Public Libraries Can Help Citizens Get Out and Vote
As Election Day draws near, of course, public libraries want to encourage civic participation. The ALA makes it easy for public libraries with their toolkit, Smart Voting Starts@your Library.³ The kit helps libraries:

• develop campaigns to promote voter registration and to increase civic participation in elections;
• access to websites about the legislative process, voting and government;
• Great Ideas—direct links and contact information to public library systems around the U.S. who have already established programs;
• Sample Questions for Candidate Forums and Templates for Letters to Government Officials;
• Bibliographic resources, videos and CD-Roms; and
• Registration with Project Vote Smart (ww.vote-smart.org) which entitles registrants to receive a free resource book, website guide, a reporter’s source book and a toll-free service that puts each library in touch with a researcher.

Library Civic Engagement Is A Year Round Commitment
Long after Election Day, communities share library spaces to study, to socialize, to get online, to get job training, and more. There are many different ways that public libraries engage communities in civic discourse with each other. A 2016 Pew Research Center Study on Attitudes Toward Libraries found that communities increasingly found public libraries “safe place[s] to spend time, to pursue educational opportunities, or a place where creative juices flow.” The study found no generation gap when it came to libraries: 81% of millennials and 77% of baby boomers found the public library a place to find “information that [was] trustworthy and reliable.”⁴

Public Libraries Celebrate the Democratic Ideal
The educator and philosopher, John Dewey, understood that our “democracy [was] more than a form of government; it [was] primarily a mode of associated living, …a communicated experience.”⁵Our public libraries certainly celebrate that democratic ideal.

The Role of Digital Access in Civic Outreach
Jessamyn West has observed that digital access expanded the library’s role in civic outreach far beyond its traditional parameters. “[Civic outreach] is more than just about voter registration.  It expands to include taking care of our world, each other, and ourselves so that we can be good community members.” ⁶ West discovered a Ham radio operators club (boxboro.org) at her local library which proved invaluable when other infrastructure networks went down. That club led her to free online training for Skywarn Spotter Training—www.skywarn.org.⁷

Communities know that their public libraries offer tax help and lend books but when disasters strike, and unfortunately, they often have, public libraries have offered desperately-needed information resources, access to digital services, help lines, and charging and heating stations.The New Jersey State Library system offers a Disaster Preparedness Tool Kit.  In turn, The National Council for Behavioral Health has a nationwide Mental Health First Aid program which provides professional training for organizations on how to address mental health related crises.⁸

Civic Outreach Through Community Engagement
Public libraries around the nation offer innovative and creative ways to engage with their communities.  Whether it is the Montgomery County Public Library in Rockville, Maryland which developed the REAL Program along with the Jewish Council for the Aging to offer library services at county Health and Human Services or Idaho’s Boundary County Library District, America’s Best Small Library 2017, which repurposed its community space and upgraded its tech needs with a FAB lab.⁹At the end of renovations, nearly half of the 11,869 people in the county had library cards.¹⁰

Public Library’s Challenge:  Support & Educate a Better Informed Citizen
Each experience that a citizen has in a library space equates to an opportunity for democratic engagement and the public library’s challenge to support a better informed citizenry. Public librarians may discount the importance of their interactions with the public. If former House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s, principle, “all politics is local” is true, then all library interaction is civics. It almost seems too simple to define democracy as a friendly face, a computer space, or a toddler reading circle. Democracy leans upon a two-prong support–civic participation and popular suffrage. Dewey concluded that a “democratically constituted society” included two traits—points of shared common interest and a freer interaction between social groups. If that’s where democracy begins, then what better place to engage than at the public library, whether to register to vote or to attend your local birding club.

Finally, vanden Heuvel poses the question, Want to defend democracy?  Her answer, Start with your public library. “If your library is under threat, it’s worth defending.” Public libraries—where democracy “upholds the virtues of equality and community”—and where civic engagement is alive and well throughout the year.

References

1. Klinenberg, Eric. “Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. New York, New York. Penguin Random House. 2018.

2. Vanden Heuvel, K. (2018, September 18). Want to defend democracy? Start with your public library.Retrieved September 20, 2018, from www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-to-defend.

3. “Smart Voting Starts at Your Library”, American Library Association, January 4, 2013.http://www.ala.org/aboutala/governance/officers/past/kranich/smart (Accessed September 23, 2018)

4. Horrigan, J. (2016, September 09). Americans’ attitudes toward public libraries. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/09/09/americans-attitudes-toward-public-libraries/

5. Dewey, J. (n.d.). The Democratic Conception in Education. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from http://www.johndeweyphilosophy.com/books/democracy_and_education/The_Democratic_Conception_in_Education.html

6. West, J. (2017, November). Practical Technology: Civic Outreach. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/nov17/index.shtml

7. Ibid

8. Ibid

9. Montgomery County Public Libraries Earns National Innovation Award From Urban Libraries Council for ‘Real Change’. (2018). States News Service.

10 Berry, J. N., III. (2017, September 15). A Culture of Opportunity. Library Journal, 18-21.11 Vanden Heuvel, K. (2018, September 18). Want to defend democracy? Start with your public library.Retrieved September 20, 2018, from www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-to-defend.

11. Vanden Heuvel, ibid.

The post Public Libraries Celebrate the Democratic Ideal first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Throughout presidential history, each of our 44 Presidents have expressed an eclectic list of their own favorites:  James Madison’s—John Locke, William McKinley’s—Lord Byron while Warren G. Harding favored The Rules of Poker.[1] Perhaps, no president since Abraham Lincoln has been as shaped by reading and writing as President Barack Obama.

As Former President Obama prepared to leave office earlier this month, Michiko Kakutani, book critic for The New York Times, interviewed him about his favorite books and the impact books have had during his life. The president explained that as a child who was often seen as an “outsider” he loved reading because books provided access to worlds that were “portable and were all yours.”  Later, like many teens, he lost interest in reading when sports, “chasing girls,” and doing things that “weren’t very healthy” distracted him.[2]

In college, however, he rediscovered writing and reading.  Although he described his life then as almost “hermetic”—living sparsely and as he describes it, “humorlessly”—President Obama analyzes the power contained in reading.  “The power of words [is] a way to figure out who you are and what you think and what you believe, and what’s important, and to sort through and interpret this swirl of events that is happening around you every minute.”[3]

This re-discovery led him to his own short story writing and community organizing work.  The president was surprised to find that the two activities were closely aligned.  His stories and the lives of those in the community were “shared stories”—he learned to listen and discover the “sacred” in them.  The president found “an interest in public service and politics through storytelling.”[4]

Obama’s passion for writing and reading became a means of self-discovery and integration.  It helped him integrate all of the “crosscurrents” of his life—“race, class, family”—into “something relatively whole.”  This left him with a “pretty good sense of place and who I [was] and what [was] important to me.”  He credits that sense of self with his ability to remain “cool and composed” during his Presidency. (Staffers affectionately would refer to him as “No Drama Obama.”)[5]

Obama appreciates the art of fiction, “being better able to imagine what’s going on in the lives of people” anywhere.  Whether it be in the last novel he read, The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, “a reminder of the pains of slavery…and how it changes hearts and minds” or in Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, a description of the people in Iowa, a reminder for him of his own Midwestern grandparents, and an examination of their interior life. [6]

Obama’s definition is reminiscent of author’s, Joyce Carol Oates’: “Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.”[7]  During his terms in office, reading allowed him to “slow down and get perspective.” [8]

The former president admits certain books were “touchstones” during his two terms. Like Lincoln, he has embraced Shakespeare. He admits that like most high school students he found “the Bard” intolerable but by college, he came to appreciate the tragedies. Shakespeare, for the former president, has become “foundational” in understanding how human patterns and relationships repeat themselves and play out.[9]

During particularly difficult periods of his presidency, like the mass killings in Newtown, Ct, he would turn to the words of others—Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela.

Having left office, he looks forward to having the time to write and to expand his reading list.  In particular, he hopes to “dig into a whole bunch of literature—a whole bunch of writers, a lot of them young, who are probably writing the book I need to read.”[10]

Obama is certainly someone who espouses culture and the arts but he notes that reading and writing deserve special attention.  “There’s something particular about quieting yourself and having a sustained stretch of time that is different from music or television or even the greatest movies.”[11]

President Obama plans to eventually use his presidential center website “to widen the audience for good books” along with his already established list of book recommendations and to encourage a public “conversation about books.”[12]

For Barack Obama, reading is not only integral.  It may be embedded in our DNA. President Obama said, “We are a storytelling species.”[13]

References

[1] Odegard, Dave. “The Favorite Books of All 44 Presidents of the United States.” BuzzFeed. February 17, 2014. Accessed January 23, 2017. https://www.buzzfeed.com/daveodegard/the-favorite-books-of-all-44-presidents-of-the-united-states?utm_term=.jg8MX654w#.wdOaeGWZn.

[2] Kakutani, Michiko. “Obamas’ Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books.” The New York Times, January 16, 2017. Accessed January 23, 2017. https//nyti.ms/2iCIKCR.

[3] Kakutani, Michiko. “Transcript: President Obama on What Books Mean to Him.” The New York Times, January 16, 2017. Accessed January 23, 2017. https://nyti.ms/2jP4xda.

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] Ibid

[7] Bausells, Marta. “Why We Read: Authors and Readers on the Power of Literature.” The Guardian, April 23, 2016. Accessed January 23, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/23/why-we-read-authors-and-readers-on-the-power-of-literature.

[8] Kakutani, Michiko. “Obamas’ Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books.” The New York Times, January 16, 2017. Accessed January 23, 2017. https//nyti.ms/2iCIKCR.

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Ibid

[12] Ibid

[13] Ibid

The post The Power of Books Shapes Path to the Presidency first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

In October 2015, MIT Provost Martin A. Schmidt asked Chris Bourg, Director of MIT Libraries, to lead an Ad Hoc Task Force on the Future of Libraries. Faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff began a conversation among a diverse group of library stakeholders—some who had never entered the physical facility at all and others whose research and teaching depended on print materials.^[2]

“The task force spent significant time imagining the kind of library we need at an institution that aims to improve the world,” said Bourg, who served as the task force chair.^[3] The report, based on the Task Force’s year of work, sets forth recommendations for the future in creating a “a global library for a global community.”^[4]

MIT’s Great Dome exposes the four pillars the Task Force chose to build their vision for the future:^[5]

• Community and Relationships—the university, the world of research outside the university—those who need to access information and those who can contribute information.
• Discovery and Use—a commitment to radically enhancing the discovery, access, and use of information. The library as a point of access and dissemination.
• Stewardship and Sustainability—a responsibility for leadership in the long-term stewardship and sustainability of the scholarly record as well as a stalwart of intellectual freedom.
• Research and Development—a new initiative to convene interdisciplinary research and development in information science and scholarly communication.^[6]

Photo Courtesy of MIT

The university was asked to reimagine the library. How it will be used? How it will serve not only the university but the world? Who will use it? Where will it be used?

