Palmdale Library - Welcome to the Literacy Blog

Palmdale Library Literacy Program
Friday, August 15, 2008
Welcome to the Literacy Blog

Greetings Everybody,Welcome to the Palmdale literacy blog. I hope this will become another good tool to advertise library literacy programs, the local literacy coalition (WORD, AV- "Write Often, Read Daily") and the Southern California Library Literacy Network (SCLLN).

I also hope that many of you will learn to use this forum as a way to communicate, ask questions, make suggestions, and foster a running dialogue on literacy issues in our community, in families, and in the workplace.

The Palmdale Library Literacy Program provides free tutoring to English-speaking adults who want to improve their reading and writing skills. All tutoring is done by volunteers. The program offers small classroom workshops, one-on-one tutoring, and drop-in study sessions. Call me at (661) 267-5682 for more info.

Lancaster Library also started a literacy program in Spring, 2008. You can reach them at (661) 940-4794 or (661) 948-5029, ext. 244 or 252.

Feel free to participate. This will be a learning process for me, but I intend to use the blog to spark conversations about literacy issues, as a supplemental means of making announcements, and to recruit new learners and new volunteers.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,
Rod Williams, Literacy Coordinator
Palmdale Library Literacy Program

Literacy Tribune - September 2008

The Literacy Tribune has information for readers on topics such as health, finance, education and technology. It also has stories and poems by adult learners.

It is published by United Literacy, as a resource and support for adult learners.

Highlights from the September 2008 issue:

Register to Vote

By Alison Werner, Senior Writer

Do you know that November 4th is Election Day? On that day, the citizens of the United States will vote for a new president and vice president. But that is not all they will vote for. They will vote for members of the U.S. House of Reprsentatives and Senate. They also may vote for the governor of their state, members of their state legislature, and other state and local officials. In addition, they will vote on issues and laws that affect their state . . .

A Letter to Our Readers

By Daniel Pedroza, President - Founder of United Literacy & Learner

Dear Reader,

Eleven years ago, at the age of 29, I started learning to read. I still remember walking into my local literacy organization and asking for help. I was very nervous, but I knew I needed to do it. I wanted a better life. I wanted to learn to read . . .

Celebrate International Literacy Day

By Alison Werner, Senior Writer

Every day, around the world, adults like you are learning to read. And every day, around the world, adults are struggling with illiteracy as you once did . . .

Good Feeling – A Learner’s Poem

By Rodolfo Diaz, Adult Learner

Sitting high up on a tree looking at the sunrise,

I can see, the birth of a new day . . .

In Memoriam :: Mary Miller 1955-2008 Glendale Library

Mary Louise Miller 1955 - 2008

Legacy: 2008

Mary Miller, the Library’s Literacy Coordinator passed away this Saturday after a relatively short battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband, two daughters and six beloved grandchildren. A service is planned for Sunday in Victorville.

Mary came to Glendale in 1996 from the San Bernardino County Library. Under Mary’s leadership the Glendale Library Literacy program grew and served the needs of our changing community. She started a Family Reading Program that targeted adult literacy learners with small children.

She helped develop literacy partnerships with local public schools, and businesses such as hospitals, restaurants and convalescent homes. Wherever Mary found a need for adult literacy she found a way for the Library to help.

Mary’s reach went beyond the Library. She was a GCEA Representative who was an active participant for Relay for Life and the Community Alliance Committee. She was a past president of the Glendale Community Coordinating Council. She also served on the Executive Board of the Workforce Investment Board and chaired its Resource Mapping Committee.

Mary was active in the State Library’s California Library Literacy Services organization as well as the Southern California Library Literacy Network. She was recognized as a top “trainer of trainers” in her field, and in 2004, she was the only literacy professional selected from Los Angeles County as a MEDALS Fellow, funded by the S. Mark Taper Foundation.

In this program Mary traveled around the United States observing innovative literacy programs. As a result of that experience she developed workshops for many California literacy providers and incorporated innovative ideas into the Glendale Library program.

The benefits of Mary’s hard work are easy to see in the numbers of volunteers and students that participate in the Literacy program. There are many success stories of Mary’s Literacy program changing lives by giving people the ability to read.read.

Mary will be dearly missed by her family, by Library and City staff, and by the Glendale community who came to know her as a fun-loving, energetic, and passionate leader for literacy, reading and the Library.

In Lieu of Flowers

The family has asked that donations be made to the Glendale Public Library Literacy Program. Checks payable to the Friends of the Glendale Public Library. Donations should indicate that they are intended for the Mary Miller Literacy Fund.

Save Literacy - Breaking News !

We have clarified
that funding is slated for
ELIMINATION
not suspension.

On the Eve of September 8

International Literacy Day

P l e a s e
get the word out !

Statistics for SCLLN member Library Literacy programs for 2007. SCLLN member libraries server a population of over 22 million including 5.8 million children.

Adult Literacy Services

9,117 – Adult Learners
5,332 – Volunteer Tutors
338,553 – Hours of Instruction

Families For Literacy

20,767 – Children under 5
24,606 – Children over 5
93,189 – Free Books given to Children

2005-06 Statistics @

CLLS statistics @