Ventura Co Library - Harvest Ride 2008

Ventura County Library System and Harvest Ride

2008
Ventura County Star: Nov 7, 2008 by M Murphy

This months activity began with the annual fundraising event, Harvest Ride for Literacy, Saturday, October 4th, 2008. Details of the event included some wonderful charity bike rides (a 100 mile, 66 mile, 55 mile and 30 mile) and a family ride of 8.5 miles. This years event raised over seven thousand dollars and that is enough to support one reading support center for a year!

The Harvest Ride event is typical of the deep devotion the Ventura Community feels toward the improvement of adult literacy in the Ventura county area. There are innumerable success stories emanating from this organization. At the end of the month, the Ventura County Library Reading Instruction for Adults (RIFA) graduated the October 2008 class of twenty adult literacy tutors.

This story is not unique to Ventura County. Over 140,000 high school graduates that are able to speak English lack basic reading skills because of severe learning disabilities that make it difficult to learn in a normal classroom environment. This is about one out of every four adults in California. Tragically, even if they are able to gain employment, they may be unable to read even the most basic childrens book to their families and the childrens academic progress can suffer also.

For more information about becoming an adult literacy volunteer please go to vencolibrary.org READ MORE

Commerce Library - Local Hero of the Year Beatriz Sarmiento

Local Hero of the Year

Beatriz Sarmiento, Literacy Manager at the Commerce Public Library has been honored by being named a Local Hero by KCET public television.

KCET presents the 11th consecutive Hispanic Heritage Month "Local Hero of the Year" awards at beautiful gala event at KCET's Hollywood studios. The event celebrates one honoree in each of five categories: arts, business, community activism, education and social services. [Photo courtesy Susana Rosales]

Infopeople Workshop - Service to Homeschooling Families

Infopeople Workshop

Service to Homeschooling Families
Instructor: Adrienne Furness
8:30 am - 4:30 pm

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were well over one million children being homeschooled in the United States in 2003, a number that has continued to rise. Studies show that a majority of homeschoolers use libraries as their primary source of learning materials, and homeschoolers are among libraries' heaviest borrowers. Still, few libraries offer specialized services to this high-need population; many libraries don't know where to start.

Statistics, Philosophies & Trends, Laws & Organizations in California

Creating Programs - Removing barriers - Creating a Collection and Evaluating Resources

2008

Dec 4: San Francisco Public Library

2009

Jan 12: Solano County Library, Fairfield
Jan 14: Buena Park Library District
Jan 15: San Diego County Library Headquarters
Mar 9: Los Angeles Public Library
Mar 11: Santa Maria Public Library
Apr 6: San Jose, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
Apr 8: Fresno Woodward Park Library

For information about training, or using materials found on the Infopeople website, please contact the Infopeople Project Assistant by email or at 650-578-9685.

All Infopeople workshops are open to all members of the California library community. This includes those who are working in any California library (academic, public, school, or special), in any California cooperative library system, or in any California library organization. It also includes California library school students, trustees, and volunteers, as well as library consultants, self-employed or unemployed librarians, and information professionals working in California.