“I don’t think we need to save libraries, but I do think we might need libraries to save us.”^[7]  Bourg said at the Educause Conference last month in California, assessing the value of the Task Force’s preliminary observations. Bourg and the Task Force envisioned the future library as an “open global platform”one where information, regardless of university affiliation, is accessible and where a free exchange of ideas and research permits global solutions such as “discovering new clean energy sources.”^[8]

The MIT “Future of the Library Task Force Report” creates a world where collaboration precedes conflict.  Libraries have no borders and neither do ideas. As MIT embarks on A Campaign For a Better World, “for the MIT Libraries’s [role], the better world we seek is one in which there is abundant, equitable, meaningful access to knowledge and to the products of the full life cycle of research.”^[9] MIT hopes other universities and libraries will read the preliminary report and join in this important conversation to reinvigorate their library landscape.

The Task Force will measure their success through the creative ways in which scholars and global users eventually “exploit” the open platform they have envisioned. “We tried to write the report as an invitation,” Bourg said. “If this is your vision for the future, too, come join us, help us build it.”^[10]

References

[1] “Institute-Wide Task Force Report on the Future of Libraries: Preliminary Report” (executive summary, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016), 4.

[2] MIT Ad Hoc Task Force on the Future of Libraries, “Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of Libraries,” PubPub, October 24, 2016.

[3] Peter Dizikes, “MIT task force releases preliminary ‘Future of Libraries’ report,” MIT News, October 24, 2016.

[4] Ibid.

[5] MIT Ad Hoc Task Force, “Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of Libraries.”

[6] “Institute-Wide Task Force Report on the Future of Libraries: Preliminary Report,” 5.

[7] Carl Straumsheim, “A ‘Moon Shot’ for Libraries,” Inside Higher Education, November 23, 2016.

[8] Ibid.

[9] MIT Ad Hoc Task Force, “Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of Libraries.”

[10] Carl Straumsheim, “A ‘Moon Shot’ for Libraries.”

The post MIT Invites Global Community to “Hack Its Libraries” first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

LIT has supported the school libraries at Belmont Academy, Passages Academy, and the school library collections at New York City’s juvenile justice centers and works with the Office of Children and Family Services at Brookwood residential facility in upstate New York. More recently, LIT helped fund magazine subscriptions for the School Program for Incarcerated Youth at the Nassau County Correctional Center on Long Island.

LIT gives these teens what they need and want—real and relevant programs and resources. What might have been boring becomes interesting and the teens become engaged in both learning and self-improvement.

LIT has funded two youth programs at Rikers Island—Drama Club and writing workshops facilitated by author, Robert Galinsky. In addition, recognizing the shift in alternatives to incarceration, LIT most recently supported Prison Writes, a writing program which supports literacy efforts working in the Closer to Home programs in New York City.

Many young adult authors have visited LIT sponsored programs over the years: Walter Dean Meyers, Tonya Bolden, Coe Booth, Matt De La Peña, Greg Neri, Lauren Oliver, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Torrey Maldonado. There is no substitute for meeting an author in person! So it was no surprise when the Empire Book Center and New York State Library Association presented the Empire State Book Award to LIT at its New York State Writers Hall of Fame Gala on June 7, 2016, in New York City.^[2] At the Award presentation, LIT was praised in its efforts “to improve the ability and desire of incarcerated youth to read, to offer encouragement, and motivation to seek a better future.”

Literacy for Incarcerated Teens continues to expand its efforts in providing much needed supplementary services and resources in the face of shrinking budgets and resources. LIT board members, former teachers, librarians, authors, social workers, and juvenile justice advocates all agree that literacy can lift incarcerated teens from their present lives to changed lives, and LIT wants to support that transformation. LIT knows change is possible and literacy can make it happen.

For more information, contact LIT4teens@gmail.com

References

[1] Neelum Arya, “State Trends: Legislative Victories from 2005 to 2010 Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System” (report, Washington, DC: Campaign for Youth Justice, 2011), 7.

[2] “Literacy for Incarcerated Teens to be Recognized,” Empire State Center for the Book, News, 2016.

The post Literacy For Incarcerated Teens first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Parsons Dean Brian McGrath connected her to faculty member, Joel Stoehr, Assistant Professor of Modeling Technology, and thirteen architecture, product design, interior design, and lighting design students went to work. Vision and function soon merged into design. The students were challenged to improve the accessibility of NYPL’s converted kitchen-library carts, transforming them into something that would increase interest and also maximize book displays. “In thinking about this object, we tried to strike a balance between utility and aesthetics,” Parsons student Mikhail Volf said. “On the one hand, it’s a highly functional rolling case for books; on the other, it’s an approachable and aesthetically pleasing piece of furniture that fits seamlessly into its environment.”[1] Quite a lofty goal for a prison.

NYPL’s staff clearly inspired the Parsons students by sharing their own experiences working within the two correctional facilities and then inviting Professor Stoehr and his students to join them in delivering services. In shared discussions, staff and students moved from ideology to logistics—about how something as simple as a usable book cart could provide a more humanizing experience for the incarcerated. “The carts needed to be durable, easily movable and easily maintained,” said Stoer, “and the new carts attempted creative ways of holding [reading material], eliminating the need for boxes.”[2]

Sarah Ball had already briefed them on avoiding removable parts or exposed hardware, and since most correctional facilities limit the use of hardcover books, the students designed carts for paperbacks. The students created a tapered steel-framed cart supporting a cascading system of natural maple wood plywood shelves. Eight-inch casters helped the cart roll effortlessly across awkward prison thresholds.

Volf explains the key to the structural balance that the students achieved: creating a dynamic and active, not rigid, cart that uses steel tubing in combination with natural wood. The students powder-coated the cart (one hot pink) to temper the steel and to leverage its strength, and they tapered the angles of its sides. Volf notes, “Folks who’ll be using this cart see enough steel in grid formation, and we thought that we could say something different, even if we’re using similar materials.”[3] The design students clearly gained new insights about the incarcerated but never lost sight of their original purpose: user accessibility.

Professor Stoehr added that the tapered profile has an added advantage: Users can see what’s on the bottom shelf without kneeling (a request by the NYPL staff). In addition, the shelves are now tipped back, allowing book spines to face up. And the students designed one added feature, a special section reserved for periodical materials like newspapers, magazines, and comic books.[4]  Evident in their desire to please were Professor Stoehr’s and his students’ admiration and appreciation of the NYPL staff and volunteers. They weren’t overlooked. “The handles might seem like a minor detail, but they are actually the touchpoint the librarian will interface with most frequently. We wrapped steel in maple to provide staff something that will feel good in the hand and will last a good time.”[5]

“Put two librarians’ heads together, and mountains move.”[6] Author Richard Peck’s sentiment underscores the power of a librarian’s influence on the world. The Parsons students captured the NYPL Correctional Services’ energy in the spaces and furniture where these dedicated librarians work. “Through this collaborative project with NYPL, our students are using design thinking to address a social need,” Stoehr said. “A book cart doesn’t just hold books: it provides an entry point to a piece of literature—a means through which incarcerated individuals can travel, if only in the mind’s eye, beyond their present situation.”[7]

What happens when you combine books, accessibility and invention? Thinking. Anywhere. Even in jail.

References:

[1] Mikhail Volf, “Parsons Students Design Book Carts for New York City correctional Facilities,” New School press release, February 9, 2016.

[2] Joel Stoehr, assistant professor of modeling technology at Parsons, in e-mail interview with author, March 23, 2016.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Richard Peck, Here Lies the Librarian (New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2006) do you know what page this quote is on?.

[7] Joel Stoehr, “Parsons Students Design Book Carts for New York City correctional Facilities,” New School press release, February 9, 2016.

The post Collaboration Changes the Lives of the Incarcerated first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Children from low income communities use an average of thirty million words less than their affluent counterparts and experience a “drought in heard words” by age three, putting them at a huge language disadvantage long before they even enter school.[1] Early language development is vital to early literacy skills. Verbal interaction with a baby can have a huge positive effect on language development. Whether a parent or caregiver talks, sings, or reads, “neural connections of all kinds are strengthened with the baby’s rapidly growing brain.”[2] New and improved storytimes are addressing these needs.

Library storytimes traditionally focused entirely on children—now, they focus on family literacy and modelling strategies that parents can use to develop early literacy skills. Today’s storytimes emphasize education as much as entertainment and offer suggestions for re-enforcing key concepts and skills at home. Sara Feldman, president of the American Library Association, said, “Such early-literacy efforts are part of a larger transformation libraries are undergoing to become active learning centers for their communities—offering services like classes in English as a second language, computer skills, and career counseling”.[3]

The Public Library Association (PLA) and Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) concluded that a dual approach, early literacy and parent/caregiver education, would provide maximum benefits: “If the primary adults in a child’s life can learn more about the importance of early literacy and how to nurture pre-reading skills at home, the effect of library efforts can be multiplied many times.”[4] So, it’s no wonder that parents of the under-five set are competing for the limited number of seats at storytime at their public libraries. If, as current research suggests, there is a “word gap” between low income families and middle/higher income families, then New York City’s five borough ‘s public libraries, The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Library, are certainly trying to fill in that gap.

The New York Public Library just added forty-five children’s librarians to support storytime and designated twenty of its eighty-eight neighborhood branches as “enhanced literacy sites”—they will offer storytime as often as four times a week and distribute fifteen thousand “family literacy kits” that include a book and storytime schedules. In Queens, forty-one library branches are adding weekend story times to meet the demand. In Manhattan, the 67th Street branch holds storytime outdoors during the summer when it can have as many as two hundred people. And in Brooklyn, some branches distribute tickets to storytime because of space and popularity. Unlike other New York events, the libraries have yet to see storytime scalpers. City-wide, storytime attendance rose to 510,367 people in fiscal year 2015, up nearly 28 percent from 399,751 in fiscal 2013.

Other efforts in this arena include:

• ALSC has launched Babies Need Words Every Day: Talk, Read, Sing, Play, which provides shareable resources for parents to bridge the thirty million word gap. Eight visually appealing posters (available in English and Spanish) deliver simple, effective rhymes, games, and other suggestions for parents to communicate with their babies. ALSC also provides a recommended list of books.
• United for Libraries sponsors Books for Babies, a national literacy program that provides parents of newborns with a kit containing a board book for baby and baby’s first library card. Most importantly, the kits (in English or Spanish) emphasize the important role parents play in a baby’s early language development and reading tips and information from nationally-recognized educational organizations.
• The PLA/ALSC initiative, Every Child Ready to Read @ your library (ECRR) was published in 2004 and has updated and expanded to a second edition in (2011). Teaching parents and other caregivers how to support the early literacy development of their children is the basis of Every Child Ready to Read @your library^®.[5]

“It is clear that reading and being exposed to books early in life are critical factors in student success,” Anthony W. Marx, president of The New York Public Library, said. “The library is playing an increasingly important role in strengthening early literacy in this city, expanding efforts to bring reading to children and their families through quality, free story times, curated literacy programs, after-school programs and more.”[6]

References:

[1] Maya Shankar. “Empowering Our Children by Bridging the Word Gap,” The White House [Blog], June 25, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[2] Ibid

[3] Winnie Hu. “Long Line At the Public Library,” The New York Times, November 1, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[4] Every Child Ready to Read @ your library: Read, Think Grow. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[5] Every Child Ready to Read @ your library: Read, Think Grow. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

[6] Winnie Hu. “Long Line At the Public Library,” The New York Times, November 1, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.

