I Love My Librarian Winner Olga Cardenas: Breaking Barriers To Literacy

I Love My Librarian Winner Olga Cardenas: Breaking Barriers To Literacy

I Love Libraries: 5.17.2017 by J Falcon

At the Stanislaus County Library in Modesto, California, Olga Cardenas makes it her mission to deliver literacy programs, regardless of language or economic barriers.

It is why she received a 2016 I Love My Librarian Award.  Blessed with the ability to communicate in English and Spanish, she reaches families in Stanislaus County burdened with extreme poverty and facing cultural barriers.  Cardenas, who was nominated by the Friends of the Modesto Library,  holds the key these families need to unlock the potential for unlimited opportunities for their children.

As the Youth Services Outreach Librarian, she reaches out to parents in their communities, their workplaces and their houses of worship. Her outreach efforts have also led her to forge partnerships between the library and businesses, service organizations and schools.  WATCH 01:47

Librarians touch the lives of the people they serve every day.

The I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users like you to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians.

NOMINATE A LIBRARIAN

Nominations for the 2019-2020

I Love My Librarian Award are open through October 21

August Is for Advocacy :: Invite Elected Leaders Into Your Library via American Libraries

August Is for Advocacy

Summer is a critical time to invite elected leaders into your library

American Libraries: 7.24.2019 by Emily Wagner

Here’s the truth about the dog days of summer: August is prime time for advocacy. With members of Congress on recess, it is the perfect time to invite legislators to visit your library and let them see for themselves all the ways libraries bring value to their communities.

#ALAadvocacy

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Inviting your elected leaders—at the state, local, or national level—is not difficult. Here are a few steps to get started:

➧ Call your congressional member’s district office. Ask who handles meeting requests for their district and how they prefer to receive them.

➧ Write your request and tailor it to your elected leader, paying special attention to library services that intersect with their interests. For example, if your US representative is on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, invite them to visit programs that serve the needs of veterans in your community.

➧ If your member of Congress is not available, invite a staffer to visit your library. Often they will enjoy the tour so much they will want their boss to see it.

➧ Once the meeting is set up, put together supporting materials for the visit. The American Library Association’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office can coordinate with you to make sure you have the resources you need.

➧ When you conduct the tour, remember that your elected officials want to hear from you—your feedback is critical to their work. There is no need to feel intimidated.

➧ The visit is a wonderful photo opportunity for them. Be sure to ask ahead of time if they would like to take a picture or video inside the facility. Remember to ask permission to use images on your social media platforms (most officials will appreciate the visibility).

There are several steps you can take afterward that will multiply the impact of your decision maker’s visit, including:

➤ Follow up with the staffer to say thank you and ensure all their questions are answered.

➤ Promote your library’s value by highlighting the leader’s visit on social media.

➤ Write a letter to the editor expressing gratitude for the official’s visit and urging support for your library.

ALA is eager to learn about your congressional visits. Share your library tour using the hashtag #ALAadvocacy so that ALA can amplify your work and inspire others to host elected leaders.  READ MORE >>

RESOURCES

Advocacy 101 Video: Getting Your Library Story in your Local News

Using Social Media

Build Relationships with Elected Officials

Find Your Elected Official     

Become an Advocate  

Talking Points & Tools

Quotable Facts about America’s Libraries

Library Value Calculator

How valuable is your local library?

Use this handy Library Value Calculator, created by the Massachusetts Library Association.

2019 One-Pagers

One Pager: Libraries and Your Community

Leave-Behind: Federal Funding for Libraries

Talking Points: Federal Funding for Libraries

Santa Paula Blanchard Library :: BEST Adult Learning Center Awarded Family Literacy Grants

BEST Adult Learning Center Awarded Family Literacy Grants

Blanchard Library Blog: 4.23 2019

A $45,000 grant from the California Library Literacy Services (CLLS) and a $10,000 grant from the American Library Association (ALA) will help support a unique family literacy program at Blanchard Community Library (BCL) that aims to help immigrant families better advocate for their children through improved English and by building the social skills and confidence necessary to participate in an English-speaking world.

The Mommy & Me Literacy program was launched in 2017 at BCL with the purpose of improving reading and writing skills for adults with preschool age children. Children of parents with low literacy skills have a 72% chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves, according to the national adult literacy organization, ProLiteracy.

To address this statistic, Mommy & Me Literacy strives to lift the English proficiency of parents through traditional language classes while also carving out time for parents to practice early-learning activities with their own children.  Mommy & child spend time together reinforcing the family bond, playing, singing, and building strong reading habits—and exploring the library together.  In addition, once a week, an interactive curriculum, Abriendo Puertas/ Opening Doors helps parents develop their role as their child’s first teacher and strongest advocate.

