Week 11 – Program/Product Reviewing – Brisbane City Library – Growing vegetables

[Steven Walker]

Week 11 – Program/Product Reviewing – Brisbane City Library – ” Their topic: Learning for living: Grow organic food in your backyard”.

A DEEP REFLECTION

Program Details:
WHEN: Saturday, 1 October 2015, 10am – 12pm
VENUE: Brisbane City Library
VENUE ADDRESS: 266 George St, Brisbane, QLD 4000
BOOKING : Bookings required. Phone Brisbane City Library to reserve your place
COST: Free
DETAIL :Learn how to grow enough organic food in your backyard to provide for 50-75% of your family’s fruit and vegetable needs in a small back yard. You will also learn how to make self-watering planter boxes in this session presented by urban gardener Roman Spur. Bookings required.

I attended this Program and the first thing that popped into my head. Why am I doing a course on growing organic food. I was of course very reluctant to be there in any capacity and felt I didn’t belong as there was mainly a “bunch of old ladies with hats” in the room. I was out of place. This all changed once the delivery of the Program begun. I found that the delivery of the class was held in one of the most professional and the tutor of the subject had such a great passion for what he was teaching on that day. In a reflective sense I have always been one to steer away from these sorts of things because I grew up with Bourkes Backyard and also Better Homes and Gardens which my parents just love to watch.

And also as a younger adolescent when I lived in a remote area in 1996 called Bega I found myself growing beans as an after school project *there isnt much to do in a town of 400* and I also later that year recall when I re landscaped my parents entire caravan building, which I built complete with steps. But for some reason I was still resisting this Program to grow stuff. I know I have to complete it for the purpose of completing this assignment but like I said after half an hour of the program running we were all handed booklets and information on how to grow organic food. The library even provided alot of information on the benefits of why we should be growing our own vegetables.

Upon examining the brochure I noticed that it stated “…of people don’t like GM foods, and are thus turning to grown their own food and vegetables, it even recommended installing a chicken coup to get fresh eggs for the home as they are better for you and the Library program can assist you in creating a more wholesome person. As the pamphlet continued to explain, it showed that chickens are being grown at a super rate on hatchery farms by companies like Ingham and they have been found to be violating the rules surrounding chicken care and killing procedures. It also explained that due to genetically modified chickens people are getting sick, it also showed me how many antibiotics go into the chickens. What stunned me even further from an investigation into one of Australia’s largest chicken meat producers has revealed routine and shocking animal abuse and every year in Australia 488 million chickens endure brutally short and cruel lives inside factory farms.

Animals Australia’s investigation video shows baby birds suffering from heart disease, lameness, thirst, starvation and trampling inside a shed packed with over 40,000 birds.” Whilst sitting in on this facisnating program I thought that this was not your run of the mill program like the others that I had looked to or invested time to at a Library. Because I had attended a completely different one at supanova in September where the Brisbane City Library was promoting  and showcasing all it had to offer, and none of it was as deep as this program. Dare I say, it seemed more like a lecture and not a program; It made me think  of the horrors and realities with what is wrong with the “wanting it now generation” of our society today and yet this program was offering an unique alternative to a) the cruel treatment of chickens, and a way to grow vegetables at home. This was a great cause of need for reflection. By the end I was convinced by the teacher “Graham” that he is correct in every way and I would like to applaud him on his wonderful delivery of this topic. The reason I am focused on the chicken aspect was due to the emotional impact it had on me and that is what stuck with me the most.

Now to talk about the actual academic benefits and a discussion about this particular program review. I was doing some research into how could a library better improve Program’s and get a better understanding through a series of  reviews processes and what people actually use libraries for an Programs was at the bottom of the list to my surprise. A recent report (2013) authored by Kathryn Zickhr, Lee Rainie, and Kristen Purcell and the Pew Internet a provides interesting reading about what people think and how they make use of libraries. The data was collected in October and November 2012 from a representative sample of people. The focus was on people’s interactions with libraries in the past 12 months. Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed reported they had used a library in some manner in the past 12 months.

Eighty percent said that being able to borrow books was a very important library service. A similar percentage rated reference services as being very important. Seventy-seven percent believed that having free access to computers and the Internet is very important. The following are the top 8 reasons people gave for interacting with a library: 1. Browse collections 2. Borrow printed books 3. Research a topic 4. Secure assistance from the library staff 5. Read, study, rest 6. Watch or listen to media 7. Access databases 8.  attend an event/program.

This of course was not surprising, personally I attribute people not attending library programs because they are unaware that they exsist. In previous posts I have discussed how Kalgoorlie was a model library and had the entire community involved, but in all the time that I have lived in Brisbane (8 years collectively) I have never seen a promotional advertisement or anything to boost the Brisbane City’s Libraries image (except at Supanova) and thus increasing traffic to the library, and now I am left wondering whether this is a systemic global issue or just an Australian attitude that libraries aren’t cool and are only good for just get free internet (which is a service yes but I am more interested in the programs). The reason for this is because it seems that the Brisbane City Council is using a great deal of Rate Payers money to run programs that there is low attendance too, such as the one I attended above which only had 6 people in it.

In conclusion I got a fantastic array of Information from my chosen program (growing organic food at home – even though i live in an apartment building, this made me feel even more stupid an out of place). However when I researched deeper into the subject matter of Program delivery theory. And i would also like to finish with this fantastic page when I was researching and found it to be one of the most relevant points to Program Delivery and its benefits to us all and i feel the below statement is directly linked to libraries like the one in Colombia which run programs to help their community. All 23 can be viewed here.

 

MISCELLANEOUS…

Libraries provide important business resources, especially for small local businesses.

• With the recent collapse of many big corporations, it has become more widely acknowledged that small businesses provide most of the new jobs in our current economy. Libraries have a long history of serving local entrepreneurs and businesses, but some, like the District of Columbia Public Libraries (DCPL), are taking their business services to a new level. The Urban Libraries Council report, “Making Cities Stronger,” describes several library initiatives, including DCPL’s Enchanced Business Information Center (e-BIC) project. Located at the main branch library, e-BIC includes not only business resources, but also a state-of-the-art video conference room, full-time librarian, and staff-training workshops

Reference list (images and other resources):

http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/school_library_blog_value.html

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/whats-on/venue/library-events?trumbaEmbed=filterview%3Dgreen#/?i=1

http://www.caul.edu.au/caul-programs/best-practice/cqaac-resources/library-value

http://www.pewinternet.org/

http://ovidlibrary.org/images/Librarian2.jpg

http://www.construction-innovation.info/images/articles_images/graphics/Brisbane-Square.jpg

 

 

 

P.S A good example of what librarians can do to share their app expertise with their community is Little eLit,which offers app reviews and other resources to those who work with young people. See its list of apps for storytime, book apps, and apps for other library programs.

 

• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Steven Walker.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Steven Walker.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Steven Walker.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Steven Walker.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Steven Walker. Reason: Final Edit
• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Steven Walker.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Steven Walker. Reason: x
• This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Steven Walker.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Steven Walker. Reason: I have fixed spelling errors, but felt that this blog only needed a little changing, agreeably it could use a better structure but i felt the need to reflect and write deeply from the heart about this "program"

[Steven Walker]

This is a good post! Well done Velociraptor!

[Author]

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