Resources:

Order/download free ALSC posters.

ALSC’s talking points for librarians

Books for Babies kit contents

Order a Books for Babies kit.

Order Every Child Ready to Read tool kits, manuals, brochures, PowerPoint presentations, and posters.

The post The Hottest Show In Town: Storytime @ your library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

New Visions Replace Old Stereotypes
In the Pew 2015 report, Americans said public libraries impact their lives in many ways. Americans are creating new visions about library services and public libraries are responding to their needs.  Traditional stereotypes about libraries are being replaced by new paradigms about libraries and librarians. Library users’ demands have reached an impasse—one group hopes libraries will maintain its rich legacy of printed books, another constituency envisions a virtual library-scape that creates community and tech spaces inside the library building. Like much else in this fast-paced, technology-driven information world, things in the library world are changing, but its direction and focus remain the same: service and information needs.

Americans See Public Libraries As Important Community Anchors
Americans consider libraries to be important community anchors.  2/3 of all Americans believe that closing their local library would have a major impact on their community. The most frequent users—Hispanics—were in a library almost once a week compared to other users’ average of two to three times a month.  No, online help hasn’t replaced the in-person services of a librarian. Although the report sees a continued decline in library usage: 53% of Americans in 2012, 48% in 2013, and 46% in 2014, this is offset by a trend in mobile usage—mobile access to library resources has taken on more prominence and has risen 39% since 2012. In particular, African-Americans, Hispanics and low-income Americans (earning less than $30,000 a year) represent key demographic groups that the public library serves. These groups represent 76% of all library users in the United States.

Americans Want Libraries To Advance Education, Improve Digital Literacy, and Reach Special Needs Groups In the Community
The Pew Research report’s respondents wanted libraries to provide programming and services to the community. Specifically, the public overwhelmingly wanted programs that addressed these needs:

• Early literacy—85%
• Resources aligned with local school programs—84%
• Digital and computer literacy—78%
• Online security and privacy protection information—76%
• Services for the military personnel and veterans—74%
• Reading and Work spaces for patrons—64%
• Services for immigrants and 1^st generation Americans—59%
• Local business and Entrepreneur programs–52%
• 3-D Printing Services and Digital Tools—45%
• Meeting Rooms and Cultural Events—30%

The American Public Library– Not Just About Borrowing Books Anymore
The Pew Research report 2015 suggests that borrowing books seems to remain “the province of the well off and the well educated”—80% of college graduates and 76% of households with incomes over $75,000 still come to the public library to borrow a book when they probably could well afford a latte and bookstore. By contrast, getting help from a librarian seems “the province” of lower household incomes (49%) and African-American (52%) users. The report found that library users come to their local library for a variety of reasons:

• To find an inviting place “to sit, read, study or watch or listen to media.” Hispanics, African Americans, lower-income Americans, and the young utilize library computers and access the internet more often than other groups.
• To access research for school and work—60%
• To check or to send emails—58%.
• To borrow e-books—e-book usage increased 6% this year as public awareness grows.
• To seek health information—63%
• To learn about new technologies—users want to find 3-D printers and digital design programs—70%.
• To learn about community events and resources—a new role for libraries—an anchor of civic activism—68%.
• To find out about jobs or pursue job training—73%.

Library users are filing tax returns or enrolling in ESL classes.  Yes, libraries are experiencing a “crossroads moment.”  Library users aren’t coming to their library just to borrow books anymore. The 2015 report determined that “as Americans’ interests in personal enrichment and entertainment are reshaped so have Americans’ library needs.” American libraries, in turn, have provided new services and have reshaped and redesigned library spaces.

Libraries Essential Role–Literacy and Love of Reading
Americans view their local libraries positively and see them as having a special role in learning new job skills and providing services to their community.  The majority of Americans—almost 78%—still values the library’s universal role in promoting literacy and love of reading among people.According to the Pew Center’s 2015 report, libraries continue to enjoy community support.  The Pew Research Report 2015 suggests that the public library stands at a crossroads.  Americans believe in their libraries.  Americans trust their direction.  They will follow their lead.

[1] Horrigan, John R. “Libraries at the Crossroads.” Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. Pew Research Center, 15 Sept. 2015. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

The post Public Libraries in 2015–A Crossroads Moment first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The Uniondale Library is a safe, well-utilized institution in the community and Kendrick-Samuel knew that music would bring teen patrons in the doors. Through funding from the Best Buy Community Foundation, Margaret E. Edwards Trust, and a Uniondale School District 21^st Century Learning grant. Kendrick-Samuel made “young adult services” music to the Uniondale Library’s teens’ ears.

The program initially was offered as a two-part workshop led by vocalist and music teacher, Michelle Taylor Bryant. Bryant drew on her first hand experiences at Carnegie Hall and the Long Island Conservatory of Music. She offered students vocal coaching and most of all, lots of encouragement and positive praise. Bryant put together a curriculum that included getting the kids up and singing as a group plus offering tools and techniques to improve individual and group singing. She also developed students’  music appreciation—increasing their sensitivity to the power of a song, its impact on a listener, and how a song’s message can be communicated by a singer’s individual rendition. All of this culminated in a small group of the Dewey Decibels performing as an all-female group, “The Jolies,” in the library’s annual talent show. It was a hit.

When it looked like Bryant’s broken ankle would shut the show down the following year, Uniondale native Twyla Sommersell, an academic designer/editor at McGraw-Hill School Education specializing in music, stepped in. Sommersell added a few more workshops and partnered students as performers and directors, creating an interesting dimension. Students performed and the audience provided carefully guided constructive criticism. The library had assembled its own rendition of “The Voice”—and soon there was huge interest (that is, a large number of boys joined the group).

Sommersell’s goal was for “students… to perform in some way or another, promoting confidence.” Kendrick-Samuel’s goal: to get students into the library and off the streets. Both women realized their dream—when the group stood and performed its rendition of Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me” at the annual talent show. Students were empowered through music and through the library.

The Dewey Decibels are now a permanent part of the Uniondale Library Young Adult Services programming, one that everyone can’t wait to hear. Syntychia Kendrick-Samuel said, “Sure, it was great to see kids get up on stage…or see painfully shy kids perform for the first time, but the best thing about it was seeing how the library could make a difference. That’s why I became a librarian. This is the kind of thing that makes it all worth it.”

The post Dewey Decibels: Teens Creating Music at Their Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

• Public library program attendance increased 54.4% over the last 10 years—in 2012, 92.6 million people participated in any one of 4 million programs offered at a public library.^[1]
• Public library services run the gamut—from toddler story time to teen centers to homework assistance programs. Today, many libraries provide career assistance with access to federal funding for effective job training centers and job development sites.^[2] Public libraries serve their communities in many different ways.
• During the past year, public libraries touched many different people in their communities:
  – 97.5% offered free wireless internet access
  – 98% offered technology training
  – 9.5% had education and learning programs
  – 98.4% had summer reading programs
  – Almost 80% offered programs that aided patrons with job training skills.^[3]

That’s some report card!

School Libraries

School libraries, too, stand ready to ensure American students develop 21^st century information literacy skills. As the educational demands for inquiry based learning and research increase, the 2015 report emphasizes the importance of collaboration between certified school librarians and classroom teachers. “School librarians [need] to develop engaging learning tasks that integrate key critical thinking, technology, and information literacy skills with subject-area content.”

The 2015 report provided some good news—94% of education professionals noted that they saw improved learning and achievement when technology was integrated into the curriculum. Half of high school students surveyed looked for information online to gain better understanding of topics studied in class. Access to information services is a key component to blended learning environments. Overwhelmingly, 82% of school librarians identified themselves as teachers of what the report references as “digital citizenship.” The consensus is in: School librarians have become a part of an expanding and integral component of the educational environment.

Academic Libraries

In higher education, academic libraries provide a supportive environment for learning, teaching, and research within a university culture. This is true today more than ever. Academic libraries today are re-purposing space to optimize budgets but also to build digital collections, to collaborate with inter-collegiate databases, and to offer e-library resources. The 2014 National Survey of Student Engagement reported that 33% of 1^st year college students found that their experience with an academic librarian “contributed ‘very much’ to their knowledge, skills, and personal development in using information effectively.”^[4]

Academic libraries have traditionally been the central access point for research in a university and college community. Big data poses new challenges. Academic librarians have helped researchers share, analyze, and reuse it effectively.

Issues and Trends

Digital literacy, equitable access, and assessment remain high on the the list of issues and trends in the changing landscape of the library world. According to the 2013 Program for the International Assessment for Adult Competencies report, 36 million people, ages 16-65, struggle with basic tasks such as completing a job application or reading a story to their children. Coupled with these individuals are the one in six American adults who struggle with Basic English proficiency. Equitable access, digital literacy, literacy classes, service planning, and delivery as well as recruitment are all key issues that can impact a library’s ability to serve these individuals, those with limited English proficiency or low literacy skills—an ongoing challenge.

The ALA as Advocate

The American Library Association remains a strong advocacy organization to uphold the tenets of intellectual freedom and promote the importance of individual rights. In its role as advocate, the ALA supports the USA Freedom Act as it strives to protect patron privacy. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracks challenges to books. In 2014, 52% of the books challenged or banned included diverse content—non-white characters, LGBT characters, issues about race, issues about religion, and issues about a disability or mental illness, including suicide.

The ALA continues to work in developing children’s collections that promote the diversity of a community. Jamie Campbell Naidoo explored this issue in The Importance of Diversity in Library Programs and Material Collections for Children.  In turn, YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) issued its report, The Future of Library Services for and with Teens: A Call to Action,–it called for connected learning to 21^st century jobs as a learning approach that would move beyond the formal classroom as a platform for the development of teen services at the library.

Exemplary scores: New issues, continuing trends, new approaches—librarians ready to provide programs, seek solutions, and collaborate with one another.

Libraries as Anchor Institutions in Their Communities

Libraries engage every segment of our society—from early literacy through lifelong learning, through digital literacy to college study spaces. Libraries assess their individual communities’ needs and are ready to respond. In 2014, the Ferguson Municipal (MO) Public Library stood as a shining example of a library’s pivotal role as an anchor institution within its community. The Ferguson Municipal Public Library provided information, internet access, and children’s services. Perhaps most importantly it provided a quiet space amidst a storm to anyone who chose to use it. It stood as the American Library Association defines a library—as a “protectorate of the tenets of a democratic government.”^[5] Ferguson’s community, along with many communities in America, cherish the services of their community library.

References

[1]American Library Association. The State of America’s Libraries 2015: A Report from the American Library Association.

[2] Ibid, 6.

