Public Library Engagement in America - Pew Research

From Distant Admirers to Library Lovers–and beyond
A typology of public library engagement in America
Pew Research Internet Project: 3.13.2014 by Kathryn Zickuhr, Kristen Purcell and Lee Rainie

Among the broad themes and major findings in this report:

~ Public library users and proponents are not a niche group: 30% of Americans ages 16 and older are highly engaged with public libraries, and an additional 39% fall into medium engagement categories.

~ Americans’ library habits do not exist in a vacuum: Americans’ connection—or lack of connection—with public libraries is part of their broader information and social landscape. As a rule, people who have extensive economic, social, technological, and cultural resources are also more likely to use and value libraries as part of those networks. Many of those who are less engaged with public libraries tend to have lower levels of technology use, fewer ties to their neighbors, lower feelings of personal efficacy, and less engagement with other cultural activities.

~ Life stage and special circumstances are linked to increased library use and higher engagement with information: Deeper connections with public libraries are often associated with key life moments such as having a child, seeking a job, being a student, and going through a situation in which research and data can help inform a decision. Similarly, quieter times of life, such as retirement, or less momentous periods, such as when people’s jobs are stable, might prompt less frequent information searches and library visits.  READ MORE !

The Library & Librarians @ SXSW 2014

The Library & Librarians @ SXSW 2014

Library Machines: A Lo-Fi Design Conversation

Presenter: Jeff Goldenson works at the intersection of libraries, technology and fun. He is the designer in the Harvard Library Innovation Lab where he imagines and builds new library projects.

Description: The future of libraries is here for the making. Library Machines is the time and space to get folks together to imagine, design and market new Library Machines. What’s a Library Machine

The New Startup Garage for Innovation? Libraries!
Presenter: Janie Hermann, in her role as Public Programming Librarian at the Princeton Public Library at the library not only meet but exceed the expectations of the Princeton Community.
Presenter company: Princeton Public Library
Description: Libraries as the epicenter of innovation, technology and economic recovery? You bet your assets; angel investors, today’s libraries are able to inspire real life action that jumps off the page.

We Will Not Be Shushed: Guerrilla Library Advocacy
Presenter bio: Christian Zabriskie has done just about every job you can do in a public library. He is the founder and Executive Director of Urban Librarians Unite, a not for profit dedicated to promoting libraries
Description: they work to bring libraries out into the community and make the direct impact that the library makes.

The World's Strongest Librarian: Blog to Book

Presenter: Josh Hanagarne

Presenter company: Salt Lake City Public Library
Description: It's incredibly surreal, particularly since I still work at the library in Salt Lake City.

Don't Be Ned Stark: Change Your Institution & Live
Presenter bio: Since 2012, Brian Bannon has served as the Commissioner of the Chicago Public Library (CPL … ). As the chief executive officer of the 80 libraries that serve the 2.6 million residents of Chicago
Presenter company: Chicago Public Library

Reducing Isolation in LGBT Communities
Presenter: John Chrastka is Executive Director of EveryLibrary, the first national PAC for libraries. A long-time library trustee, supporter, and advocate, Mr. Chrastka is a former partner in AssociaDirect.
Presenter company: Every Library
Description: Reducing Social Isolation of LGBT Seniors and Youth Through Technology, Centers and Libraries From technology, centers and libraries may serve as the best partners to reduce isolation and homelessness.

Innovating Policy for the Internet of Things
Presenter: Larra Clark is the director of the Program on Networks and Program on America’s Libraries for the 21st Century in the American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP).
Presenter company: American Library Association - Office for Information Technology Policy.
Description: This panel will explore the cutting edge policy debates that will undoubtedly impact the new technologies ahead.

Librarian Meet Up
Presenter: Rebecca Stavick is a Cofounder of Open Nebraska, and a Staff Development Specialist at Omaha Public Library
Description: Let's deconstruct & design actionable ideas about why Libraries, Archives, and Museums within hours of SXSW bandcamp. Members of the library community at large are encouraged to attend.

Literacy - Spanning the U.S: Roseville CA, Twiggs Co GA, Nashville TN

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.

Roseville’s adult literacy program helps 84-year-old learn to read

Press Tribune: 2.13.2014 by Sena Christian

After a lifetime of having the messages in birthday cards read to him, Roseville resident John Var veered from the norm on his 84th birthday last August when he told his granddaughter he no longer needed her assistance.

“I fired her,” Var said, of granddaughter Kimberly Monnot.

But that was fine with Monnot, as it indicated her grandfather was finally able to read most of the messages on his own. Only a couple years before, Var decided he wanted to give reading a shot and he signed up for the Roseville public libraries’adult literacy program.

The free program is open to Roseville residents at least 16 years old and not enrolled in high school, who seek the services in English (participants must also do the intake interview in English). The program started in 2009 thanks to a bequest by long-time Roseville resident Virgil Harrington and is funded by the California Library Literacy Services.

Throughout California, about 10,000 trained volunteers provide tutoring to more than 22,000 adults in some 900 libraries, according to Acting State Librarian Gerald Maginnity. The majority of these aspiring readers are between the ages of 20 and 49.  READ MORE !