Carlsbad Library :: How Supporting Adult Literacy in Public Libraries Changes Lives

How Supporting Adult Literacy in Public Libraries Changes Lives

ProLiteracy Blog: 3.30.2017 by Jennifer Paulding

Adult Literacy Through Libraries

A public library—with its collections of books, journals, magazines, films, recordings, and other print and digital resources—is a community’s core source of reference, engagement, and learning. It is a user-friendly place of opportunity to organize and collaborate.

With safe and welcoming environments, it is important for public libraries nationwide to continuously offer adult literacy programs. Success stories, like that of Nyla Henry, an adult learner from the Carlsbad City Library Learning Center, inspired ProLiteracy to partner with the American Library Association (ALA) to help libraries implement adult literacy initiatives.

Nyla’s Adult Literacy Journey

Nyla Henry is a native English speaker who has been in our program for about 7 years. When Nyla’s employer discovered that she could not read, she was afraid of losing everything. Instead, he referred her to our literacy program at Carlsbad City Library.

When she was in school, she was passed along. Nyla was a pleasant student—a “teacher’s pet”—and showed skill in art, in addition to having sisters who did her homework for her. Her lack of skills wasn’t discovered until high school when she couldn’t pass the proficiency test. She was placed in special education where she memorized the answers to the test in order to graduate. After high school, she lived her life like so many learners do—in the shadows—avoiding social activities and parties where she could be discovered, and taking jobs like dishwashing and cleaning that didn’t require reading and writing. She fed her children frozen TV dinners because they had pictures on the box to show what was inside.  READ MORE @

Banned Book Week :: Literacy | Ventura Co | Moorpark | ALA OIF | Censorship | DCPL | Politics Prose | Flintridge Books

Tweet – Tweeter – Tweetest

Superlatives from SCLLN

At #vclOjaiLibrary we put all the books

THEY don’t want you to read in one convenient place.

#BannedBooksWeek #vcLibraries

@vencolibrary  Sep 21

#BannedBooksWeek is almost here!

Don't forget to come to the library for your BBW

#wanted poster!

@MoorparkCityLib  Sep 21

Support #BannedBooksWeek,

add a #Twibbon now!

@BannedBooksWeek  Sep 21

#BannedBooksWeek is in 5 Days!

Lot of upcoming events.

Check out our reminder email

@BannedBooksWeek https://iz4.me/kg2ZrB1 

@OIF  Sep 20

#BannedBooksWeek:

Join @VickyBaker on 29 Sept to chat with

@CLBaldacchinov, @jessicaherthel, Wendy Doniger

@IndexCensorship Sep 22

It's almost #BannedBooksWeek

& @dcpl is helping us hide

these censored books in plain sight

http://bit.ly/2czEHkt

@PoliticsProse Sep 9

So touched by the city's response to #UncensoredDC

Thanks to our amazing partners.

Couldn't have done it w/o U!

@dcpl_literati  Sep 16

Banned Books & Indie Picks

http://conta.cc/2bRjsuM 

@flintridgebooks  Sep 21

Literacy :: Library Card Sign Up Month | LAPL | Corona | SD Co | CA State Library | Sacramento | ALA

Tweet – Tweeter – Tweetest

Superlatives from SCLLN

Septiembre es el mes de inscripción para tarjetas de la biblioteca. http://www.lapl.org/tarjeta 

#BestCardInLA

@laplenespanol  Sep 1

When was the last time you used your library card?

Now is a perfect time! http://goo.gl/bIYIko 

@coronalibrary Sep 2

Sign up & gain access to 42,000,000 books,

movies, & CDs & 34,000+ programs

@ 35 branches! #sdcl

#LibraryCardSignUp

 ‏@sdcountylibrary  Sep 1

September is Library Card Sign-up Month!

Have you signed up for yours?

@CAStateLibrary  Sep 1

September is #LibraryCardSignUp month!

Get the best back to school supply there is:

http://www.saclibrary.org/FAQ/Get-a-library-card …

@saclib Sep 1

Children who use the library perform better in school

http://bit.ly/libtr-14 

#LibraryCardSignUp

#LibrariesTransform

@ALALibrary  Sep 2

5 Minutes Can Net Libraries $200 Million :: Federal Budget

Five minutes can net libraries $200 million next year

District Dispatch: 3.11.2016 by Kevin Maher

Earlier this week, we asked for your help in defending the more than $200 million in LSTA and other federal library funding from Congressional and Administration cost-cutters.

Time was short then and it’s even shorter now.

