Share Halloween Photos - American Folklife Center

Cover of Jack Santino Brochure,

American Folklife Center, 1982.

From engraving by Francisco Goya

(1746-1828).

Share your photos of Halloween, Día de los Muertos, and related holidays with AFC and the World!

American Folklife Center

Folklife Today: 10.01.2014 by  Stephen Winick

Between October 22 and November 5, 2014, AFC invites you to document in photographs how you, your friends, your family, and your community celebrate, perform, and experience traditions of the season. To participate in this event, take photos of traditional festive, religious, spiritual, and social practices related to these holidays. Then share them online with a description, using the tag #FolklifeHalloween2014.

If you wish your photos to be considered, also please include AT LEAST the following information with the photos you share.

1.Title: Give your photo a title

2.Short Description including photographer and location: Include a brief description. What is significant about the image? Where was it taken? Who is the photographer?

3.License: For a photograph to be eligible for potential inclusion in the collection, it must be licensed under a Creative Commons license.

To recap:

•Take and share photos showing how you celebrate Halloween and related holidays between October 22 and November 5

•Use the #FolklifeHalloween2014 tag to make it easy for us and others to find your photos

•Upload your photos to Flickr  and add a Creative Commons license for potential consideration for the collection. (AFC may also include other tagged and licensed photos, but will primarily look on Flickr.)

•Be sure to title and describe your photos and include information on where they were taken and who took them.

Share Why You Value Your Library Card :: @Your Library

Share Why You Value Your Library Card for a Chance to Win During Library Card Sign-up Month 2014
@Your Library

Want to travel the world? How about learn how to use a 3D printer? Or maybe you just want to download a new e-book to your tablet.

Well you can do all that and more for free with a library card!  It’s what makes a library card the most valuable card in your wallet.

Use our Library Card Sign-up Month word balloons (or create your own) to share why you value your library card.

Share on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #LibraryCardSignUp or add to our "My Library Card..." Flickr Group between September 2-23, 2014.

2014 Library of Congress Literacy Award Winners Announced :: Room To Read :: SMART :: ACEV

Library of Congress Literacy Award Winners Announced
Room to Read, SMART, Mother Child Education Foundation Take Prizes

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today announced at the Library of Congress National Book Festival the winners of the 2014 Library of Congress Literacy Awards, a program originated and sponsored by philanthropist David M. Rubenstein.

The recipients are:

David M. Rubenstein Prize ($150,000): Room to Read
Room to Read, founded in 2001, believes that world change starts with educated children and that the best way to create long-term systemic change in the developing world is through literacy and gender equality in education. It focuses on literacy as the foundation of all other learning by developing reading skills and the habit of reading among primary-school children. To achieve this goal, Room to Read increases access to culturally relevant, age-appropriate reading materials; increases the effectiveness of instructors teaching literacy skills; and improves the existing school environment so that it is more conducive to learning. The organization also aims to equalize the educational experience for girls by supporting them in completing secondary school with the academic and life skills necessary to succeed in school and beyond. Room to Read’s service area is Africa and Southeast Asia.

The American Prize ($50,000): SMART
The third-grade reading level is widely recognized as a key indicator of a child’s future educational success. A student who cannot read on grade level by third grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently in third grade. In 1992, the Oregon Children’s Foundation created a program to address the growing number of elementary school children who were reading significantly below grade level. Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) now operates at more than 250 program sites throughout the U.S. and serves approximately 9,000 children each year.

The International Prize ($50,000): Mother Child Education Foundation
The Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV) was started in 1993 and is the largest literacy organization in Turkey. Its mission is to empower the Turkish people through education and enable them to improve the quality of their lives. It operates a variety of projects designed to address family, adult and early childhood literacy. At the time of AÇEV’s founding, only one in 10 children received any form of preschool education before starting primary school, resulting in large deficits in readiness to learn. AÇEV developed the Mother Child Education Program (MOCEP) for low-income mothers and children without access to preschool education. However, early MOCEP trials revealed that not all participating mothers were literate and therefore many were unable to carry out the collaborative cognitive exercises with their children, pushing AÇEV into a complementary area of need, adult literacy.