. . . also an NBC News Video

Central Georgians battle illiteracy

13WMAZ: 2.27.2014 by Kristen D Swilley  [ Video ]

"I just don't believe in the word 'can't' because that's one word I ain't never seen in the Bible, 'can't,'" Estella Sams says.

The entrepreneur doesn't let much stop her, but for almost 60 of her 75 years, there's one thing that's slowed the Jeffersonville native down.

She left school in 1956, even though her mother told her not to.

"She tried to get me to go on to school, but no, I wanted to get married, so I stopped, " Sams said.

Like Sams, more than one out of every four Twiggs County residents struggles with literacy.

She runs her own catering business with help from her family, but says it kept her out of a traditional job.

"When you can't read and write, the boss man might tell you to go get a glass of bleach and I go get a glass of water. Because both of them look the same, but it's not the same. Because I can't read, so if I can read, I can see the difference in it," she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Adult Literacy, Twiggs County has one of the worst adult illiteracy rates in the state at 27.7 percent.

That's the number of adults who read at a sixth-grade level or lower.  READ MORE !

Reading tutor benefits from lessons, too

Young lawyer volunteers for literary agency

Tennessean: 2.28.2014 by Jessica Bliss

Inspiration to do good can be found in unexpected places.

Kristen Bailey saw a small flier hanging near the ladies room at The Frothy Monkey. On it was a call for volunteers to tutor at the Nashville Adult Literacy Council.

A young lawyer with a history of community service, Bailey, 33, decided to pursue the opportunity.

For the past year, she has been helping an older gentleman, Morris Mays, learn to read.

“There’s just a lot more adults who have reading difficulties than I ever even thought,” Bailey said. “They are working and contributing to society, but I think of the struggle it must be. You have to hide it, you have to fake your way through different things, and it seems like a hard way to live.

“I have seen so much progress in my learner, so it’s gratifying to me to know we did it together.”  READ MORE !

'Spritzing' One Word at a Time !

CLICK 

take it for a test !

Spritz Reinvents Reading on Mobile Devices, One Word at a Time

PRNewswire: 2.23.2014

Reading is inherently time consuming because your eyes have to move from word 2 word and line 2 line. Spritz streams text 1 word at a time, without forcing your eyes to spend time moving around the page. It enhances readability even more by using horizontal lines and hash marks to direct your eyes to the red letter in each word, so you can focus on the content that interests you.

Spritz enables the brain to focus on each word, promoting faster reading speeds and higher information retention rates.

Spritz technology currently supports English, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Korean, with more languages on the way. With multiple reading speeds to match a user's comfort level ranging from 100 to 1000 words per minute, "spritzing" is easy to learn for all ages. Users typically become accustomed to reading in this new format within a few minutes of their first spritz. Available with the release of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Gear 2 this Spring.  READ MORE !

10 insights into the global literacy crisis, The Guardian

10 insights into the global literacy crisis

The Guardian: 3.3.2014 by Anna Leach

With one in four young people in developing countries illiterate, how can we address an international 'learning crisis'? Our panel of experts had plenty of ideas:

Catherine Jere, research officer, Unesco Education for All global monitoring report

There is a global shortage of teachers: Moving beyond access to improve the quality of education available to all is vital to address the learning crisis. Teachers are central to this. Support from NGOs in the area of teacher professional development, as well as pre-service education, can help build capacity within countries. I have seen examples of this in Malawi, where NGO-trained student teachers are well regarded by the schools where they are posted. An important approach in the training provided is ample experience of working in rural classrooms - and with communities - before being posted to schools.

Vikas Pota, chief executive, Varkey GemsFoundation

Get engaged: The crux of improving the quality of education lies in engagement – whether it be the engagement of parents by teachers, teachers of their students, or the engagement and training of teachers in effective learning techniques. However, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all model for improving the quality of learning. Interventions have to be tailored to the needs of specific situations.

Marguerite Clarke, senior education specialist, Human Development Network, World Bank

Raise the standing of teachers: One of the countries we're working with in Africa noted that it was more economically rewarding to join the army than become a teacher. When prospective teachers are sent this message, how can we be surprised that the cream of the crop are not going into teaching?

Sharath Jeevan, founder, Stir Education

How school can lead to jobs: The odds improve dramatically if you can create a more articulated pipeline between schooling and the workplace. One way to do this is through national qualifications frameworks that articulate the various skills and expertise recognised within that particular economy.  READ MORE !

FOMPL Flash Mob Spreads Awareness About Literacy - Marshfield Library

FOMPL Flash Mob Spreads Awareness About Literacy WSAW: 3.03.2014 by Emily Davies  [ VIDEO ]

An outbreak of FOMPL has people in Marshfield more informed about their public library.

A FOMPL flash mob surprised unsuspecting people at the Marshfield Public Library, Festival Foods, and Pick N' Save in Marshfield on Sunday. The flash mob placed a question in people's minds, as well as answered it as they sang, "I'm a FOMPL. He's a FOMPL. She's a FOMPL. If you join FOMPL, you can be a FOMPL too."