Your help is needed to get your Representative and both US Senators to sign “Dear Appropriator” letters supporting LSTA and Innovative Approaches to Literacy grants, among others.  With just a few days left to get as many members of Congress behind those programs as humanly possible, now is the time for you to go to ALA’s Legislative Action Center and help save more than $200 million for communities across the country . . . very likely including yours!

A strong showing on these letters sends a signal to the Appropriations Committees’ to protect LSTA and IAL funding. So far, your work has generated thousands of emails, but frankly, we need many, many more.

Whether you call, email, tweet or all of the above (which would be great), the message to the office staff of your Senators and Representative is simple:

“Hello, I’m a constituent.

Please ask Representative/Senator ________

to sign the LSTA and IAL ‘Dear Appropriator’ letters

circulating for signature!”

Please take five minutes to call, email, or Tweet at your Members of Congress and support library funding for 2017. For more detailed information, read our earlier post on District Dispatch.

Now is the time to contact your Members of Congress’ offices.

Senate letters must be completed by March 14

House letters must be completed by March 18.

Redlands Library : : Adult Literacy Program receives grant for computer workshops

Redlands Adult Literacy Program receives grant for computer workshops

Redlands Daily Facts: 2.07.2015 by Dottie Podolak, Adult Literacy coordinator at the A.K. Smiley Public Library.

Imagine not being able to read and write. Most of us cannot fathom the challenge this would pose in our everyday lives. However, the situation is real.

Right here in our community, there are those who do not have adequate reading and writing skills to write a note to their child’s teacher or read personal medical information. Whatever the reason might be for a particular learner not attaining literacy skills, the Redlands Adult Literacy Program exists to meet this critical need.

With a dedicated group of volunteers, the Adult Literacy staff supports anyone older than 18 with his or her goal to learn or improve reading and writing in English. Currently Redlands Adult Literacy serves more than 80 learners by pairing them with well-trained tutors.

Meeting weekly for instruction in English, our participants are able to achieve their personal goals. Their goals vary from finding employment, furthering their education or being able to fully participate in their children’s schooling. This, in turn, benefits our community by increasing employment, improving health and supporting families.

Recently, the Redlands Adult Literacy Program received The American Dream Starts @ your library grant. This grant is funded by the American Library Association and Dollar General.  READ MORE !

Azusa Library :: American Dream Starts @ Your Library

The American Dream Starts @ Your Library

Literacy Update, Azusa Library: Jan/Feb 2015

. . . at the Azusa City Library, to be exact.  The American Library Association and Dollar General Literacy Foundation awarded a 2014 American Dream Starts @ Your Library grant to the Azusa City Library. This national program helps immigrants to learn English to continue their education, help their children in school, get better jobs and become American citizens.

The award will help to expand tutoring for Spanish-speaking adults who are not literate in their native language. According to the American Community Survey 2009-2011, 11.6 percent of adult Spanish-speaking immigrants in Los Angeles County cannot read or write in any language, creating a barrier to learning English.  The Institute for Work and the Economy’s 2006 report, The Integration of Immigrants in the Workplace, states that an estimated 32 percent of adults enrolled in ESL (English as a Second Language) classes lack basic literacy skills in their native language, making them "slower in learning a second language than their literate counterparts."

Through the library’s partnership with Centro Latino for Literacy, the dedication of Leamos (Let’s Read) volunteer Monica Mejia, and with support from the American Dream grant, adults will be able to gain basic literacy skills in Spanish in approximately 150 hours of study. They can then successfully transition into English classes and find themselves well on their way to achieving their American Dream.

If you know a Spanish speaker who needs to improve their skills, call Cathay Reta at the literacy office:  626-812-5266.

Riverside County Library :: American Dream Starts @ your library® Grant Allows California Library to Expand ESL Classes

American Dream Starts @ your library® Grant Allows California Library to Expand ESL Classes

@yourLibrary: 10.12.2014 by Steve Zalusky

A California library system is providing opportunities for patrons who wish to expand their horizons by learning English.

Through an American Dream Starts @ your library grant awarded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to the American Library Association, the Riverside County (Calif.) Library System has been able to expand ESL classes for adult learners.

In this countywide program, volunteers are working with one-on-one tutoring to help individuals learn to read and write.

In the county, which is spread over 7,200 square miles, it is estimated that there are over 50,000 people in Riverside County who are eligible for citizenship. However, there are several barriers in their way. One barrier to citizenship is being able to speak, read and write English in order to take the Citizenship Exam.

This community-based program that changes not only improves students’ lives, but also those of their families.

One of the students, Laura Serrano, a mother of two children whose first language is Spanish, said learning is English is important in order to get a good job.

“This program is very good for me, because it’s free, it’s close to my house, I have very good teachers,” she said.  READ MORE !