Glendora Library :: City of Glendora proclaiming September 2015 as "Adult Literacy Month."

GPL Friends Foundation

September 9

Glendora Library's Literacy Coordinator Mary Pat Dodson with Council member Judy Nelson receiving a Proclamation from the State of California and the City of Glendora proclaiming September 2015 as "Adult Literacy Month."

** Approximately 6000 adults living in the city of Glendora do not have the literacy skills required to independently manage daily activities at home and work.

** The Glendora Reads Program trains and engages community volunteers to tutor adults and increase literacy levels.

Thank you Mary Pat!

California Library Literacy Services :: Welcomes 5 Libraries

California Library Literacy Services

So happy to be able to announce that with a portion of the funds restored to us by the Governor and Legislature this year we have been able to welcome 5 libraries into California Library Literacy Services! Congrats to

A.K. Smiley Library, Redlands

Camarillo Public Library

Glendale Public Library

Mariposa County Library

Placentia Library District

Hooray for all the new adult learners we can serve with awesome new volunteers!

Los Angeles Public Library - It's a Match

It’s a Match Part I

READ – LAPL Adult Literacy Services: Summer 2015

A newsletter written by students and tutors. Changing lives one chapter at a time.

Deborah’s Story By tutor Deborah Hanley

When our economy fell in 2009, none of us knew how life as we knew it would change. For me, it meant the end of long-term employment and facing the extensive recession as a single woman in her 60’s. After living in Massachusetts my entire life, I rented out my home and drove cross-country with my adult daughter, Annie, a resident of Los Angeles.

Even driving through multiple states in a stuffed compact car could not compare with the culture shock I felt after arriving here. Where would I live? Would I be able to find work? How would I meet friends in this vast city? Luckily, the Los Angeles Public Library system offered an option through the tutoring program, which saved the day in more ways than one.

I was enlisted through Alicia Chavarin, Ben Franklin Branch, who paired me with Margarita Severiano, Maggie—a beautiful single mother of three boys.

From our very first meeting, Maggie impressed me with her openness, her dedication to her studying and her willingness to accept this “foreigner.” Week after week, we learned more and more about each other and our families as we reviewed the course work. The materials spurred discussions about politics, famous personalities, becoming a citizen, using the computer, immigration reform, getting a driver’s license, identifying skills and career paths, cultural innuendo, slang, our children, and much more. It moved on to cooking tamales, quesadillas, salsas. I told her how I was the one who needed tutoring in Spanish, feeling quite educationally challenged because of it. After all, she could speak two languages. Week after week Maggie arrived fully prepared for our session and was always more awake than I was!

Alicia could not have made a better match. I look forward to each tutoring session. I feel warmly welcomed by Maggie and Alicia. The excellent library system of Los Angeles has provided unlimited opportunities to acclimate here through the Tutoring Program, exhibits, the outstanding Aloud program and the beauty of ordering a book or DVD online and having the convenience of an e-mail notification and a quick trip to my local branch to pick it up.

Thank you, Maggie and Alicia. Thank you, Los Angeles. It’s definitely feeling a lot more like home.

Maggie’s Story by learner Margarita Severiano

I would write a special Valentine message to my tutor. When Alicia assigned Deborah as my tutor, I did not expect to meet someone who was new to Los Angeles and facing more challenges than I have with the English language. I’m a Spanish-speaking woman and Deborah is also a woman but uprooted from New England.

At first I was worried that this former teacher and paralegal was going to be very tough on me and expect too much.

I was right! However, I responded to her challenge and I am so pleased with my progress. She has helped me improve my English skills, including reading and phonetics. -She makes every session interesting, educational and enjoyable. Also, Deborah and I can openly discuss any topic including politics, health, movies, music… She sees my drive and always encourages me to strive forward. I am so grateful to have Deborah both as my tutor and my friend.

READ MORE !

Bob Laubach, pioneer in adult literacy education, has died

Bob Laubach, pioneer in adult literacy education, has died

Syracuse.com: 9.12.2015 by Elizabeth Doran

Robert S. Laubach, a pioneer in adult literacy education and founder of New Readers Press, died Friday at age 96.

"Dr. Bob" as he was known, and his late father Dr. Frank C. Laubach, are credited with teaching more than 100 million adults to read and write in more than 200 languages.

Bob Laubach helped his father after Laubach Literacy Inc., was founded in 1955 in Syracuse. That organization became one of the founding organizations of ProLiteracy Worldwide in 2002. Bob Laubach then developed literacy primers in local languages and organized literacy programs in more than 60 countries.

"Dr. Bob devoted his life to adult literacy and will be remembered for his many contributions over the past 80 years," said Kevin Morgan, president and CEO of ProLiteracy. "His legacy will live on in the weekly newspaper for adult learners, News for You, as well as the other adult education content he helped pioneer."

READ MORE !