[3] Ibid, 11

[4] Ibid, 8

[5] Ibid, 2

The post The State of America’s Libraries 2015 first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

On January 12, 2015, New York City Mayor Bill DiBlasio launched the IDNYC program to all New York City residents, most notably those who had previously been unable to obtain government-accepted identification due to barriers such as gender identity, immigration status, homelessness, or other identifiers. The IDNYC opens the door to city services and programs—library cards being just one of them[1]. All City residents age 14 and above are eligible to get a municipal ID card, and enrollment is free for anyone who applies in 2015. The City has also opened six enrollment centers for City agency clients in the Department of Probation and the Human Resources Administration.“IDNYC is not only a card for all New Yorkers, it is the gateway to City services, the key to opening a bank account or getting a library card, and the ticket to many of our city’s finest cultural institutions,” said DiBlasio. “More than that, this card represents who we are: New Yorkers who value equality, opportunity, and diversity.”[1]

By any measure, the card has been a huge success. On the first day that applications became available a line snaked around the block outside the Flushing branch of the Queens Library. With one of the most linguistically diverse populations in the five boroughs, the Queens Library serves the communities that the DiBlasio administration hopes to reach.[2] Demand has been overwhelming and initial concerns about undocumented residents’ hesitancy in applying have proved unfounded. It is now necessary to make appointments in order to apply and to date most sites are making appointments well into September 2015.[3]

Lorena Cano, 36, who immigrated from El Salvador in 2004, waited outside the Flushing library with her two children, ages 6 and 3. She wanted a card she said, because “it’s important, if something happens, that the country knows who I am.” She said she also planned to take advantage of the library access for her children.[4]

The IDNYC carries many other benefits for all NYC residents:[5]

• Exclusive entertainment discounts on movie tickets, Broadway shows, sporting events, theme parks, and more with Entertainment Benefits Group.
• A 10 percent discount off annual NYC Parks Recreation Center membership for adults age 25-61 and NYC Parks Department tennis permits.
• A 20 percent discount on family memberships at all 22 YMCA centers citywide.
• A free 30-day trial and fitness evaluation with a certified trainer at all New York Sports Club, Inc. locations.
• A 5 % discount off all purchases at Food Bazaar supermarkets Monday through Friday, from 7 AM to 7 PM.
• A 25 percent discount on New York Pass, a citywide pass to 83 tourist attractions in all five boroughs.
• Free one-year membership packages at 33 of the City’s leading cultural institutions, including world class museums, performing arts centers, concert halls, botanical gardens, and zoos across the five boroughs.

Thanks to the new ID card, the three separate library systems in New York City—the Queens Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the New York Public Library—are expected to welcome many new library users. “After public schools, the public libraries of New York are the leading free provider of English-language classes,” said Tony Marx, president of the New York Public Library.[6]  Most new IDNYC card holders will be first-time library users like the ones Mr. Marx’s branches serve. They will need special library services such as ESL classes, computer classes, or literacy classes. It will be an exciting and challenging time for all of New York City’s library systems.

References

[1]”Mayor Bill De Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito Launch IDNYC, The Country’s Most Ambitious Municipal Identification Program.” New York City. Gov. City of New York, 12 Jan. 2015. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. <nyc id card and library benefits>  http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/021-15/mayor-bill-de-blasio-council-speaker-melissa-mark-viverito-launch-idnyc-country-s-most#/0

[2] Flegenheimer, Matt. “New York City’s ID Card Program Draws a Large Response by.” The New York Times 12 Jan. 2015. The New York Times. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/nyregion/new-york-citys-id-card-program-draws-a-large-response.html?_r=0

[3] Winsor, M. (2015, January 25). Illegal Immigrant Identification Card: IDNYC Enrollment Appointments To Begin, Following High Demand. International Business Times.

[4]  Ibid

[5] Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito Launch IDNYC, The Country’s Most Ambitious Municipal Identification Program…

[6] Smith, J. (2015, January 5). ID Cards Will Also Work at NYC’s Libraries.

The post IDNYC Card—A Card With Many Benefits first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

United for Libraries has created Authors for Libraries, giving authors and libraries an opportunity to connect via the Internet. This innovative website gives authors a way to feature their books in a searchable database that can be accessed by libraries nationwide. For the relatively low cost $39 annual membership fee, authors get:

• A link to the author’s or book’s personal website where library staff or Friends of Libraries groups can research information and make contact.
• A subscription to the “Voice for America’s Libraries” newsletter, with information on how to become a better advocate for libraries.
• To add a personal quote about libraries to the Library Quotes database for Friends of Libraries to use in their publicity and marketing materials.

The program not only connects authors and libraries but also informs authors about library issues. United for Libraries could not recruit better advocates.

Barnes and Nobles already knows it, as does any small bookstore. Marketing 101. Getting customers in the door is half the battle. After that, it’s easy to make a sale. United for Libraries, a national network formed in 2009 from The Friends of Library and the Association of Library Trustees and Advocates, shares the same belief: libraries need users. They need people to come in the door. Libraries should be the heart and soul of social and intellectual activities in every community. Past-President Peggy Danhof explains the group’s mission. She urges library advocates to unite citizens’ voices and “strengthen all voices in support of libraries.” And what better way than to host an author talk or presentation? Author talks are a wonderful way to generate interest in visiting the library for all users—children, young adults, and adults. The Authors for Libraries program makes it easy. Authors can easily join online with credit card, via paper form, or by contacting the ALA offices at (800) 545-2433, ext. 2161 between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Here are a few of the “Tips for Contacting Libraries to Present a Program” from the Authors for Libraries site:

1. Join the United for Libraries “Authors and Libraries” listserv that invites authors, librarians, and other interseted individuals to exchange ideas, information, opportunities for author programs, announcements of new books, and more.
2. Use http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/librarysearch/ to find libraries in your touring range or region.
3. Call or email selected library or libraries. Check the library’s website to see to whom you should address your request.
4. Introduce yourself and let them know about your book(s). Include information about your webpage, reviews, special area of expertise, and experience in speaking to audiences.
5. Discuss your idea for a program opportunity with them including all the details.
6. If the library is interested, what would you require in return?

In addition, the site offers “Tips for Booking an Author” to Friends of Libraries groups and librarians as well. Finding an author and then finding one within a library’s budget can be a daunting process. The tips for these groups include:

• Joining the “Authors & Libraries” listserv
• Plan ahead (they recommend a six month window)
• Select author based on this three prong approach—budget, author’s proximity, and subject matter.
• Contact via website, email, or publisher.
• Provide author with information about the event, the budget, the type of program, schedule, the amount of publicity that will be provided, and whether they will be able to sell books or not.
• Prepare for the event by ordering books (if needed), ensure publicity (at least two months in advance), and include notices to the community via library website, newsletter, twitter, and email blasts.
• See also United for Libraries Fact Sheet #9: Planning a Book and Author Event for more tips and suggestions.

This, of course, cements the rationale for establishing Authors for Libraries in the first place.  By bridging the needs of author and library, United for Libraries can fulfill and envision some of its mission: education, governance, fundraising, promotion, and advocacy of libraries through the formation of Friends of Libraries groups, Library Foundations, or Trustees at the local, state, and national level. Simply put: Authors for Libraries is one more reminder to the community—libraries matter.  They are vital to you.  They meet your needs. Inviting authors into the library is certainly one way of inviting the community in. It is also certainly one way of building an advocacy base in support of libraries.

Authors for Libraries is a new way for authors and libraries to connect.  Whether you are an author or a librarian, this program is well worth exploring.

The post Authors For Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

If anyone doubts that libraries respond to their communities in times of emergencies, the Ferguson Municipal Public Library remained the one calming and stable constant in this Missouri town’s tumultuous life as schools, businesses, and other government agencies closed after the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown.

Even when sometimes violent protests erupted, the only librarian on staff, Scott Bonner, kept the library doors open. And when he reached out for help via social networking, many volunteers as well as supporters around the nation joined him in preserving the one glimmer of light during a very dark time in this community.

Although Bonner had only assumed his position in July, he had already developed a relationship with local businesses and the community by opening the library as a meeting space. During a recent interview Bonner explained he had “a very broad definition of librarianship.” [2] That’s why the Small Business Administration, through Bonner’s invitation, had previously used the Ferguson Library as a staging point to meet with business owners affected by storm damage in order to offer emergency loans.

As Ferguson’s sole librarian with a staff of several part-time librarian assistants and one part-time administrative assistant, Bonner operates in much the same way as many small public library directors.  Bonner wears many hats, library director, children’s librarian, reference librarian, all rolled into one.

In August, however, he could never have anticipated how broadly he would define that concept of librarianship, and as a result, elevated that concept, too.

As SWAT team police officers swarmed the streets of this divided community, the news media from around the world occupied every inch of space in this small town, and the Governor of Missouri declared a state of emergency, Bonner made the decision to keep the library open and hung this sign in its window instead:

During difficult times

The library is a quiet oasis

Where we can catch our

Breath, learn and think

About what to do next.

Please help to keep our oasis

Peaceful and serene.

Thank you.[3]

When area schools closed, with the help of volunteers, the library offered classes to up to 200 school children with nowhere else to go.[4] It offered computer access to residents who had none. It offered the news media a place of respite. With the help of some volunteers, Bonner created healing kits for children.

In one of many interviews, Bonner conceded that “if I had any sense, I should have shut down.” Yet he has continued to deliver an important message about libraries and being a librarian.  He emphasizes that what he did was “not notable, just noticeable”.[5]

In interview after interview, Bonner reveals the character, values, and strength of conviction that shaped his decision to remain open and that also shape his role as a librarian.  As he responds to the many questions asked about his decision, his responses always speak to the need to serve the community, to provide information services, and to foster free and open communication.[6]

In an interview with BuzzFeed, he explained that “this is totally, exactly, right in the wheel house of what any library does, what every library does. We have a dramatic moment, and a dramatic circumstance caught the nation’s attention, but this is exactly what libraries do every day.”[7]

Ashley Ford of BuzzFeed tweeted that the Ferguson library would be open and solicited donations.  “We all know that books save lives, please donate…”  Saves lives.  That resonated with the world in the midst of a town infuriated by the loss of life. Authors Neil Gaiman and John Greene joined her as did Reading for Rainbows.  It seemed that everyone admired this little library’s courage.

Donations keep coming in. Right now, donations exceed Ferguson’s $400,000 yearly operating budget. Bonner looks forward to hiring a Children’s Librarian this year.

Angie Manfredi, head of youth services for Los Alamos County Library System, NM, started a Twitter campaign soliciting books for the library. She created a wish list for FMPL on Powell’s,[8]

“Thanks to her efforts, we’re going to have one of the strongest collections in the state for civic engagement, civil rights history, and recovering from trauma,” beams Bonner.

No one can dispute his courage during the chaos and conflict in Ferguson.  Buildings burned several blocks from the library building and the doors still remained open.

As a librarian, Bonner’s courage extended well beyond physically opening those doors.  His actions, along with his insights about librarianship might have opened minds about the role of libraries.  It certainly highlighted the important role the Ferguson library played in the lives of that community in crisis.

