Sunday, January 25, 2015

Literacy: Spanning the U.S. - Laredo TX :: Memphis TN :: Quincy MA

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.

The Laredo Community College is bringing English as a second language, GED and civics classes for free to the city of Laredo's Public Library.

This is where the nonprofit Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts-Quincy fills a void; for more than a quarter century, the program based at Thomas Crane Public Library has enabled hundreds of locals like Ramos to acquire the reading and writing skills that many of us take for granted.  READ MORE !

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

EveryLibrary Announces :: "Vote Libraries"

Announcing “ Vote Libraries ”
EveryLibrary: 1.20.2015 by John Chrastka

Our job is to help library campaigns communicate better with voters. One problem is that the visual images, the ‘creative deck’ for library campaigns to use on on social media, in print and on yard signs, is kind of uneven. What’s available on the open web is OK….

Library campaigns need high quality design to open eyes and reach voters. We need specific “Vote Libraries” messages to cut through the clutter. So we need your help to improve the impact of local voter engagement.

In 2015, we hope to launch “Vote Libraries” to create new, professional, high-quality, high-impact visuals for library campaigns to use on social media, on yard signs, and in voter outreach. With your help, “Vote Libraries” we will be a new suite of copyright-free images created by designers and artists who know how to do campaign communications right.  We will commission the artists and designers with creativity and talent to help pass library bonds, levies, and other referendum.

With your support, EveryLibrary can bring this same type of high-quality, high-impact images for libraries.

EveryLibrary needs $10,000 to make “Vote Libraries” happen for 2015 campaigns. We are looking for 25 people to donate $100 to kick this off. If you want to “buy a share” in a new Vote Libraries image and be thanked by name forever, we’d welcome your $500 donation. And, any new $10+ per month donor between now and mid-February who comments #votelibraries at rally.org/everylibrary will get a commemorative print of the image of their choice. If you are a $100 or $500 donor, you’ll get a commemorative print too. Don’t worry. But put #votelibraries in the comments just to be safe.

Donate today. And Vote Libraries.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Literacy: Spanning the U.S. - White Co AR :: Redlands CA :: Randolph Co AL

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.

This program was highlighted for Calhoun at a city council meeting when councilman Mack Arthur Bell and Jeanetta M. Stephens-Springer made the point if those on probation can't read the GED test they very well cannot take it. Obtaining a GED is one of the requirements for those on probation.  READ MORE !

Thursday, January 15, 2015

21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons :: Edutopia

21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons
Edutopia: 1.14.2015 by Beth Holland

Libraries have existed since approximately 2600 BCE as an archive of recorded knowledge. From tablets and scrolls to bound books, they have cataloged resources and served as a locus of knowledge. Today, with the digitization of content and the ubiquity of the internet, information is no longer confined to printed materials accessible only in a single, physical location. Consider this: Project Gutenberg and its affiliates make over 100,000 public domain works available digitally, and Google has scanned over 30 million books through its library project.

Libraries are reinventing themselves as content becomes more accessible online and their role becomes less about housing tomes and more about connecting learners and constructing knowledge. Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts has been in the vanguard of this transition since 2009, when it announced its plans for a "bookless" library. A database of millions of digital resources superseded their 20,000-volume collection of books, and a café replaced the circulation desk. With this transition, not only did the way in which students consumed content change, but also how they utilized the library space. Rather than maintain a quiet location for individual study, the school wanted to create an environment for "collaboration and knowledge co-construction."

From Library to Learning Commons
Printed books still play a critical role in supporting learners, but digital technologies offer additional pathways to learning and content acquisition. Students and teachers no longer need a library simply for access. Instead, they require a place that encourages participatory learning and allows for co-construction of understanding from a variety of sources. In other words, instead of being an archive, libraries are becoming a learning commons.  READ MORE !

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Literacy: Spanning the U.S. - Benton County AR :: Altus OK :: Frankford DE

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.
 estimated 11 percent of people lacked the basic skills needed to search, comprehend and use continuous texts while reading.

It is for those reasons that she started an Adult Literacy program at the Frankford Public Library about three months ago, which has now gained six studentsREAD MORE !

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Scholastic :: Kids & Family Reading Report 5th Ed.

Kids & Family Reading Report

The New Kids & Family Reading Report™ from Scholastic Explores the Reading Attitudes and Experiences That Most Influence Children’s Reading Habits, Including Reading Aloud at Home, Independent Reading at School, Presence of Books in the Home, and More.


In fall 2014, Scholastic, in conjunction with YouGov, conducted a survey to explore family attitudes and behaviors around reading books for fun. The key findings of this research, based on a nationally representative sample of 2,558 parents and children, including 506 parents of children ages 0–5; 1,026 parents of children ages 6–17; plus one child age 6–17 from the same household, are as follows:

The State of Kids & Reading
~Half of all children ages 6–17 (51%) are currently reading a book for fun and another one in five (20%) just finished one.
~Both parents of children ages 6–17 (71%) and kids (54%) rank strong reading skills as the most important skill a child should have. Yet while 86% of parents say reading books for fun is extremely or very important, only 46% of kids say the same.

Reading Aloud at Home
~When it comes to being read aloud to at home, more than eight in 10 children (83%) across age groups say they love(d) or like(d) it a lot—the main reason being it was a special time with parents.

Spotlight: Reading with Kids from Birth
~Nearly three-quarters of parents with children ages 0–5 (73%) say they started reading aloud to their child before age one, yet only 30% say they began before the age of three months.

Reading in School
~One third of children ages 6–17 (33%) say their class has a designated time during the school day to read a book of choice independently, but only 17% do this every or almost every school day.

What Kids Want in Books
~Ninety-one percent of children ages 6–17 say “my favorite books are the ones that I have picked out myself.”
~The majority of kids ages 6–17 (70%) say they want books that “make me laugh.” Kids also want books that “let me use my imagination” (54%), “tell a made-up story” (48%), “have characters I wish I could be like because they’re smart, strong or brave” (43%), “teach me something new” (43%) and “have a mystery or a problem to solve” (41%).  READ MORE !

Fourth Edition

Third Edition

Second Edition

First Edition


Sunday, January 4, 2015

Literacy: Spanning the U.S. - Little Rock AR :: Altus OK :: Wisconsin

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.

Program teaching adults to read to shut down
KHTV: 12.23.2014 by Astrid Solorzano

Drew teaches adults how to read through a program once funded by a department of education grant. "There would be nowhere for the adults who don't know how to read to go," said Drew.

She says there's a specific age group that uses her services.

“In this particular area it’s incredibly diverse. People come to us who are illiterate in their own language and then we have students who come to us who may actually have multiple languages, just not English,” she saysREAD MORE !

Friday, January 2, 2015

2015 Banished Words List :: Lake Superior State Univ

12.31.2014

The tradition created by the late W. T. Rabe, former public relations director at Lake Superior State University, begins its fifth decade with this year's annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.

Rabe and fellow LSSU faculty and staff came up with the first list of words and phrases that people love to hate at a New Year's Eve party in 1975, publishing it on Jan. 1, 1976. Though he and his friends created the first list from their own pet peeves about language, Rabe said he knew from the volume of mail he received in the following weeks that the group would have no shortage of words and phrases from which to choose for 1977. Since then, the list has consisted entirely of nominations received from around the world throughout the year.

BAE: 'before anyone else'
Polar Vortex
Hack
Skill Set
Swag
Foodie
Curate / Curated
Friend-Raising
Cra-Cra
Enhanced Interrogation
Takeaway
-nation (suffix)