About us

Mission

The National Adult Literacy Database (NALD) Inc. is a Canadian non-profit registered charity. NALD’s mission is to provide Internet-based literacy and essential skills information and resources in both of Canada’s official languages.

"Literacy matters more than ever – given the world we live in now. It truly is a passport to prosperity and the great enabler for success."

Frank McKenna
Keynote address to CMEC Pan-Canadian
Interactive Literacy Forum, April 2008

The literacy issue

Low literacy skills extend across a broad educational, geographical, ethnic, cultural, class and age spectrum in Canada. The diversity of need requires a combination of solutions but there must be a shared vision at the core of the literacy development effort.

That means learning facilities, educators, businesses, organized labour, policy-makers and non-profit groups must join together to raise the literacy levels of Canadians.

The NALD response

As a digital library, the National Adult Literacy Database links the diverse players and contributes to a united literacy community.

NALD is an information service that:

Provides learning and research materials as well as an annotated bibliography of resources
Hosts websites for literacy organizations
Researches and organizes educational material found elsewhere on the Web
Connects partners with experts in the field
Publicizes literacy-related activities and events

The challenges ahead

Access to education is a basic human right. The first round of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (2003) measured literacy skills among individuals aged 16 to 65 in Canada and six other countries. Results indicated that the challenge to improve literacy performance among Canadians was far from over.

UNESCO says constant and rapid changes in the workplace, driven in part by globalization and the rapid growth of new technologies, mean that most adults will need to frequently upgrade their existing skills and learn new ones.

"Understanding and managing the demand for skill, the adequacy of supply and the efficiency of markets for skills that match the two is simply a matter of economic self-interest."

J. Douglas Willms and T. Scott Murray
Gaining and Losing Literacy Skills Over the Lifecourse, 2007

NALD at your service

The National Adult Literacy Database. provides information free of charge, leveling the playing field for learners and practitioners. Since its beginnings in 1989, NALD has changed the way resources are accessed and broadened the numbers of people who access them.

During the fiscal year 2010-2011, NALD’s website services were accessed by approximately 4,000,000 users who viewed more than 10,500,000 pages of information and downloaded more than 9,870,000 full-text documents (PDF files).

Information

National Adult Literacy Database Inc.
Sterling House
767 Brunswick Street
Fredericton, NB E3B 1H8

Tel: 506-457-6900
Toll free: 1-800-720-6253
Fax: 506-457-6910

contactnald@nald.ca
www.nald.ca

NALD gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. It is also supported by a significant contribution from the Government of New Brunswick.