One little library, one big librarian, one shared vision and dream:  Libraries can transform lives. They serve communities.Every day.

References

[1] Bonner, Scott. 2014. Twitter message from Ferguson Municipal Public Library. (#Ferguson Library@ferguson library). August 15, 2014, 6:07 PM.

[2] An Interview with Scott Bonner. (2014, January 1). (2014, January 1). The Magpie Librarian: a librarian’s guide to modern life and etiquette. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from Magpielibrarian.wordpress.com

[3]Ibid.

[4] Axelrad, J. (2014, December 10). Ferguson library, a community pillar during unrest, gets $350,000 in donations (video). The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1210/Ferguson-library-a-community-pillar-during-unrest-gets-350-000-in-donations-video

[5] Miller, R. (2014, September 15). It’s What We Do: Service and sanctuary in Ferguson. Library Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/09/opinion/editorial/its-what-we-do-service-and-sanctuary-in-ferguson-editorial/

[6] An Interview with Scott Bonner. (2014, January 1). (2014, January 1). The Magpie Librarian: a librarian’s guide to modern life and etiquette. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from Magpielibrarian.wordpress.com

[7] Ford, A. (2014, November 25). Buzz Feed Books. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from http://www.buzzfeed.com/tag/books

[8] Axelrad, J. (2014, December 10).

Cover Photo Credit: Loavesofbread (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The post The Little Library That Lent a Hand: Ferguson Municipal Public Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Former executive-director of LIT and a former school librarian in a juvenile detention center, Jessica Fenster-Sparber, observes that “jails, detention centers, and prisons provide a unique opportunity to address young people’s literacy gaps…excellent school libraries are in dire need at these sites.”[2]

The Challenges

There is a lot more to consider than just encouraging reluctant readers to read. Challenges include:

1. Collection development.
2. Institutional compliance and cooperation.
3. Inclusion of incarcerated teens as part of the public library’s young adult/outreach services.
4. Collaboration with school, correctional facilities and public libraries.

Books for Incarcerated Youth

Public libraries need to recognize literacy’s role in empowering incarcerated teens. Dr. Ernest Morrell, Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) at Teachers College, Columbia University, explains it best: “Literacy is not just about decoding text. It’s about becoming a superior human being that can act powerfully upon the world.”[3]

Public librarians can access many specialized lists such as The New York Public Library’s Incarcerated Teens: A Booklist and School Library Journal’s From the Underground column.

The good news, however, is that young adult librarians already have the tools to work with this population. Dr. Alfred Tatum, current Director of the University of Illinois Chicago Reading Clinic, calls for the use of enabling text, ”texts that [minority students], (60% of incarcerated teens), find meaningful and that will help them…move beyond some of the tur­moil-related experiences they encounter outside school.” Dr. Tatum stresses that enabling text can “serve as a road map for being, doing, thinking, and acting.” [4]

Incarcerated teens do not want a “one size fits all” collection. Yes, they want urban fiction, but fantasy and other young adult genres appeal to them also. It is up to the librarian to get to know each individual audience.

School Libraries/Public Libraries Partnerships

Collaborative efforts between school districts and public library systems increase programming efforts, too.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Boys Totem Town, a juvenile detention center, was able to host Young Adult author, Francisco X. Stork, through a partnership with the Ramsey County Library, which helped fund the project. Stork spoke to students about his novel Behind the Eyes (Dutton, 2006), which deals with reform school. The Ramsey County Library’s outreach regularly visits the facility with both books and programs.[5]

Sabrina Carnesi is school librarian at a STEM magnet school in Newport News, Virginia. She promotes literacy services to many formerly detained youth. Her school library’s “Young Gents and Young Ladies” book discussion group addresses tough topics that these kids confront outside of their academic day. [6]

Young adult librarians and school librarians need to be attuned to teens inside facilities and those recently released. They share the same literacy concerns.

Innovation Gained Through Cooperation

Correctional facilities and public libraries are teaming up for pilot programs as new technologies emerge in library services. The correctional facility is a very important stakeholder in planning and is vital to program success.

Presently, Passages Academy has become the first school library to get iPads into the hands of its incarcerated students with, of course, the cooperation of the New York City Department of Corrections.[7]

Through the Urbana Free Library, the University of Illinois School of LIS and IMLS Mix IT Up, Joe Coyle offers a Teen Open Lab, a weekly digital music production program at the Champaign County JDC . The library and JDC hope that these pre-adjudicated teens will continue their library association through this program.

Promoting a Life-long Activity

In many states, teens as young as sixteen, are incarcerated in adult jails. Reading and literacy skills can be the one positive thing they leave jail with.

Barbara Roos, coordinator of teen services for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Louisiana and outreach coordinator to the local juvenile detention, gives them another—a Library Exit Packet. It includes an information packet about her library and its services, bookmarks for Text-a-Librarian and online databases, a coupon worth $5 at the library book store, a Fresh Start coupon to erase any fines they had, a previously approved library card, and a free book.[8]

Ms. Roos’ philosophy: We want to keep them reading.

Literacy and Education—The Better Alternatives

Whatever the reasons why they became incarcerated, promoting literacy and education are far better solutions than incarceration. One million dollars invested in incarceration reduces 300 crimes; one million dollars invested in education reduces 600 crimes.[9]  Literacy works.

[1] Chung, S. (2014). Literacy for Incarcerated Teens. School Library Journal, Fall (September). Retrieved October 13, 2014, from http://www.slj.com/2014/09/literacy/literacy-for-incarcerated-teens/#_

[2] Ibid

[3] Morrell, E. (Keynote Speaker) (2014, June 3). Cultivating Youth Voices: Literacy and Agency for African American Males. Building a Bridge to Literacy. Lecture conducted from School of Information and Library Science at UNC, Chapel Hill.

[4] Tatum, A. (Keynote Speaker) (2014, June 3). Bridge to Literacy. Building a Bridge to Literacy. Lecture conducted from School of Information and Library Science at UNC, Chapel Hill.

[5] Marta, M. (2013). Partners In Success. School Library Journal, 11(1) (January 2013), 23-28.

[6] (E-mail interview, 10/09/14).

[7] Fenster-Sparber, J. A.Kennedy, C.Leon, & Schwartz. (2012). E-reading Across the Digital Divide. Young Adult Library Services, 10(4) (2013, Summer), 38-41.

[8] Roos, B. (2012, Spring). Beyond the Bars Serving Teens In Lockdown. Young Adult Library Services, 10(2), 12-14.

[9] Knewton, Breaking the Prison Cycle through Education. Infographic. Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. 2013. http://www.knewton.com/prison-education/.

The post When the Prison Doors Slam Shut On a Teen: Hope in Literacy first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

New Americans Welcome Here

The Queens Library services what some might consider an almost impossible task—the most ethnically diverse population in the United States.  47% of the Queens Library’s patrons speak a language other than English.

How that’s done has been QL’s challenge since the 1970s when the library initiated its New Americans Program.  It has strived to develop a multilingual collection, a multilingual database and to provide multilingual services. It is a “user-friendly in any language” library in all of its branches.

According to the Queens Library, it’d be almost impossible to find someone who speaks every language in every local branch.  However, they explain that the library conducts extensive staff training in non-verbal communication and cultural awareness to help patrons and staff. It has even developed a library linqua franca—an adapted universal sign language/pointing guide to target key areas of service in the library.

Multicultural Services—More than Books

The library’s community branches offer ESL classes, Citizenship and Naturalization classes, and Computer Literacy classes. The Central branch offers comprehensive newcomer services such as immigration form and application assistance, financial literacy classes, and other cultural orientation classes.

Presently, the QL maintains Multilingual Web Picks in 10 languages so patrons can find the best websites in their native languages on anything from Albania to Zen.  Queens Library explains that the multilingual media center is very popular,  since network links to foreign media sources and news services are very important for many individuals.

Over 26 Languages and Growing 

The multilingual collection now exceeds over 26 languages—this represents the largest collection in the US for general readers in Spanish (157,000 items) and Chinese (256,000) (both Mandarin and Chinese simplified), extensive fiction and non-fiction collections in Korean (53,000 items), Russian (53,000), and South Asian Languages (46,000 items in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu and Punjabi). (http://www.queenslibrary.org/sites/default/files/about-us/Facts%20Sheet.pdf)

Queens has the largest Asian population in NYC—49.3% of the population is either Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, or Nepalese.

Queens Library says that most of the library’s circulating material is popular reading—romance novels, mysteries, self-help books, and cookbooks. However, these aren’t necessarily direct translations of American publishers. The library takes great effort to access materials from overseas libraries and publishers in order to continue cultural contact and authenticity.

David Baldacci may be a household name to readers in the United States but for a Chinese reader, Keigo Higashino is more likely the name that comes to mind. This Japanese writer has been translated into Chinese and has been on the bestseller list since 2007 (http://paper-republic.org/news/newsitems/80/).

Serving the Whole Community: The First, Second, and Heritage Language Community

The flagship QL Branch in Flushing includes international newspapers, magazines, and books. It also includes the C.Y. Han collection on Chinese culture—a collection of bilingual English-Chinese books as well as reference books relating to Chinese civilization. 90% of these materials can be borrowed. The Window of Shanghai and the Window of Dynamic Korea are also housed here.

QL’s awareness and respect of first, second, and “heritage” language speakers embraces the spirit of multiculturalism that it fosters. QPL serves the immigrant populations of Queens as well as succeeding generations who want to preserve their language heritage.

The C.Y. Han Collection is a good example of a native language collection that preserves its past while still including culturally relevant material that interests contemporary Chinese speakers as well.

Multiculturalism as a Fundamental Characteristic of a Library

Queens Library serves its community’s changing demographic by consistently reaching out to newcomers, offering them services, and providing them reading.

Multilingual collections are a foundation of outreach services for:

• Family literacy
• Information services
• Citizenship classes and information
• Community services and access
• English as a second language classes
• Digital literacy
• Homework help

Introducing diverse groups to library services also assists these groups in linking with other agencies or services that might benefit them as they assimilate into a new culture and country.

The Eyes and Ears of the World

The community librarian is the eyes and ears of data collection. QL constantly monitors census data, citywide statistics, and even surrounding hospital birth records to track changes in neighborhood demographics in order to keep its local collections relevant to its community’s needs.

Queens Library shared a retired librarian’s insight into multilingual collection development: “You can map the world’s troubles by looking at the book collections in the Queens Library.”  In the early 1990s, Queens saw an influx of Chinese from Hong Kong as it was seceded back to China. As a result, there was a demand for , authors, which QL ably met. Last year, in Jackson Heights–nicknamed the Little Philippines– the library noticed a much greater demand for requests for books on typhoons after Typhoon Haiyan. Jackson Heights now has 9 copies of books on the subject in several languages; the Central branch now carries 44.

In a world connected by information needs, QL recognizes the multicultural role it plays. The library’s multilingual collection is the perfect hub for its community’s citizens to connect to their former residences as they make new homes here.

