Reader’s opinion|Good reading skills also require reading outside of school.
Supplier Hanna Havusto meritoriously highlighted the root causes of children’s and young people’s poor reading skills (HS 2.9.). Good reading skills also require reading outside of school, and reading is influenced by things related to the child’s starting point, such as home background or learning difficulties.
Libraries catch up on differences between children’s starting points. Libraries enable access to versatile reading even for those whose home does not have a large bookshelf. Visiting the library is not a habit in all families, and for this a well-established operating model has been developed in Helsinki together with schools. Every child in Helsinki visits the library at least three times during their school days: in the first, third and seventh grades. Now the model is being expanded to also cover the fifth grade and the second grade. In addition to schools, there is close cooperation with kindergartens. We want to make the library familiar to every child and young person in the city and show that the library is just for them, even in their free time.
At the heart of reading is finding reading that is interesting and suitable for the skill level. The professional skills of librarians is to connect the book and the reader: we offer, for example, paperbacks, comic books or sci-fi, depending on the need and interest.
It is of the utmost importance that children and young people have access to a high-quality and comfortable library everywhere in Finland. The library is a widely accessible and cost-effective service. Investing in libraries pays off.
Katri Vänttinen
Director of Helsinki’s library services
The reader’s opinions are speeches written by HS readers, selected and edited by the HS editorial staff. You can leave an opinion piece or familiarize yourself with the principles of writing at the address www.hs.fi/kiryotamielipidekeisuis/.
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