Many wondered, what in the world is a FOMPL?

Maureen Mercier - FOMPL President

"It's an acronym for Friends of the Marshfield Public Library and we're a very friendly group," FOMPL's President, Maureen Mercier said.

They are a group that raises money to provide extra resources like new computers, additions to book collections and even furniture for the Marshfield Public Library. They also put together a few programs throughout the year.

"The library obviously has certain restrictions in it's budget and many things that happen in the library could not happen without FOMPL," said Mercier.

FOMPL members said a well funded library is a must to meet the needs of the community, but there is only one problem.

"People in town don't know who we are," said FOMPL Secretary and Publicity Chair, Darlene Berry. "They don't know what we do."  READ MORE !

Literacy Spanning the U.S. - New Mexico, Philadelphia, Rochester

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.

Literacy funding a good investment

Albuquerque Journal : 2.17.2014 by Kenneth Morgan / Special-needs Teacher

The consequences of poor reading education are disastrous to the economy of New Mexico.

From vast amounts of research, we know how to fix reading instruction. It costs taxpayers much more money to not fix reading instruction than to do so.

The United States now has the highest level of illiteracy among developed countries. And New Mexico is at the bottom of the literacy scales in the U.S.

People in the U.S. who are illiterate represent 75 percent of the unemployed, 75 percent of people on welfare, 80 percent of juvenile offenders, 60 percent of adolescents who receive treatment for substance abuse and 70 percent of prison inmates.

“Statistically, more American children suffer long-term life-harm from the process of learning to read than from parental abuse, accidents and all other childhood diseases and disorders combined. In purely economic terms, reading related difficulties cost our nation more than the war on terrorism, crime and drugs combined,” according to the National Institute for Family Literacy.

It is projected by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce that, by 2020, New Mexico will have 335,000 new job openings but only 152,000 workers with the job skills and education required to fill them. Good jobs will not come to New Mexico until we educate our citizens.

We know how to get our literacy rates in New Mexico up into the high 90s. It will not be cheap. But in the end, it will save us a lot of money, and our state will prosper.

We estimate that the initiatives listed below will cost a few million dollars a year, at least for the first few years. We also estimate that these reforms will almost completely eradicate illiteracy in our state.  READ MORE !

Mary Ellen Lyon, Ontario-Yates Literacy Volunteers

Rochester Homepage: 2.18.2014 by Kevin Doran [Video]

A student wanted to give his teacher a Golden Apple Award because he had just learned how to read- and he is 43 years old.

Every Tuesday, BJ O'Grady and Mary Ellen Lyon meet in a quiet corner of the Bloomfield Public Library. Mary Ellen is a tutor with the Ontario-Yates Literacy Volunteers. After all these years, BJ is finally learning how to read and write. His family says he is a new man.

"He feels whole. He feels like a whole person," his wife Kathryn said.

Imagine always holding a secret. It is estimated that seven percent of the population cannot read. BJ missed a lot.

"I never got to write any love letters to my wife or growing up and being a kid; you know, science and stuff always was hard. You don't read, you can't pick up a book to read it. You know, it's very hard," he said.

BJ wrote in and nominated Mary Ellen- a way to say thank you for changing a life.  READ MORE !

Rochester's changing face of literacy

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle: 2.18.2014 by Tina MacIntyre-Yee

For decades, Douglass Smith made it work.

After dropping out of high school during his junior year to support children he'd had at an early age, Smith, now 53, took jobs that didn't require much of an education.

Now, two years clean and sober, Smith is hitting the books — and getting help from Literacy Volunteers of Rochester. This is the group's 50th year providing classes for adults, like Smith, who are trying to restart their stalled educations.

"Sometimes I feel inadequate or insecure about not having an education, so I know the only way I'm going to get past it" is to wholeheartedly pursue his GED, said Smith, who works for Dennis Fico Homes rehabbing homes and doing landscaping.

"I isolated myself from the opportunities to be much more because of the fear of the unknown, the fear of failing, the fear of facing me and knowing that I can be much more than I've allowed myself to be."

In November, Smith was placed in a small class for reading and basic math at Literacy Volunteers. The class helps students raise their test scores so they are at a level that qualifies them for a preparatory class for the high school equivalency test.

"It's never too late to accomplish goals," said Smith, who also plans on going to college after he gets his high school equivalency.  READ MORE !

New Literacy Centers In Philadelphia Combine Online And Face-To-Face Learning

philadelphia.cbslocal: 2.21.2014 by Cherri Gregg

The Mayor’s Commission on Literacy is celebrating a huge milestone: the opening of three adult education centers in Philadelphia.

The centers are the first of their kind in the nation.

The new “MyPlace” campuses will allow adult learners a chance at free, interactive education and career services via the Cloud.

“We’re estimating almost one in two people are functioning below basic levels,” said Judith Renyi, executive director of the Mayor’s Commission on Literacy, yesterday.   She says the new centers change the game on literacy, allowing an unlimited number of low-literacy adults to come out of the shadows and take assessment tests so they can get their GED or gain secondary-level skills online from home, beginning in March, or in person at MyPlace.  READ MORE !