Brawley Library ▬ Library Director Marjo Mello Retires After 33 Years With The City

Brawley Library Director Marjo Mello Retires After 33 Years With The City

Desert Review: 12.10.2020 Katherine Ramos

The Brawley City Council announced the retirement of the long-time, beloved Library Director, Marjo Mello. She will retire after 33 years with the City on December 29, 2020.

Marjo Mello, Brawley Library Director

According to the press release, Mello’s contributions to the City of Brawley have enhanced the lives of many who live in Brawley. Although her accomplishments are too numerous to list, the following are a few highlights.

Mello has acquired grants totaling about $7 million over her 33 years. These include the addition of the children’s wing, a library branch at the Del Rio School, and two remodeling projects of the main library. Her pride and joy has been working with Imperial First Five since 2000 for Literacy And Mobile Book Services project (LAMBS). The 32-foot LAMBS bus travels all over Imperial County presenting pre-literacy story times to daycare centers and preschools. The project earned the California School Boards Association Bell Award for outstanding early childhood education along with Riverside County Office of Education Head Start.

Adult and early learning literacy programs are an integral part of library services at Brawley. Free adult one-on-one tutoring and separate classes for emerging English readers/speakers have been offered.  LISTEN 02:70

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)

Brawley Library ▬ Cutbacks Forced Brawley’s Marjo Mello To Run Two City Departments With Little Or No Staff

Lonely days: Cutbacks Have Forced Brawley’s Marjo Mello To Run Two City Departments This Year With Little Or No Staff

LEARN IV

IV Press Online: 11.05.2020 by Vincent Osuna

Marjo Mello had to swallow a very bitter pill when the Brawley City Council finalized this year’s fiscal year budget, which was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to finish with a balanced budget, the council chose to fund only services deemed “essential” — a list the Brawley Public Library did not make.

This made Mello’s 28th year as the library’s director a lonely one, as all her staff was laid off until the end of the fiscal year.

From March until August, Mello was the only soul in the 8,000-square-foot building that serves as the library’s Main Street branch. She even worked from home for a couple of months.

A second hat Mello wears for the city was also blown off, as the Parks and Recreation Department was also deemed non-essential.

Mello has been that department’s interim director for more than two years.

“Before I started with them, my parks and rec knowledge was driving by the park,” Mello said.  READ MORE ➤➤

LEARN IV

Libraries Empower All To Read Now

We serve Imperial Valley adults over 18 (or 16 if not enrolled in school) who would like to improve their computer, reading, and writing skills.

(442) 265-7150

learniv@co.imperial.ca.us

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 9

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old

(Eighth and Ninth graders)   

Brawley Library ▬ Services Partially Return ▬ Adult & Family Literacy

Services Partially Return For Brawley Library

LEARN IV

Imperial Valley Press: 9.03.2020 BY Vincent Osuna

Library services will partially return here after the City Council unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday.

In order to finish with a balanced fiscal year 2020-2021 budget — a budget heavily impacted by COVID-19 costs — the council voted in July to not fund any library services until after year’s end.

However, that changed with Tuesday’s vote.

Locals can now check out books via curbside pickup from the library’s Main Street branch. The library’s adult and family literacy services have also returned. Both the Main Street and Del Rio buildings remain closed to public access.

The $51,479 in funding for the pickup and literacy programs was appropriated into the fiscal budget from donations and grants.

The group Brawley Library Friends donated $4,000 to fund the pickup program.

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This part-time employee will work under the supervision of library director Marjo Mello. Since the city conducted its COVID budget cuts, Mello has been the only staff at the library. She is also currently the city’s interim parks and recreation director.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Readability Consensus

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 9

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old

(Eighth and Ninth graders)

Brawley Library : : Marjo Mello 2015 Women of the Year, 56th Assembly District

Marjo Mello Honored as 56th Assembly District 2015 Women of the Year

Imperial Valley News: 3.09.2015

Earlier today at the State Capitol, Marjo Mello of Brawley was honored as the 56th Assembly District’s 2015 Woman of the Year.  Selected for the honor by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, Ms. Mello joined women from all over the state to be recognized for their contributions during a special Assembly Floor Session.

“As the City of Brawley Library Director, Marjo has dedicated her entire life to making the library accessible for everyone in the community and has committed to expanding services and promoting literacy in the City and the entire Imperial Valley,” stated Assemblymember Garcia.  “As libraries transition from traditional print, Marjo has adapted the City’s approach to services by meeting changing times with innovative leadership and established the regions first mobile pre-literacy program,” said Garcia.

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Marjo L. Mello joined the staff of the City of Brawley in 1987 and has led the department as Library Director since 1992.  Mrs. Mello has devoted her career to making the library a place for resources that are accessible and relevant to the community, promoting literacy in the City and the region.  She is remarkably gifted at resource management, including the oversight of a group of highly committed personnel, and quality inventory.  Mrs. Mello has a keen ability to prioritize approaches that provide for the City’s highest level of service to the public.  READ MORE !

Adult Literacy Awareness Month :: Beverly Hills Library :: Brawley Library

Adult Literacy Awareness Month
September Spotlight on SCLLN literacy programs
Beverly Hills Public Library

S.T.A.R. Literacy Program

One-on-one tutoring is designed to teach English-speaking adults to read and write or improve existing skills. Volunteer tutors are given a twelve-hour workshop to prepare them to work with the adult learner. Classes for adult learners are one-on-one. They are held twice a week, and each class is one and one-half hours. Classes are free of charge.

Skills Taught: Reading, writing, comprehension. Recruitment: Adult learners are recruited through newspaper ads, flyers, media and word of mouth. A person 16 years of age can be admitted to the program if he or she has left high school.

Learner Orientation: Orientation is given in two-hour sessions, by appointment. The program is explained in detail and the adult learner is tested and placed at his/her individual reading level. Placement: After testing the learner is placed at the appropriate level with a tutor. If a tutor is not immediately available, the adult learner can begin the process in the reading lab with the assistance of the reading lab coordinator.

Time in Program: Since the tutoring is individualized, the time and progress of each student depends on individual goals, commitment and willingness to learn. There is no set time to complete the program.

Tutoring Sites: Tutoring sites are provided at the library and other community social service agencies, churches, synagogues and business associations.

Brawley Public Library LAMBS

The LAMBS (Literacy And Mobile Book Services) unit is a 32’ long vehicle designed by Mathews Specialty Vehicles.

The vehicle has been designed inside to accommodate a wide variety of literacy activities. The hydraulic wheelchair lift has been fitted with a removable puppet stage. There are two laptop computers with software for both parents and children. Internet sites can be cached so that patrons can view them from the unit, even though we don’t have direct Internet access on the unit. There are two color printers. There is ample shelf space to house the materials that will be available for parents and children to checkout and also for books that will be given to the children to keep at the end of each program. There is a TV and VCR for use with literacy presentations and other educational experiences.

The vehicle will be traveling throughout Imperial County giving underserved children ages 0-5 years and their parents access to literacy activities and services provided by others in our collaborative. These include but are not limited to the Health Department, the Burn Institute, Tri-County South Tobacco Education, the Center for Family Solutions, Child Abuse Prevention Council, Imperial County Office of Education, Riverside Office of Education, Imperial County Free Library and branches, Camarena Library, El Centro City Library, Literacy Volunteers of America/Imperial Valley and the Housing Authorities. The unit was made possible through a grant from the State Proposition 10 Commission, California State Library and Imperial County Proposition 10 Commission.