TD Summer Reading Club 2018
National Program Statistics Executive Summary

1. Objectives

The TD Summer Reading Club (TDSRC) is a national bilingual program that engages kids in the joy of reading while championing Canadian writers and illustrators. Kids who register at their local library receive free physical program materials and can access the program materials through the website. Participating libraries are provided with thematic booklists, access to illustrations, programming and activity ideas and free outreach materials for promoting the program in their community.

The study population is the library systems, branches or independent libraries that signed the Letter of Agreement, received free program materials and participated in the TDSRC during the summer of 2018. This year, the TDSRC was offered in eleven provinces and territories across the country through the support of TD Bank Group.

Library and Archives Canada's (LAC) interest in conducting this study is to provide information about the reach and success of the program to the TDSRC Partners, TD Bank Group, Toronto Public Library, and Library and Archives Canada as well as to participating libraries. In addition, feedback gathered will inform improvements to the TDSRC program. LAC's specific research objectives were to:

• Measure the number of programs, activities and attendance attributed to, organized by, or otherwise associated with, the TD Summer Reading Club (i.e., those offered by participating libraries to children in the library or in the community that were part of the TDSRC).
• Determine what the various library systems, library branches or independent libraries considered to be their program reading outcomes or indicator of reading successes resulting from the TDSRC.
• Compare the measures of success, when possible, with at least the previous two years with a view to advising on developing appropriate performance measurement parameters.
• Provide recommendations for how the TDSRC program may be improved.

2. Methodology

Since libraries are organized differently in each province and territory, "service points" were chosen as the common denominator to respond to the program evaluation. A service point may be an individual library or a library which is part of a library system with many branches. An individual library represents one service point while a system with five separate branches would represent five service points. Evaluations were either completed by individual libraries themselves using the online Statistics and Evaluation Form or individual branches provided the necessary information regarding their program to their library system administrator who filled in the form for their entire system.

Individual libraries and library systems were invited to complete their evaluation online via an email invitation with a unique link. This unique link pre-identified individual libraries and library systems and brought them directly to the survey where they entered their data. To accommodate reporting for both individual libraries and systems with multiple service points, two separate survey instruments were programmed. Individual libraries were sent a link to the library survey, enabling them to enter data for their library only, whereas those pre-identified to be reporting for multiple service points (library coordinators) were sent a link that led them to the library systems survey, enabling them to enter data for multiple service points.

In 2018, the project start-up was delayed due to contracting and therefore the online evaluation form was made available to libraries on September 27th. Environics sent out 893 email invitations in both official languages to participating public libraries or systems within eleven participating provinces/territories. In total, 701 evaluations were collected between September 27 and November 27, 2018. The completed evaluations contained data for 1,738 of the 2,052 total service points that participated in the TDSRC in 2018, resulting in a response rate of 85 percent.

3. Statement of limitations

This research used a census approach wherein an attempt was made to contact every participating library/system. Environics sent a minimum of three separate reminder emails and regional coordinators also followed up to encourage completion of the online evaluation form. The data reported herein includes responses from 85 percent of all eligible service points and weighting factors are used to extrapolate to population-wide totals within each region. This weighting process assumes that there are no structural or statistically important differences between libraries who did respond and those that did not.

4. Cost of research

The cost of this research was $59,332.91 (HST included).

5. Key findings

Registration, Activities and Attendance

An estimated 346,604 children registered for the TDSRC program in 2018, representing roughly six percent of all Canadian children under 18. This represents an increase of almost 20,000 registrations over 2017, continuing the pattern of annual growth evident since program statistics began being collected (starting with an estimated total of 216,312 in 2005). This year's increase was driven primarily by registration growth in Reseau BIBLIO in Quebec, the OLS-North libraries in Northern Ontario and the participating British Columbia libraries.

The age distribution among participating children remains similar to previous years, with 6- to 8-year-olds being the most likely age group to participate (39% of registrations).

2018 registrations were comprised of 60 percent past participants and 40 percent new participants. The overall pattern over the past two years suggests that new registrations have been declining, while the number of previous participants has been increasing.

Libraries ran a total of 45,522 programs and activities organized around the theme in 2018 (excluding promotional visits), which is a substantial jump over 2017 (up 25% from 37,044 activities). Since the average number of children attending these activities has remained stable (roughly 18 children per activity), there has been a corresponding increase in overall attendance (up 25% since 2017 to 831,546).

In terms of visits specifically to promote the TDSRC to children in the community, the majority (76%) of all libraries made at least one such visit. Promotional visits to schools were most common (visited by 60% of libraries), but also included childcare centres (25% of libraries) and day camps (19% of libraries). In total, 11,065 visits were made to promote the program at various locations, reaching 659,411 children in the process – roughly 60 children per visit.

Indicators of Success & Satisfaction

Overall satisfaction with TDSRC in 2018 is strong (70% rated it between 8 and 10 out of 10). Satisfaction with the website and web content for library staff (66%) and the website usability (67%) was similarly good. All three measures of satisfaction are lower than in 2017, the latter two returning closer to levels previously observed in 2016 (overall satisfaction was not asked in 2016). These slight declines in satisfaction occurred outside Quebec; as a result, Quebec libraries now report the highest satisfaction with the TDSRC.

Libraries using the English materials provided by the TDSRC are most likely to be using, and to be most satisfied with, the images. Satisfaction with the promotional templates is also relatively high and their use (perhaps accordingly) has steadily increased.

Similarly, libraries using the French materials are most widely using, and most satisfied with, the illustrations. However, there also appears to be declining use of many of the French materials dating back to 2016.

Suggestions for future improvements to the website for library staff include: better usability (e.g., navigation, organization); more content; better relevance for different age groups and library sizes; and improved sharing of information (including timeliness of when the program materials are made available).

Satisfaction with the evaluation process

There is good satisfaction with the evaluation process (64% rate it 8-10 out of 10). This level of satisfaction is also down from 2017 (consistent with the trend in overall program satisfaction) and has returned to 2016 levels.

Libraries also give positive ratings for the ease of navigating the system (70%) and that the evaluation asks relevant questions (64%). Notably, however, both of these ratings are up from 2017, in direct contrast to other satisfaction measures. It is unclear why this is but does suggest that usability and relevance may not be the primary drivers of overall satisfaction with the evaluation process.

Suggestions for future improvements to the website include: making is easier to collect and accurately enter the desired information; improving timeliness (i.e., when questions/data requirements are made available and when the online form is ready at the end of the program); usability issues; and, the opportunity to provide more in-depth contextual information around the statistics.

6. Political neutrality statement and contact information

I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Environics Research that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not contain any reference to electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leader.