By YASEMIN TALAT
A NEW story time initiative has been launched across Hobsons Bay Libraries.
The first of the Hobsons Bay Libraries ‘access for all abilities’ story time sessions for 2014 rolled out last week at Altona Library.
Special guest Ann Marie Kelly and her guide dog Shona led the story time last Thursday helping raise awareness for vision impairment.
The theme of the stories and songs on the day was all about dogs and the children enjoyed meeting Shona at the end of the story time.
Hobsons Bay Mayor Sandra Wilson said the council was committed to ensuring all of its services were both accessible and inclusive.
“These story times have been done in the past but this year we have grouped them into Access for All as they will cover the areas of cultural and linguistic diversity, GLBTIQ and access for all abilities,” Cr Wilson said.
“This reflects the council’s values and highlights that we welcome all to our libraries and other services whatever their ability, while also raising awareness in the community by providing story times with a difference,” she said.
Cr Wilson said the Hobsons Bay Libraries series of inclusive story times aimed to be welcoming and open to all, and to also raise awareness and celebrate diversity and ability and encourage active participation buy all community members.
“We aim to develop partnerships with community members and this is a great way to enrich community knowledge and awareness of diversity,” she said.
There will also be a range of programs for the remainder of 2014 including: access for all story times in Auslan and one for International Day of People with Disability and bilingual story times in German, Greek and Italian.
Hobsons Bay Libraries now also have a collection of Braille picture books.