Literacy – Spanning the US: Solano Co CA :: Arlington Heights IL :: Stockton CA :: Midland Co TX

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.

Solano County Counsel Dennis Bunting wins prestigious award for lead paint fight

The Reporter: 8.25.2014 by Melissa Murphy

.     .     .     .     .     .     .

In other action, Supervisors will consider a recommendation from the Department of Library Services for the county to recognize September as Adult Literacy Awareness Month and honoring the Library's Literacy Services for 20 years of service to adults the county.

The California State Library is sponsoring a state-wide campaign, staff explained. In 1984, the California State Library began sponsoring library literacy programs in an effort to combat adult illiteracy throughout California. Solano County received a start-up grant in 1994 to offer these adult literacy services to residents.

Approximately 20 percent of the adult residents in Solano are considered functionally illiterate. This number equates to approximately 60,000 adults. Another 32 percent are considered marginally illiterate, bringing the total of adults who struggle with reading to more than 50 percent of the adult population.

On Sept. 8, International Literacy Day, Library Literacy Services will host an informational and interactive display in the lobby of the Solano County Administration Center from 8 a.m. to - 5 p.m. Adult learners, volunteers and staff will be on hand to talk about the work of the program and to increase awareness of adult literacy issues in the community. A program at 9 a.m. in the multipurpose room will feature California State Librarian, Greg Lucas, who will speak about his work with the State Library and the campaign to eliminate adult illiteracy statewide. Adult learners, Velma Benson and Yolanda Sixto, will talk about their literacy challenges and successes. Literacy volunteer and county employee, Elaine Pulido, will round out the agenda with her personal story of her role as an adult literacy tutor for over seven years. READ MORE !

Volunteer tutors boost reading skills

Chicago Tribune: 8.25.2014 by Tracy Gruen

Each year, hundreds of adults learn how to read or become better readers through the Read to Learn program offered by Township High School District 214's community education department.

Last year, 357 people volunteered to be tutors and 515 students participated in the program.

"Every student has an individualized lesson plan," said Rhonda Serafin, manager of adult education and family literacy. "It's based on the learners' reading level and based on their interests and some of their needs."

"We're always looking for more volunteers," she said, adding that while a training session just concluded, another will be scheduled in January.

The majority of participants speak a language other than English at home, while others might have learning disabilities or did not finish high school.

"There's a very large population of English as a second language learners in this area," Serafin said. "The learners learn how to read and get a lot of cultural information from their volunteers, make friends and learn about our community. The volunteers step into the role of a teacher and learn a lot in that role."  READ MORE !

Council: Improved library services key to economic recovery

Record Net: 8.27.2014 by Roger Phillips

It will take years for Stockton to recover from bankruptcy, but City Council members agreed Tuesday night that a vibrant library system would play a vital role in the city’s economic recovery.

Responding to public outcry, council members said the city should do whatever it can to improve library services even as Stockton struggles with post-bankruptcy economic realities likely to stretch well into the future.

The council comments came at the end of a City Hall meeting highlighted by a strong turnout of library supporters who urged Stockton officials to repair the struggling system. The shape of those reforms, however, remain to be determined.

“Literacy is really connected to our economic recovery,” Councilman Elbert Holman said. “We need to provide a clear vision as to where the library needs to go.”

The Stockton-San Joaquin Public Library system serves all of the county with the exception of Lodi and has been a casualty of Stockton’s economic hardships in the past five years.  READ MORE !

Adult literacy improves community’s productivity, safety

Midland Reporter-Telegram: 8.30.2014 by Katie PanKratz

Children of adults with low-literacy skills are far less likely to attend college or obtain a high school diploma than children of adults with average to above average skills. However, when it comes to the topic of education in America, much emphasis is placed on programs tailored to youth. In 2010-2011, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Adult and Vocational Education invested $596,120,000 in the education of roughly 2 million students — a mere $296 per student — according to the National Coalition for Literacy, while total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in the United States during that time amounted to $632 billion — or $12,608 per student — according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Although elementary and secondary education is important, adult education tends to go overlooked and may very well be the missing link in cultivating an educated, productive and safe society.

