Library use to be included in the national core curriculum

Pilot pairs or groups comprising a library and schools participate in Lukuinto in approximately 30 municipalities. As a consequence of the pilot project, Lukuinto has started spreading: for example, all schools in Lappeenranta have joined in and the Lukuintoa Lapissa ('Joy of reading in Lapland') tour is spreading joy of reading all through Lapland. Currently over 15,000 pupils participate in the programme.

In the spirit of multi-literacy, the forms of promoting the joy of reading vary from location to location. At some schools, the older pupils will hold reading events for the younger ones in the school corridors, while in others investments are made in trailer production and Saturday school days at the library together with the parents as warm-hearted Lukuinto events.

The pilot results emphasise the efficiency and inspiration provided by communality. A pair, a group or an entire class is always engaged in reading or writing. Children and young people as well as teachers and library professionals increase cooperation over class, school and municipal borders.

Cooperation has also been extended locally by, for example, inviting media operators to teach image literacy to pupils or by sending book bags to buses for junior athletes to read while travelling to away matches.

However, the most important cooperation resource has been found between schools and libraries – both are working to promote reading among children and young people. In many pilot project communities, the professionals have been inspired and happy about opportunities provided by the increase in practical cooperation. For example, the learning environment at schools has been expanded to include libraries and their information networks, and library experts give hints about schools and teach information retrieval skills at schools. We are currently seeing the increase of reading in, for example, increased borrowing from libraries.

However, in the core curriculum being revised, libraries are mentioned increasingly seldom. In many municipalities participating in the Lukuinto programme, the schools want to include cooperation with libraries in their own curricula in the form of practical descriptions, such as jointly implemented reading diploma recommendations and regular class visits to the library.