Animals, trees and astronauts telling stories: National Simultaneous Storytime success at the university level
VALA2024 POSTER SESSION 04
Tuesday 9th July 2024, 1.25-1.40pm
Nica Tsakmakis
- Digital Capability Librarian
- Australian Catholic University
Presentation:
Abstract
At 11am on a Wednesday in May, I lose my bun and cardie, I stop advising staff on applying for grants and I become a character telling my story to a group of year twos from the nearby school for ALIA’s National Simultaneous Storytime. Since 2017 I have run this event with a twist, the children get to do crafts and listen to the story but I always make a grand entrance in costume and involve the university in the event. Students spend the morning on the campus and learn about how the university works and after my reading, they are treated to a theatre performance of the story by the first year drama students. This poster highlights the events over the past 8 years and the success of collaborating with different departments of the university to enhance these childrens’ understanding of the value of reading and where it can take them in a fun way. It shows how I have adapted this national event to fit in the academic environment.
Biography
Nica Tsakmakis is a Digital Capability Librarian at the Brisbane Campus of Australian Catholic University. Her work days are filled with drinking coffee while creating digital learning objects and finding potential authors to write Open Educational Resources. That one work day in May she becomes a character in a book and has her dream job reading a story to a few local year two classes – Best. Day. Ever!
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International.