Lost in Translation

Multilingual collections do not equate to direct translations. Likewise, QL understands that assimilation does not equal instant citizenship. It is a process to become a new citizen in a new country. Respecting the cultures within our library’s communities by maintaining the languages they speak is the very touchstone of multiculturalism. The multilingual collections at the Queens Library embrace the unique character of each stone in the diverse mosaic of the Queens community that it serves.

The post A Library Can Say Hello in Almost Any Language first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

• Are they prepared in terms of collections, services, spaces, programs, staffing and communications?
• Do they have the visibility, identity, and partners necessary to connect with Boomers?
• Are they ready and able to allocate the resources necessary to respond to the age wave?

The traditional paradigm, equating senior services with sedentary and retired adults or homebound individuals, has been replaced by a healthier and more active 55+ population, one that is not restricted to a “one size fits all” description. Some Boomers are still in the workforce, while others are looking to engage in the same activities as their younger counterparts.

Diantha Dow Schull, principal of D.D. Schull Associates and author of 50+ Library Services: Innovation in Action (ALA Editions, 2013) emphasizes that “chronological age is less important than individual preferences and circumstances.”

In some communities, libraries are creating new relationships with older adults by re-branding themselves as lifelong learning centers as well as establishing themselves as vibrant community centers where older adults can engage in and interact with one another.

Many libraries have developed innovative and creative programs and approaches to working with these Boomers including:

• Next Chapter, @ New York Public Library: special programming, new classes, multiple partnerships, grant-funded projects, a blog, and a Facebook page.

• Senior Moments blog (http://www.bklynlibrary.org/blog/senior-moments ), Brooklyn Public Library’s blog that showcases unique programs for Boomers, such as Xbox gaming classes, poetry readings and computer training at the library.Book to Action (PDF), Multnomah County (Oreg.): book-discussion model where participants read a text concerning a particular social issue, such as local farming or domestic abuse, and then visit a local nonprofit working on that issue to help with a service project or community event.

• The Creative Aging Public Libraries Project, a program developed by Lifetime Arts in a partnership with the Westchester (N.Y.) Library System: an arts education program for older adults.

• Connect Care, Queens Public Library: educational health programs and free health screenings at eight Queens library branches in partnership with Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Still, many libraries lag behind; some continue to offer limited “senior” services. Schull says that large-print books, weekly movie programs, and outreach to senior centers or nursing homes are important and certainly merit attention in order to meet the needs of the frail and isolated elderly.

However, Schull emphasizes that libraries need to acknowledge the demographic changes taking place across the country and the potential for libraries to become community centers for the many independent, active, engaged older adults who are redefining aging in America.

The ALA Office of Literacy and Outreach (OLOS) Toolkit, Keys to Engaging Older Adults @ your library: Libraries can empower older adults with engaging programs and services, offers suggestions for programming, key terms, links to resources and partner agencies as well as funding resources and tools for writing a successful grant. It is an invaluable resource for library systems that want to improve or develop a program that keeps pace with the changing face of the Baby Boomer population.

The Baby Boom population has changed the world many times in the last 70 or so years: a 1950s population boom, the advent of Rock and Roll, as well as a Civil Rights and War protest that changed the face of history.

Now, they are demanding changes in library services.

James Welbourne, City Librarian Director at the New Haven, Connecticut Free Public Library, describes the challenges that libraries have in meeting these demands: “There is a new language addressing this population and it is not “senior.” It is about being mature adult, the third age, the next challenge, productive aging, and much more…We have a lot of ground to cover.”

Whatever word we eventually choose, there is no debate—library services for individuals 55+ need to be re-defined in new and creative ways.

*Blogger, Marybeth Zeman, writes from firsthand experience—a “Baby Boomer”, born in the 1950s, she returned to get her MLIS at St. John’s University in 2009 and is presently pursuing a second career in library science. She intends on providing library services as well as receiving them.

Works Cited

[1] Baby Boomer Generation Fast Facts. (2013, November 6). CNN. US. Retrieved August 18, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/us/baby-boomer-generation-fast-facts/

[2] Schull, D. (2013). 50+ Library Services: Innovation in Action. Chicago: ALA Editions.

[3] Outreach and Diversity. (n.d.). American Library Report 2014. Retrieved August 18, 2014, from http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2014/diversity

[4] Ibid

The post Baby Boomers Aren’t Called “Seniors” Anymore – Next Level Programming for Older Adults first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Library outreach services to the incarcerated aren’t just about the people inside the jail. Their children and families benefit from library outreach services as well. Long before our nation’s current shift of attention toward its broken prisons and jails, our leading library systems were focused on serving those in jail and their families within the communities.

Children of the Incarcerated

The National Family Resource Network estimates that there are at least 2 million children with an incarcerated parent. Yet that figure doesn’t count the close to 10 million children who have a parent who is under some form of criminal supervision such as probation or parole. [1]

Nicholas Higgins, Director of Outreach Services at Brooklyn Public Library, was well aware of those figures when he started the “Daddy and Me” program while serving as the “jail” librarian on Rikers Island. That program, which fostered family literacy, included children’s visits with incarcerated fathers at Rikers and DVDs of fathers’ reading aloud books sent home to their children. Suddenly, an incarcerated father didn’t seem so far away, thanks to library outreach services.

Televisit

Now, thanks to Nick’s vision, the BPL, a lot of shared collaboration, and an innovative CISCO telecommunications system called Televisit, those “Daddies” are even closer to home.

Televisit, located at the BPL Central Library branch, is a shared video feed between Rikers Island and BPL where inmates and families participate in a shared family literacy program. It is meant to supplement, not replace, in-person visits.

Having Someone In Jail Is Not Something To Be Ashamed Of

Children, from birth 10 years-old, can participate in “televisits” in one of seven semi-private rooms in the Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons at the Central branch of the library. The rooms, filled with Muppets, stuffed animals, books, crayons, and giveaways, are inviting and welcoming. Sesame Street characters from the Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration video series have been donated by Lynn Chwatsky along with support material from the program.[2] The Televisit rooms, off to one side, offer privacy, but in no way are hidden—BPL wants to reinforce the message that having a loved one in jail is not something to be ashamed of.

Offering Children of the Incarcerated Support

According to Families Left Behind: The Hidden Costs of Incarceration and Reentry, children of the incarcerated experience PTSD symptoms and experience the same grief as a child who has lost a parent—with good reason, too.[3] The 2013 Sentencing Project Annual Report found that 59% of parents in state prisons and 45% in federal prisons had not had any personal visits with their children while in prison.[4]

And children of the incarcerated receive very little support—often they receive just the opposite—teasing, bullying, shame. Through the Televisit program and BPL’s Children’s Services, the children of the incarcerated are being offered that support.

Televisit Overcomes The Obstacles of Time And Distance

Televisit offers the child and the parent help in overcoming the obstacles that the Women’s Prison Association counts as ways to discourage children from visiting a parent in jail[5]:

• Inadequate information about visiting procedures.
• Difficulty scheduling visits.
• Geographic location of prison facilities.
• Family’s inability to afford transportation.
• Visiting procedures that are uncomfortable or humiliating.
• Visiting rooms that are inhospitable to children.
• Foster parents or caregivers who are unwilling to facilitate visits.

Instead of a “drug dog” sniffing a baby stroller in the visitor’s room, Televisit offers the child both a comfortable, safe, and welcoming environment as well as a shared literacy experience with a parent.

Nick Higgins understands that shared moments between a child, a parent, and a book are ones that a child never forgets and he wants to create those moments despite a parent’s incarceration. He wants to expose both parent and child to the library services available to them at the public library. For both parent and child, this shared moment can be a lifelong learning opportunity.

Library Outreach Services Is Where It All Begins

The touchpoint to the parents and the children is at New York Public Library’s and now Brooklyn Public Library’s collaborative jail book services at Riker’s Island. Outreach library services to the incarcerated, book services, literacy programs, and re-entry information services provide the connection to their families.

The services to the incarcerated at Riker’s along with services to their children and families converge at the intersection of what we call “outreach services.” Televisit is a perfect example of services interfacing with each other in order to fulfill the needs of more than one part of the library community.

No One Forgets Being Read To

Nicholas Franklin, Coordinator of Transitional Services at BPL, recently sat in at Rikers with one of the inmates while the inmate visited via Televisit with his one and a half year old at BPL. She excitedly ran around the Televisit room picking up toys to show her father as he responded: he read her a book, he sang a song, he played peek-a-boo. All the while, other inmates passed by; some correctional officers peeked in. The inmate was as engaged as his daughter, oblivious to his surroundings or any interruptions. Finally, his daughter ran up to the large screen and began to blow kisses at the screen. He blew kisses back.

The inmate’s lack of inhibition and his engagement manifested his concern for his daughter and Franklin observed, “I think this experience helped him realize what a positive effect he could have on her life.”

Televisit and Jail Library Outreach Services

BPL’s Televisit embraces the family’s role in early literacy and embraces the library’s role in re-entry and outreach services to the incarcerated.

Televisit recognizes the stark reality that you don’t have to be arrested to be caught in the cycle of incarceration.

The post Library Outreach Services Helps Families of the Incarcerated Stay Connected first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Starr Latronia stresses that libraries that include diversity in its programs and collections have the potential to help children make “cross-cultural connections and to develop the skills necessary to function in a culturally pluralistic society”¹.  Books that promote diversity should not be reserved for special ethnic holidays; they should be celebrated every day.

Programs like Story Walk Park Street in Hartford, Connecticut, celebrate diverse ethnic and racial communities through children’s literature and engaging, fun and family literacy-oriented activities. Hartford Public Library’s walk took children around the largely Hispanic neighborhood, Frog Hollow, surrounding the Park branch of the Hartford Public Library, and the Portuguese neighborhood, Parkville, served by the Dwight branch².

Using enlarged pages of the books, Quinito Day and Night by Ina Cumpiano in Spanish and English, and The Giant Turnip by Henriette Barkow in Portuguese and English, participants were given passports and the location of each page of the story, located in local businesses.  The entire community was involved—teachers, librarians, parents, guardians, children and “guest travelers” from other neighborhoods in Hartford.

Leticia Cotto, Branch Manager, at the Park Branch, said that “it was exciting to see the interaction between the children and teachers, librarians or parents leading the Story Walk and to listen to the children reading out loud in the community and talking about their book.” (Email interview, May 20, 2014).  Sharing these stories allowed the diverse communities of Hartford to share social identity and increased awareness and appreciation of one another.  Most of all, it fostered a community cohesiveness and respect for Hartford’s diversity.

Leticia spoke at a recent breakfast hosted by MOSAIC, Multicultural Outreach Services and Information Center, a division of the Suffolk County Library Association RASD.  Elma Lugo, Spanish-speaking librarian at the Longwood Public Library and Co-Director of MOSAIC, believes that “the more you become aware of other cultures and backgrounds your life becomes richer…In my conversation classes…they learn, but I feel I learn so much more….such as tolerance, patience, other cultures, and service” (Email interview, May 22, 2014). MOSAIC’s mission, “…to promote cultural awareness and develop strategies for effective outreach services” is one example of the many organizations and special interest groups that public librarians can tap into for professional guidance and/or professional development³. Joining one of the ALA’s Associations of Ethnic Librarians can provide a public librarian with an invaluable source of information on books, resources and professional development opportunities.⁴

There is a need for public libraries to become more inclusive and welcoming to the diverse cultures that exist within and without of their communities.  Children of any color need a diverse collection of books that represent the rainbow of cultures and communities that public libraries serve.

