Welcome Librarians and Libraries!

[Ala Lit]

The ALA Committee on Literacy welcomes you to our web presence on the Internet! We are charged with developing and recommending the Association's policies related to the promotion of literacy; to develop and encourage the development of programs, educational opportunities, and other resources that assist librarians and libraries in promoting literacy; to raise awareness of literacy within the Association; to work cooperatively with the Literacy Assembly, the Office of Literacy and Outreach Services and its Advisory Committee, and other ALA units, including the Washington Office on efforts that have a literacy focus; to develop and maintain partnerships with national literacy organizations.

Our History
The Committee on Literacy was created on January 17, 2001. We consist of 10 members (chair and nine other members) with two-year, staggered terms. The Chairperson is appointed annually.

Definition of Literacy
Adopted by the Committee on Literacy on June 24, 2005, at its meeting during ALA Annual Conference in Chicago: "Literacy is defined as the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential."--United States Department of Education, 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy

Subcommittees and Groups
Literacy Assembly
Research-to-Practice Discussion Group
Literacy Providers Subcommittee
Program Committee

Please feel free to contact Us at this forum:[e-mail] so that we can post your thoughts, your programs, ideas, opinions about Literacy. This is a Librarian/Librarycentric information web presence.

Stay Tuned to this forum!Following the ALA Mid-Winter meeting in Denver, Colorado, the ALA Committee on Literacy will be sponsoring a Web-Conference known as the Library Literacy Summit in the Spring of 2009.

With Many Regards,
Leslie L. Morgan
First Year Experience Librarian
Hesburgh Libraries-University of Notre Dame

Lisa A. Ancelet
Virtual Reference Services Librarian
Texas State University-San Marcos

[Sandra (Sandy) Newell]

As Chair of the ALA Committee on Literacy, I first want to thank Leslie and Lisa for creating this page. We have an exciting year ahead and tools like this one will be important for all of us to work together. Office of Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS) http://www.ala.org/ala/olos/literacyoutreach.cfm
has a lot of material and is in the process of setting up a WIKI for our committee. Dale Lipschultz is the ALA Literacy Officer.j

Stay tuned for more.
Sandy Newell,
Chair, ALA Committee on Literacy

[Dale Lipschultz]

As Sandy mentioned, I'm the Literacy Officer in OLOS and the staff liaison to the committee and the Assembly and a few other groups at ALA. I'm really pleased with this 'new' tool. It will help all of us stay in touch and bring new voices into our ongoing conversation and hopefully, start new discussions about literacy, libraries, and communities.