The sources for information relating to this topic were: (a) the Adult Literacy Contact Centre's calls from learners; (b) the reactions of college ABE Administrators and literacy instructors to the questionnaires which were distributed; (c) group discussions and individual interviews with participants in literacy classes; (d) personal interviews of nonparticipants; and (e) telephone survey of ABE literacy nonregistrants.

The Adult Literacy Contact Centre (ALCC) is an information and referral service which was established as a project of the Adult Basic Education Association of British Columbia (ABEABC) to serve provincial literacy needs. Since the spring of 1989, the Centre has had a toll-free number for long-distance callers in the province. The Centre's Newsletter from time to time publishes the breakdown of the calls it has received that month. The writer approached the Centre's Director and staff to see whether it would be possible to get a more comprehensive breakdown of the kinds of calls with respect to the difficulties experienced by learners or potential learners in participating in ABE literacy classes. The report compiled by the Centre's staff is found in Appendix E. It provides a cross-section which seems typical of the field as a whole. The quotes were selected by the information worker to illustrate a variety of circumstances and concerns.

The Administrators' letter and questionnaire were designed at the beginning of the project as a lead-in to the topics and as a means of identifying possible people and places for visits. Only nine responses were received from the fifteen college ABE Administrators. Two months later a second opportunity arose to sound out the ABE professionals at a provincial ABE Fundamental Level Articulation Committee Meeting of college instructors. As the project was then underway, the basic questionnaire used for the Administrators was modified to obtain some additional information. Nine responses were also received from the ABE instructors (see Appendix A for copies of cover letters and the questionnaires.)