September 8 is an important date for Vaughan Public Libraries because it’s the UNESCO International Literacy Day. While the theme of the International Literacy Day this year is “promoting literacy in the digital era,” aiming to explore how digitalization has been impacting literacy development around the globe, I would like to speak a bit more broadly about literacy in this post and share how Vaughan Public Libraries can help our adult learners.

What is literacy? Literacy is often known as the ability to read and write, but it’s more than that. To properly define literacy, we need to put literacy in the context of achieving specific functions and goals and understand that literacy is crucial to fulfill those specific functions and goals. So, “competency” can be considered a synonym for “literacy” in this sense.  To meet the increasing demands in all aspects of life these days, adults need to acquire various essential literacy skills, and this is a continuous, life-long process.