Storytime recognised by State Library

Lockyer Valley Libraries' Storytime program has been recognised as one of the most innovative in Queensland.

Libraries were forced to shut their doors in line with the Federal Government's response to COVID-19 in late March; but since then staff have busily - and eagerly - adapted their way of doing things to connect with the community in these uncertain times.

The Storytime program quickly moved to an online offering, much to the praise of the State Library of Queensland and Coordinator Libraries and Galleries, Nicole Kilah said it took off from there.

Library staff were asked to share with other libraries who hadn't moved to the online environment how a small library service could connect with their community. Our online Storytime is a live Facebook event, held each Tuesday and Friday that's all about supporting language development in children.

The 17 online Storytime sessions since closure have been viewed almost 8000 times on Facebook which has not only allowed us to maintain the connections we have established with our existing customers, but also establish new connections between library staff and children.

Additionally, we have noticed lots of people are watching our event after the live session.

COVID-19 has changed life as we know it, but our staff really wanted to find a way to still offer our services to the residents of the Lockyer Valley.

Our Libraries are places that mean so much to residents - be it a place of refuge, a place of connection or a place of company and friendship and we set to work early to ensure we could still offer as many services as possible, albeit in a different way, Nicole said.

The online service is part of the State Government's First 5 Forever Program.

Storytime is held each Tuesday at 10am or Friday at 9.30am. For further information, contact Gatton Library on 5466 3434 or Laidley Library on 5462 0351.

Join the Lockyer Valley Libraries Facebook page here.