Chief Scientist’s Storytime Pledge Campaign Wrap-up

1. Chief Scientist’s Storytime Pledge Campaign Wrap-up

2. Project dates 14 December 2017 – February 2018 Brief description On 14 December 2017, Alan Finkel, Australia’s Chief Scientist launched Storytime Pledge in the media (right). That day, ALIA approached his office to offer support for the campaign, receiving the response “We think this is fabulous, and I just spoke on the phone with Dr Finkel, who is particularly delighted with the idea.”

3. Partners (sponsors, other stakeholders) Participation • Office of the Chief Scientist of Australia APLA, ALIA Schools, booksellers, publishers, Early Childhood Australia, Indigenous Literacy Foundation, Speech Pathology Australia, the National Early Language and Literacy Alliance were all contacted and encouraged to participate, with many responding enthusiastically online. Publishers like Hachette very kindly pushed the campaign through each of their sections. State and National librarians also responded along with NSLA colleagues. Outcomes The wide uptake and success of the Storytime Pledge demonstrated the ability of ALIA to work with Government departments and the Office of the Chief Scientist to very quickly produce and push a social media campaign and resources. What would have been a very small campaign was turned into a larger one, with far greater reach awareness raising and impact on literacy. The ALIA-created content was widely shared in libraries and on social media. There was also national coverage in the media.

4. Collateral generated ALIA created a page on the website, a new poster, website banner and social media tiles for download, and issued a news release.

5. Social media highlights