RESOURCES

1. LaTronica, S. (2014, May 1). Libraries Working to Bridge the Cultural Divide. Huffington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
2. G, R. (2014, March 18). Hartford’s First Story Walk. HPL Blogs. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
3. Reaching Out To Unique Communities. MOSAIC. Suffolk County Library Association, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 May 2014.
4. “Associations of Ethnic Librarians.” ALA Office of Diversity. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.

The post Can Children See Themselves in the Books on Your Shelves? Part II first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Libraries can bridge this cultural divide, so that children of all colors can benefit from exposure to literature that mirrors themselves, their culture and their families and develop a respect for those who are different from them.

In a March 2014 New York Times op-ed, author, Walter Dean Myers, asks the question, “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?”¹ His question echoes the 2013 study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s statistics: Of 3,200 children’s books published in 2013, just 93 were about black people, 57 about Latinos, 69 about Asians or Pacific/Asian Americans and 39 about Native Americans².

The CCBC’s answer to Myers’ question is what propelled me into becoming a librarian.  As an ESL teacher, I encountered many newly arrived students who had no prior experience whatsoever with a public library.  There was a missing link in their emerging English literacy—experience with a library and books that they could identify with.  My intervention then was a field trip to the public library and their first library card. They ran excitedly from book stack to free Internet to magazine section as if they were given a ticket to Disney World.  Their excitement was contagious; I was soon enrolled in library school.

And now, as the “unofficial” school librarian in a jail school program, I have student after student, all boys of color, tell me that they either never had a library card or had never visited the public library.  These American-born students lack the same experience that my former ESL students did and lack the same access to books with characters who they can identify with or who reflect their cultural heritage.

Sadly, these young men’s lack of library experiences has resulted in the “harmful effects” that Starr LaTronica points to in Libraries Working To Bridge The Cultural Divide. There, she links children not being exposed to “print or digital materials that reflect themselves or their culture” with low self-esteem, intolerance toward others, and cultural invisibility³.

There is, indeed, a cultural divide in books that celebrate America’s diversity.

Librarians, especially children’s librarians, need to seek out and read diverse literature. Crystall Brunelle, school librarian, offers these suggested blog sites: Diversity on the Shelf, Latin@s in KidLit, or Africa Reading Challenge.⁴. In addition, the CCBC compiled an extended list of blogs and reading resources⁵.

Aptly, the director of CCBC, Kathleen Horning, emphasizes that “buying a book is a political act.” She stresses this simple axiom: “If we want to see change, if we want to see more diversity in literature, we have to buy the books.” We need to add them to our collections.

Librarians need to actively seek the books that promote diversity and build that bridge between cultures.  ALA’s recommended lists such as the Coretta Scott King Awards, promoting the best in children’s African-American literature, or the Pura Belpre Award, which lists the best books that celebrate Hispanic heritage, are two good places to begin.  But lists and recommendations abound.  This month, School Library Journal also provided readers with a list of culturally diverse books.⁶.I hope these lists encourage you to expand your YA collection. In part two of my article, I’ll discuss innovative programs that promote cultural diversity.

RESOURCES

1. Myers, W. D. (2014, March 15). Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books? The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
2. Children’s Books by and about People of Color Published in the United States. (n.d.). Children’s Book By and About People of Color. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
3. LaTronica, S. (2014, May 1). Libraries Working to Bridge the Cultural Divide. Huffington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
4. Brunelle, C. (2014). Everyday Diversity: A Teacher Librarian Gives Practical Tips To Make a Difference. School Library Journal, I(Diversity). Retrieved May 20, 2014.
5. Diversity Resources. (n.d.). Reading For Life Blog. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
6. Culturally Diverse Books Selected by SLJ’s Review Editors. (2014, May 1). School Library Journal. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from

The post Can Children See Themselves in the Books on Your Shelves? Part I first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

GED® Isn’t the Only Word to Use
Several tests have been developed to meet the challenges of the Common Core Standards, and individual state education departments can choose from the many available: GED® -Ready, an updated version of Pearson Vue’s former exam, the TASC-R (Test Accessing Secondary Completion) designed by McGraw Hill, and the HiSET® Program (High School Equivalency Test) developed by ETS (Educational Testing Services) and ITP (University of Iowa Testing Service) Now, each qualifies as an approved high school equivalency diploma. GED® -Ready has been updated in most states. However, HiSET® is set to go in ten states—Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Wyoming.² The TASC-R replaces the GED® in New York, Illinois, Indiana, and West Virginia.³ New Jersey has elected to allow test-takers the option of choosing any of these three assessments as a pathway toward a state-issued diploma.⁴

Libraries Need to Spread the Word—Time is Running Out
While the GED® isn’t valid anymore, some of its old sub-test scores may be. However, time is running out. The GED Testing Service’s community service campaign, The Closeout Campaign, informed test-takers that previous passing sub-test scores were wiped out in January 2014.⁵ But that’s not true for the TASC-R service and HiSET® users—they’re using those sub-test scores. Both have optioned in a two year grandfathering period (2014-2015) for previous passing GED® sub-test scores.⁶⁷

The Challenge Is @ Our Library
All of these tests, aligned to the newest Common Core standards, will be challenging for both the test-takers and the test-givers, with public libraries certainly being one. The GED® -Ready is a completely CBT (Computer Based Test) while the TASC-R and HiSET® can be administered either on the computer or by paper and pencil.⁸⁹ Adult learners who lack computer skills will have a more difficult time taking the GED® -Ready. This “digital” illiteracy could restrict GED access for many in our communities, especially older learners, second language learners, and the economically disadvantaged. It’s not just the GED® that’s changed—the whole system has changed. How is your public library getting the message out there?

There Are Many Paths
State education departments are offering other alternate pathways, too. Not all adult learners succeed by taking exams. One alternative that’s been widely accepted is the National External Diploma Program (NEDP). There are presently 76 NEDP centers in seven states now offering a high school equivalency diploma.¹⁰

The NEDP is a distance learning, performance-based assessment and offers some adult learners advantages

• Geared toward working adults,
• Credit awarded for existing skills
• Focus on career pathways.

Another alternative pathway afforded veterans who left school in order to enlist in the military and serve during specific time periods, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War can receive a high school diploma through Operation Recognition. Operation Recognition has awarded high school diplomas, even posthumously, to many veterans.

Different Pathways to a HS Equivalency Diploma

• GED® -Ready
• TASC-R
• HiSET®
• NEDP
• Operation Recognition – Contact your local school district/state education department

The library continues to make lifelong learning for everyone possible, accessible, and affordable. There are many pathways to a high school equivalency diploma and the library continues to provide direction and to offer the necessary tools to assist in making the climb.

Resources

1. GED Testing Service. “About GED Test Service.” GED Testing Service. (accessed February 23, 2014).
2. Baran, Jason. “That’s 10: New Jersey is 10th State to Approve ETS’s HiSET® Program for High School Equivalency.” Educational Testing Service. (accessed February 23, 2014).
3. CTB/McGraw Hill LLC. “New Jersey and West Virginia Approve TASC.” Test Accessing Secondary Completion. (accessed February 23, 2014).
4. New Jersey Department of Education. “Christie Administration Announces New Adult Education.” New Jersey Department of Education. (accessed February 23, 2014).
5. GED® Testing Service. “2014 GED® Test FAQs.” GED Testing Service. (accessed February 23, 2014)
6. CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC. “TEST ASSESSING SECONDARY COMPLETION – TASC.” The TASC Advantage. (accessed February 23, 2014).
7. Educational Testing Services). “Why the HiSET Program (For States and Educators).” HiSET Exam Overview (For States and Educators). (accessed February 23, 2014).
8. CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC. “TEST ASSESSING SECONDARY COMPLETION: TASC.” FAQs: TASC. (accessed February 23, 2014).
9. Educational Testing Service. “Accepting Combined Scores (For States and Educators).” HiSET Test Overview (For States & Educators).  (accessed February 23, 2014).
10. CASAS. “NEDP Locations.” National External Diploma Programs.  (accessed February 23, 2014).

The post New Pathways to A High School Equivalency Diploma first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Building a digital collection is more than a preservation tool. It creates an accessible database of information linked to historic newspapers or digitized newspaper pages, as well as digitized photographs or images. Local initiatives such as Long Island Memories, regional projects, and New York State Archives Digital Project bring local history alive to communities.

In the fall of 2004, the Freeport (New York) Memorial Library joined the Long Island regional digitization initiative, and partnered with the Freeport Historical Society. Together they developed one of the largest digital collections on Long Island. Today, it has a digital collection of over 5,000 photographs and seven newspapers. The goal of Freeport’s collection, as librarian Regina Feeney puts it, has always been “to get material out of the basement, and attic, and from behind locked doors and let the public use it.” Feeney understands the “Archivist’s Dilemma”—allowing access without worrying about loss. That old “look but don’t touch” library policy of the past doesn’t exist today.

Digitization gives the public access to the materials without compromising the integrity of the items. Digitization also brings order from chaos. And digitization welcomes exploration. Feeney stresses that technology is the biggest impediment to starting a digital project. She admits that the foundation of the initiative is only a basic scanner—“nothing fancy.” She started with an all-in-one and eventually moved to a Microtek 1800 and Epson Expression XL 10000.

Her advice is to spend the money on storage devices. When Feeney scans, she always saves a high resolution .TIF (tagged image file) as an archival copy and prescribes a fail-safe method—redundancy (backup!). The library uses terabyte drives that meet military drop test standards like LeCie and Transcend.  Feeney emphasizes the need for technology training, often offered online through the LCC Office of Digital Preservation Education and Outreach. The American Library Association also includes a Fundamentals of Preservation course.

The New York state sponsored-initiatives—which digitized newspapers dating from 1690 to the present and which led to the digital collection at Freeport—the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities initiated Chronicling America, a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers. Their hope is to develop a long-term permanent digital record, regularly maintained by the Library of Congress, of US newspapers from 1836-1922. Many states are working with the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities through this program. On a one institution per state recipient basis, selected newspapers are presently processed into the larger collection.

However, libraries such as the Freeport Memorial Library and archivists such as Feeney can participate on a smaller scale through NEH’s Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions. These grants, up to $6000, can be used for preservation after devastating events such as Hurricane Sandy, which affected Freeport, or in small communities that would like to begin the process of preserving their county newspapers. Today, a diverse cross-section of the Freeport community and larger Long Island community accesses the Freeport Memorial Library’s digital collection.  Feeney observes that “we get students from grade 4 to graduate school. We also get many genealogists and people researching their houses.”

