Librarians and Libraries: Where Literacy has no Boundaries
ALA Committee on Literacy
Literacy programs in small, rural libraries
Our efforts have been limited to providing a collection of literacy and ESOL materials for tutors and students to use, funded by two LSCA grants pre-dating 1997, and providing two tutor rooms and other space in the library for one-to-one tutoring.
The local volunteer literacy council recently disbanded and the library inherited the council's print materials, making the collection larger. But our literacy and ESOL collections are not being used for the most part.
Before the literacy council disbanded, the library provided referrals to the council from prospective students, since the council could not afford a telephone, and the library agreed to allow them to share our phone number. But since they are now defunct, we cannot provide such referrals.
We share a campus with the local community college, that has an ESOL instructor, program and computer lab, but there is no adult literacy program for English speakers in the county.
There is also a two-county Partnership for Children (ages 0-5) operating with state funds that provides a potential for children's literacy programs, though none exist at present. We tried doing Every Child Ready to Read at the Library last year, but the attendance was dismal and our children's librarian finally gave up.
Our new Reference and Adult Services Librarian has been given literacy as one of her job duties. She is in a one-person department at the library. Our county population is just over 19,000, and we have 9,000 registered library users.
Other than strengthening the library literacy and ESOL collections and providing space for tutoring, what else can we do in a small, rural library to provide literacy services in the library? I say "in the library" because I do not believe support of other community literacy agencies is enough.
Thank you for your ideas.
The local volunteer literacy council recently disbanded and the library inherited the council's print materials, making the collection larger. But our literacy and ESOL collections are not being used for the most part.
Before the literacy council disbanded, the library provided referrals to the council from prospective students, since the council could not afford a telephone, and the library agreed to allow them to share our phone number. But since they are now defunct, we cannot provide such referrals.
We share a campus with the local community college, that has an ESOL instructor, program and computer lab, but there is no adult literacy program for English speakers in the county.
There is also a two-county Partnership for Children (ages 0-5) operating with state funds that provides a potential for children's literacy programs, though none exist at present. We tried doing Every Child Ready to Read at the Library last year, but the attendance was dismal and our children's librarian finally gave up.
Our new Reference and Adult Services Librarian has been given literacy as one of her job duties. She is in a one-person department at the library. Our county population is just over 19,000, and we have 9,000 registered library users.
Other than strengthening the library literacy and ESOL collections and providing space for tutoring, what else can we do in a small, rural library to provide literacy services in the library? I say "in the library" because I do not believe support of other community literacy agencies is enough.
Thank you for your ideas.
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