UOP Beyond Our Gates Dialogue Focuses on Importance of Early Literacy

Forum focuses on importance of early literacy

Record Net: 9.10.2015 by Almendra Carpizo

The average home in San Joaquin County only has two books.

That is “startling” information University of the Pacific President Pamela A. Eibeck recently learned, she told about 175 people gathered Thursday for the annual Beyond Our Gates Dialogue event.

The forum, which is attended by educators, elected officials, nonprofit organizations and business leaders, was focused on the importance of early literacy, cultivating community partnerships to help students succeed and encouraging parents to engage their children and ensure that they attend school.

San Joaquin County Office of Education Superintendent James Mousalimas said at the start of the program that if the community wants to make progress in student achievement, literacy has to start before kindergarten.

“A rule of thumb we heard is that if a child is able to read by the end of third grade, they will have the tools to read and learn as they go forward,” Eibeck said.

According to a 2014 San Joaquin Literacy Report Card, only 34 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in preschool. The percentage dropped from 46 percent in 2011. Statewide, enrollment is at 50 percent, according to the report.

“How can we make sure a young child arrives in school ready to learn and by the third grade is able to read?” Eibeck asked.

Featured speaker Greg Lucas, who was appointed state librarian by Gov. Jerry Brown in March 2014, opened by saying that “the most cost-effective investment of taxpayer money is in helping people to read or read better.”

It keeps people out of prison, it helps them obtain better jobs and, he added, “if I’m a mommy, the No. 1 indicator of my kids’ academic success is my literacy rate.”  READ MORE !

Greg Lucas, State librarian to speak at annual UOP literacy event

State librarian to speak at annual UOP literacy event

Manteca Bulletin: 9.06.2015

Greg Lucas, who oversees the California State Library’s vast collection, from historical documents to digitized books, will be the featured speaker Thursday at University of the Pacific’s 2015 Beyond Our Gates Dialogue, “Connections and Common Ground in Literacy.”

“People build libraries and libraries build community,” Lucas wrote recently in Western City Magazine. “Anyone who believes libraries are a withered vestige from sepia-tinted yesteryear hasn’t been inside their neighborhood branch lately.”

On any given day at a public library, parents may be singing with their toddlers at story time, nurturing the early literacy skills young children need to become strong readers. Immigrants may be practicing English while high-schoolers practice for the SAT. Job seekers may be filling out employment applications and seniors may be opening their first email accounts.

The Dialogue is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10, at the San Joaquin County Office of Education’s Wentworth Education Center, 2707 Transworld Drive in Stockton. The event is free and open to the public.

“Libraries connect people to resources—and to each other,” said Jennifer Torres Siders, community relations director for University of the Pacific. “We’re working closely with our local libraries to improve early literacy in San Joaquin County, and we want to help more residents.  READ MORE !

The theme of International Literacy Day 2015 is Literacy and Sustainable Societies. Literacy is a key driver for sustainable development. Literacy skills are the prerequisite for the learning of a broader set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, required for creating sustainable societies. At the same time, progress in areas of sustainable development, such as health and agriculture, serves as an enabling factor in the promotion of literacy and literate environments.

SCLLN Literacy Pre-Conference @ 2015 California Library Association : : Nov 5

SCLLN Literacy Pre-Conference @ CLA 

Pasadena Convention Center

Join us on November 5^th

1:15 PM – 4:15 PM

Early Bird Registration ends September 16^th

Pasadena Convention Center

Join SCLLN @ 2015 CLA Conference for 2 great workshops to help strengthen literacy services at your library.

Successful learning environments for adult learners

Learning is ongoing–an everyday process. In addition to one-to-one volunteer tutoring, some library literacy programs hold small group sessions, larger classes and online tutoring. How do you determine the “best” approach for each learner? How will you know when it’s time to move to another group or try another type of learning situation? And, how do you graduate someone from your program? A panel of literacy program experts, facilitated by Diane Moseley, Literacy Coordinator at the Huntington Beach Public Library, will lead an in-depth discussion.

Exploring GED vs HiSET and other High School Equivalency Options

Which Program is Right for your Learners?

There is currently a lot of confusion about the HiSET exam, the GED, TASC and Online Career High School. It would be natural to think that since these options have the same outcome—receiving a high school equivalency credential—that the content of each would be relatively similar or equivalent. But is that true? Are they all accepted equally by colleges? By employers? Cherall Weiss, Literacy Coordinator for the Newport Beach Public Library, will lead a panel discussion to explore the differences in the options and how to decide which one is right for your learners.

Non-member: $60

Member: $45

Student member: $30

Sponsored by CLA’s Literacy Interest Group

Literacy pre-conference registration

Registration for the CLA conference is separate and not necessary to attend this Pre-Conference event.  You are, however, encouraged to stay for the Conference itself.

Early Bird Registration ends September 16^th