     ═════════►

Adult literacy not only affects the overall education of our community, but also affects our community’s productivity and safety. McGraw-Hill Research Foundation found that benefits of adult education programs include increased tax revenues, greater business productivity, decreased reliance on government financial support and reduced crime rates. Therefore, with an investment in adult education, our community stands to yield several valuable returns.

Local organizations such as the Midland County Public Library offer adults the opportunity to improve their literacy skills. The library provides information access to all people to meet their individual, cultural, educational and recreational needs.

     ═════════►

Midland Need to Read (MN2R) is another local organization with a mission to enhance lives of Midland County adults through literacy.  READ MORE !

Floyd Mayweather Can’t Read: Can The Men In Your Life Do Better?

Floyd Mayweather Can’t Read: Can The Men In Your Life Do Better? 

Vibe: 8.24.2014 by Aliya S. King

Amidst 50 Cent and Charlamagne Tha God's shaming of Floyd Mayweather for his reading disabilities, are you forgetting about the many everyday people who can't read?

We now all know that Floyd Mayweather may be a poor reader, thanks to 50 Cent’s challenge and radio host Charlamagne Tha God’s co-sign with audible proof of his reading disability.

Now what?

America's Literacy Directory 

National Literacy Directory

Chances are, if there are young African-American men in your life, many of them can’t read well either.

According to a study from the Nation’s Report Card, only 14 percent of all African-American 8th graders performed at or above a proficient level in reading. And the statistics for boys are even more depressing—they scored, on average, six points lower than the girls.

And not being able to read well doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Floyd may have earned millions last year but the millions of little Black boys around the country who fumble through reading aren’t making that kind of cash. And reading levels are a predictor of academic success, (especially when you can’t box like Floyd). Right now, fewer than half of African-American males receive their high school diplomas and less than 5% go on to college.

And of course, we know education is a major factor in a person’s life trajectory. The literacy rates of African-American men in this country are directly connected to the fact that the unemployment rate for Black men is twice the rate for white men.

Will making Floyd the butt of a national joke encourage young black boys to strengthen their reading skills? Doubtful. It’s more likely to make poor reading skills a source of greater embarrassment. Especially since Floyd’s response to the controversy was to post pay stubs totaling $70 million dollars with the caption: Read This.

If you put the script that Floyd was trying to read into a search engine that measures reading levels, it’s on a ninth-grade reading level. (A sentence like “The Cat In The Hat knows a lot about that,” is on a first-grade reading level).

Floyd dropped out of high school in his senior year, more than 20 years ago. So is it really a surprise that he doesn’t read on a ninth-grade level?  READ MORE !

Adults Celebrate Learning with Stories About Literacy

Adults Celebrate Learning with Stories About Literacy

UpNext: The IMLS Blog: 8.20.2014 by M Heintz

By Michele Farrell, Senior Library Program Officer

Being able to read and write is something that most of us take for granted. But, for 32 million Americans, this is not the case. Many who lack these skills don’t know where to look for help. Some find out about assistance through word of mouth from friends, others see advertisements that have been placed in their community by libraries and literacy providers. Once they do locate assistance, their lives are changed for the better.

In Oklahoma, the Department of Libraries works with the Literacy Resource Office to help adults obtain these skills. Their collaborative works resulted in a publication called “Celebrating the Journey,“ a compilation of the writings of the adult learners who received instruction in reading and writing. Each learner was invited to submit an original story of up to 300 words, and tutors or program representatives were asked to review the writing for editing. The tutors assist with correcting spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

The latest issue, volume 8, contains 99 stories from 16 library and community-based literacy programs and adult learning centers. There are many stories of hope and inspiration like that of Steve Hohler, whose story, “New Confidence,” gives you a real sense of the challenges you face when you can’t to read.  He received his training through the Miami Public Library Literacy Program. As he says in the story, “I can read the words to the hymns at church. I used be so self-conscious about this, but I don’t have to fake this anymore. You can hear me sing out, not like I used to, mumbling or using other words.”

