowledge, understanding and preservation of the cultural and religious life of Sikh people in Canada through quality museum exhibits, lectures and special programs. A new voluntary curriculum-linked resource is reportedly being developed in partnership with the Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada, to support learning in a variety of subjects and courses for elementary and secondary students. “The learning resources related to Canadian Sikh history and heritage are an important first step towards a more equitable, inclusive and representative education system in Ontario. Sikh pioneer contributions towards nation building are over 100 years in Canada and these resources in part will reflect that legacy,” Pardeep Singh Nagra, Executive Director, Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada was reported to state.
The resources will reportedly be distributed through the subject associations’ networks in spring 2018 coinciding with the Ontario's designation of April as Sikh Heritage Month in 2013.
“The introduction of this curriculum is vital to understanding part of the Sikh community’s contribution and presence in Canada. These tools are part of our government’s ongoing journey towards providing students the knowledge they need to further navigate the diverse world they live in,” Malhi reportedly said. Topics that would be covered will reportedly be: Sikh celebrations in Canada and diverse viewpoints on maintaining cultural practices; Sikh perspectives on global warming and climate change; The history of Sikh pioneers in Canada and human rights. These tools will reportedly enable all students to embrace Canada's history and diversity, develop transferable skills, such as critical thinking, and increase their understanding of global issues. (Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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#ThePublicLibraryAssociation, #PLA; NationalNetworkofLibrariesofMedicine, #AmericanJournalofPublicHealth, #PLANNLM, #ProLiteracy; #PewResearchCenter Toronto, Feb 3 (Canadian-Media) The Public Library Association (PLA) is partnering with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) to train librarians nationwide to better serve patrons seeking medical guidance to close the gap between the number of low health literate library patrons, and the lack of training and resource familiarity of libraries, media reports said.  Public Library Association. Image credit: ala.org Health literacy is the degree to which individuals are able to obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Low health literacy is a serious and dangerous nationwide issue that has unfortunately claimed the lives of many. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, only 12 percent of adults have proficient health literacy, which means nearly nine out of ten adult lack the skills necessary to maintain their health, and prevent diseases and infections. Many individuals who lack health literacy skills cannot read or understand prescription labels and their providers’ instructions and health plans. They lack numeracy skills to choose health and prescription coverage, and have little to no knowledge on various basic health topics. Additionally, culture and language barriers can hurt an individual’s ability to understand health plans and instructions. According to American Journal of Public Health estimates reportedly an excess of $230 billion a year in health care costs is linked to low adult literacy due to the role it plays in increasing hospitalization rates, declining utilization of preventative services, and overall poor healthcare outcomes. A large number of individuals reportedly are at risk of low health literacy, including older adults, racial and ethnic minorities, people with less than a high school degree or equivalency, people with low income levels, non-native speakers of English, and people with compromised health status. Education, language, culture, access to resources, and age are all factors that affect a person's health literacy skills. According to a 2010 study, 37 percent of library users, including 57 percent of seniors living in poverty, used public library computers to seek health information. A 2013 survey showed that a third of the public librarians who responded were unfamiliar with resources that could help patrons with health-related queries. In 2015, the Pew Research Center -- -- a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research We do not take policy positions -- conducted a survey of Americans ages 16 and older on the role libraries play in their lives and in their communities. Nearly 75 percent of the respondents said that libraries are helpful when it comes to seeking information on healthcare. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, only 12 percent of adults have proficient health literacy. Libraries serve as vital community hubs and play significant roles in community-based efforts such as health literacy. Unfortunately, many librarians and administrators are unfamiliar with the health resources available to serve patrons. The new partnership with PLA-NNLM reportedly address the issue in a number of ways, including with training podcasts, webinars, conference sessions, and a dedicated resources and training website for librarians to better serve patrons seeking medical guidance. PLA Deputy Director Scott G. Allen said the new initiative, called Promoting Healthy Communities, is designed to tailor medical information for librarians serving a general audience and added, “Public librarians are charged with helping those patrons, but they’re not taught a whole lot in library school about consumer health information or literacy. So they sort of have to learn it on the job.” “We’re looking for other sources of support, but we’re trying to do things, such as the website, in ways that we can sustain without a lot of resources. Every time we do a webinar in our program, or an article in our journal, it gets archived and we can refer people to it. So we do hope to continue after April,” said Allen NNLM realizes that even though there are available resources available for librarians, the high-level material is too complex for the basic healthcare consumer information sought by patrons. PLA-NNLM partnership will help librarians who are seeking a credential in Consumer Health Information Specialization managed by the Medical Library Association and can use training on the materials. “Some public library staff have a lot of experience with this and maybe just want to take some courses on cultural issues in healthcare, or privacy issues, or opioids,” Allen said. ProLiteracy and the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services have partnered to further efforts outlined in the National Library Literacy Action Agenda, a resource to help libraries implement processes for institutionalizing adult literacy efforts. By acknowledging library-focused initiatives such as the PLA-NNLM partnership to increase and improve training on health literacy materials for librarians, and by furthering efforts like those of the ALA and ProLiteracy partnership, health literacy of Americans nationwide could be collectively improved. #KentuckyCenterfortheBook, #LibraryofCongress, #LOC, #U.S.Congress, #U.S.CopyrightOffice, #CarlaHayden, #BillGoodman, #LOC’sCenterfortheBook, #NationalEndowmentfortheHumanities Washington, Feb 1 Canadian-Media): Kentucky Center for the Book becomes the newest affiliated center of Library of Congress (LOC), media reports said.  Library of Congress. Image credit: Twitter handle LOC, reportedly the world’s largest library and the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office, offers access to records of the United States and from around the world—both on-site and online, “We are pleased to welcome the new Kentucky Center for the Book as the newest affiliate to help promote reading with the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “The Kentucky Center already has demonstrated a commitment to the mission of promoting books, reading and literacy with its many programs.”  Dr. Carla Hayden. Image credit: Twitter handle LOC’s Center for the Book was reportedly created by Congress in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books and reading and has become a national force of literacy promotion with affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The affiliates will reportedly meet in the spring to exchange ideas. Kentucky Humanities Executive Director Bill Goodman said that he was thrilled to become Kentucky’s Center for the Book and added, “Kentucky Humanities is deeply committed to promoting literacy in Kentucky through PRIME TIME Family Reading Time, the Kentucky Book Fair and our upcoming Kentucky Reads initiative. We look forward to continuing to share the love of reading and writing and promoting community discussions about great literature and its relevance to our lives with citizens of the Commonwealth." Kentucky Humanities, supported by the National Endowment and by private contributions, is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. |
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