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 @