The Bartleville Public Library provided training for Sister Maria D. Ugbe, an immigrant who arrived here from Nigeria eight years ago, and who hopes to become a U.S. citizen. She wrote in her story, “My Companion Word: Coraggio,” ’Life is lived by courage. Each one of us sees the world through a unique lens. Unfortunately, that is why not all can survive. We need to be there for one another to have coraggio (courage) and not give up

Authors will be attending their book signing on September 21 at the Fall Literacy Conference held in Norman and hosted by the Oklahoma Literacy Coalition. If you would like to read more from this publication click here to be inspired.

Literacy – Spanning the US: Detroit MI :: Solano Co CA :: Lafayette LA

Literacy:  Spanning the U.S.

Adults get help with literacy at Westland library

Hometown Life: 8.12.2014

Low literacy is a problem that increases the prevalence and economic impact of socioeconomic problems like poor health and poverty. There are more than 30 million adults in the United States today who aren’t able to read and write well enough to fill out job applications, understand information from a doctor, or read nutrition labels at the grocery store. Low literacy is a problem that is often passed from generation to generation – half of children born to illiterate parents grow up to be illiterate adults.

If you’re reading this article, it might not be challenging for you to perform routine tasks like reading a map, helping children with school work, writing checks, or reading a medication label. However, these tasks can feel insurmountable for adults who have low literacy skills.

Many of the adults who need help don’t look for it, or don’t know where to find it. Libraries are a natural center for literacy and often the first place people go when they are looking for help. If you know someone who needs help reading, come to the library and ask about our free Adult Literacy Program.  READ MORE !

Literacy program has far-reaching impacts

The Reporter, Opinion: 8.12.2014 by Lani Clarke,

Solano County supervising librarian

There is a small group of library employees whose work impacts your life in ways you are probably unaware of, but you won't find them behind a service desk at your local branch.

They staff Solano County Library's Literacy Services department, and they help many people with whom you interact with on a daily basis.

The library's literacy program supports those who want to improve their reading and writing skills, as well as those who wish to learn English as a second language. Sometimes a learner falls into both categories. You may not think their work affects you in the least, but I'll make book on the fact that it does. Here's why: About 36 million adult U.S. residents read at or below the third grade level. That number's so big that I'd like to put it in perspective for you: Roughly 38.3 million people call California home. Picture the vast majority of them unable to decipher anything in print more complicated than the type of book you read in primary school, and equally limited in expressing themselves through the written word. It's safe to say that if this were the case, California wouldn't be the eighth largest economy on the planet.

Of course, this barely literate segment of the U.S. population isn't confined to one state, but statistically speaking, at least 10 percent of residents in any given community either cannot read or can barely read. In Solano County, that translates to roughly 42,000 people. And that distressing figure is dwarfed by another: according to the National Center for Education's Adult Literacy Survey, almost half of the country's population has low literacy skills.  READ MORE !

Adult literacy program volunteers honored

KLFY News: 8.19.2014

Research has proven that there is a direct link between a community's literacy levels and its crime rate and that point was driven home today by U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley.

Finley served as keynote speaker at a gathering Tuesday recognizing the contributions of volunteer tutors in the VITA program, or Volunteer Instructors Teaching Adults, which is Acadiana's adult literacy program.

Finley told the group that thirty six million Americans are below the literacy rate, that's one in four Louisianans, and being unable to read and write means being unable to fully function as a community member.

"When you see literacy rates go up in a community, you see the crime rate go down, that's what the statistics prove, but it's so important for all Americans to be able to function at one hundred percent in our society, and the work they do here at VITA is vitally important to us at the U. S. Attorney's office, but also as community members " said Finley.  VIDEO