And as for that costume designer? She or he would only have to go to the present Freeport digital collection database and link to the current digital exhibit, Ladies at Leisure to see actual dresses from the Edwardian Era. And for Ken Burn’s documentary? The evening edition of The World, Tuesday, October 6, 1903, accessed through Chronicling America, displays the headlines for the Boston/Pirates first ever World Series game and gives you an inning by inning score.

Digitizing permits the preservation of history while maintaining access. Local digital collections connect communities to their past. The growing, ever-expanding national initiative, Chronicling America connects the events once captured in the enormous expanse of daily newspapers to a searchable digital database.

Technology proves a friend to the library once again.

The post Chronicling America: Building a Digital Collection first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

In the Catalan region of Spain, people have long recognized the power of books. On April 23rd, in commemoration of Cervantes’ death, people are presented a single rose and a book. More recently, UNESCO named April 23rd, which is also Shakespeare’s birthday, as the International Day of the Book. From a regional tradition in Spain to schoolchildren receiving book tokens in Great Britain and Ireland on World Book Day, the idea for World Book Night was born at London’s Book Industry Conference. This event has spread the love of reading to tens of thousands of readers and non-readers alike who are “gifted” a book through the generosity of a national network of book givers, bookstores, libraries, authors, publishers and donors. In 2011, World Book Night UK launched this “quixotic” venture to expand UNESCO’s program to adult readers. One year later, the program expanded to the United States and has been growing ever since.

The Givers
25,000 passionate book givers spread the love of reading by volunteering to personally go out into their communities and hand out 20 books to potential new readers on April 23rd. That’s how WBN shares half a million books in just one day. Selected books are specially produced, not-for-resale paperbacks. Book givers receive twenty copies of one book, a title they choose from a list of 39 selections. (See 2014 Selections) In their applications, givers pick their first three best choices, and WBN does its best to fulfill those requests. The week prior to April 23rd, givers go to designated pick-up locations but have to wait until the 23rd to hand out their books.

Libraries Lend A Hand
Public libraries are the mainstay for WBN’s national advocacy and distribution network. Libraries make two commitments as participants, to be a pick-up location for book giver volunteers to retrieve their shipment of books, and to be active advocates in local communities for World Book Night by doing what comes naturally, spreading the love of reading, “person to person.” The program makes it easy for libraries to participate. They offer some wonderful marketing tools including logos, stickers, a town proclamation, thank you letters, and other easy and useful ideas—like donating books that haven’t been picked up to a local prison, hospital, or juvenile detention center.

World Book Night US 2014 Events
Small bookstores and public libraries are celebrating World Book Night 2014 in many different ways. Comedian Amy Poehler is this year’s honorary chairperson, adding interest and entertainment. To celebrate, The New York Public Library will host Victoria Bond, Malcolm Gladwell, Garrison Keillor, Walter Dean Myers, Esmeralda Santiago, T.R. Simon, and Tobias Wolff at 6:30 pm on April 22nd while Althea Kontis will appear at the Gum Springs Library in Stone Ridge, Virginia at 7:00 PM. Readers in Chicago can hear Scott Turow at the Chicago Public Library’s main branch while none other than Walter the Giant Storyteller will be at the Alameda Free Library in Alameda, California. World Book Night US 2014 celebrates reading everywhere.

The Gift of A  Book
World Book Night has a two-fold mission: “spreading the love of reading, person to person”. A book can be given; the love of reading must be emulated. That is the promise of World Book Night. From its inception, Anne Cucci, school librarian at W.T. Clarke High School in Westbury, New York, took part. The first year, she gifted the boys at the School Program for Incarcerated Youth at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow, NY. That April, a population that rarely received gifts was given a carton full of The Glass Castle,.

As the transitional counselor in the school program there, I wrote Anne:

“Our rolling library is quite popular here and our students’ appetite for reading is enormous. Being able to lend them a book is one thing, being able to give them a book was a ‘feast’.

The inscription over the library at Thebes: Medicine for the soul. We all understand a book as a place of escape. But also healing for the soul. What better appeal than for those in jail. And what better place for your service to World Book Night. Thank you.”

Since then, Anne has become a “reading ambassador”. The boys and I look forward to the carton she will deliver this year.

Through her efforts as a book giver and the cooperation of the public library system where she picks up the books, she and thousands of other volunteers are spreading the love of reading one book at a time.

Sign up here for the World Book Night newsletter and information about World Book Night 2015

The post World Book Night—Spreading the Love of Reading, One Book At a Time first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

I mark the arrival of the holidays with my own private film fest, egg nog, slippers and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” producer Frank Capra’s 1946 film, now turned Christmas classic. A befuddled and kindly guardian angel, Clarence, who also happens to read Mark Twain, interrupts the George Bailey’s suicide attempt. Clarence gives George the chance to see what life would be like without him.

Of course, without him, all of George’s friends’ and family’s lives are dramatically changed. Most of us would be surprised to know the ways in which we touch and influence each other’s lives. George and Clarence travel the course of George’s life and see how George’s loss affects almost everyone he knows. The most memorable life, of course, is his wife’s Mary’s, gasp, who has become what Capra must have viewed a great tragedy in 1946—a spinster  librarian. George and Clarence encounter her on a snowy Christmas Eve as she locks the Potterville, not Bedford Falls, Library doors (because, of course, Bedford Falls without George’s having been around, is now owned by evil Mr. Potter who has claimed it as his own.

Well, it’s 2013 and what a wonderful life it is—for librarians, that is. Librarians are working everywhere and we aren’t dull anymore. We are inside the public library like the one in Bedford Falls and we are lively and intelligent and fun. We’re still behind reference desks, well, information centers, sometimes virtual ones available 24/7 online. We are mobile, at sea, and in the air. We’re specialized—some of us are digitalizing data and metadata and things like the 1946 film version of “It’s a Wonderful Life” at the Library of Congress. Others are at law firms, museums, theology schools, music conservatories and many, many more places.

And like George Bailey, without us, the world wouldn’t be so wonderful at all. Last year, without the Freeport Memorial Library, the residents of Freeport, Long Island, wouldn’t have had any place to charge phones or access the Internet or email after Hurricane Sandy tore through their community and flooded homes [2]. Displaced families and local communities came to the library for weeks on end as it was the only place for miles that had electricity. Likewise, Staten Island residents affected by this same hurricane couldn’t have found the help they needed filling out the endless number of insurance and FEMA forms without the assistance of the New York Public Library’s staff at its New Dorf branch [3]. In fact, “The Federal Emergency Management Agency classified libraries as an essential service — like one of the things that would get early funding so that communities could recover,” says Jessamyn West, founder of library.net, and moderator of the popular blog MetaFilter in response to the many recovery efforts made by libraries across the US after hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters [4].

In 2000, a Denver Post editorial acknowledged what a wonderful gift librarians are to the world by stating, “Librarians are very special people. They are the caregivers of the world of the mind, the nurturers of dreams and the defenders of truth. Perhaps no other profession is so marked by the singular generosity of its practitioners” 5.

Fittingly, at the end of the film, Clarence donates his copy of Tom Sawyer with the inscription “No man is a failure who has friends” into the collection basket for George Bailey. It reminds me that books and information and knowledge are powerful forces of change in the world and that a librarian is as much a guide as Clarence was for George. George realizes that he is grateful for his life and his family and his friends. So am I. Like George Bailey, I’ve discovered that as a  jail librarian, I do have a wonderful life. All librarians do.

(1) “Library Quotes: Media & Journalists.” United For Libraries. America Library Association. Accessed December 21, 2013

(2) Hogan, Matthew. “Nov. 6: Hurricane Sandy Updates From LIRR, Nassau -Government.” Rockville Centre, NY Patch. Accessed December 21, 2013.

(3) Rose, J. (2013). “For Disaster Preparedness: Pack A Library Card? [Radio series episode]. In Keys to the Whole World: American Public Libraries. New York City: National Public Radio. Accessed 11/18/2013.

(4) Ibid.

(5) State Library of Iowa. “Quotes About Librarians, Libraries, Books and Reading.” Iowa Library Services. Accessed November 19, 2013.

The post Being a Librarian—It’s a Wonderful Life first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Thinking that there must be information about high risk teenagers and the books they wanted to read, I checked ALA’s website and found, Teens Need Libraries, an issue brief distributed by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Our teens need libraries–yes, and finally, these teens have discovered one, in jail, and for all the reasons listed in the “Teens Need Libraries” issue brief [1].  Teens need to access print and online resources that meet their needs and interests, [they] need programs that meet their unique needs and interests and [they] need additional help in preparing for college and the workforce.  Yes, yes, yes, our incarcerated students need the library. How was I ever going to get them there after their release?

Who Wants A Troublemaker?
Even if I manage to nudge a few of them in that direction, what is the likelihood that they’ll fit in at college or in the work force? Many of them have been labeled ‘troublemaker’ for years prior to landing in jail and have begun to wear that label as an emblem of honor. These youths are the living evidence that libraries use to support the need for young adult services (the idea that libraries need to offer teens supervised after-school time when they are more likely to become victims of crime or to be influenced by gang activity)[2]. No, even if our students have developed an appetite for reading, they don’t fit the description of the average Teen Reading Club participant, and it isn’t likely that the average young adult librarian will jump for joy seeing them walk in the door.  I guess my idea of their continuing to read, and leading successful post-jail lives, is somewhat wishful thinking. The statistics are against them, incarcerated children are more than likely to return to jail – their odds are 2 in 5 [3].

Libraries, Teens, A Positive Future
The YALSA brief outlines many of the reasons why these children are sitting in jail and only now discovering books.  Teens need guidance and access to resources to envision and pursue a positive future. [4] Teens without a connection to a library have a much higher risk factor for drug use and criminal activity. It is no surprise that when asked, almost none of them have a library card, and almost 3/4 of them have never even been to the library.

Five Emerging Practices in Juvenile Re-Entry
Libraries though, of course, aren’t the only ones concerned with teens’ futures. Agencies working with juvenile ex-offenders are just as concerned about the future and are very focused on teens re-entering the community successfully. They realize that guidance and access to resources are the keys to successful re-entry and lower recidivism rates.

The Justice Center of the Council of State Governments’ Report, Five Emerging Practices in Juvenile Re-Entry highlights five overarching principles [5]:

1. Integrating the science of adolescent brain development into the design of reentry initiatives.2. Ensuring that reentry initiatives build in youths’ strengths and assets to promote pro-social development.
3. Engaging families and community members in a meaningful manner throughout the reentry process.
4. Prioritizing education and employment as essential elements of a reentry plan.
5. Providing a stable, well-supported transition to adulthood that helps to create lifelong connections.

As both a librarian and a transition counselor, I recognize that the goals are:

• Understanding the adolescent mind.
• Acknowledging their needs and interests.
• Engaging the community.
• Emphasizing education and encouraging employment.

The Freedom Ticket
Daniel Marcou, librarian at the Hennepin County Library (Minn.), has referred to a library card as ‘a freedom ticket.'[6]  How can the library use this freedom ticket idea to help frame a successful transition back into the community for incarcerated youth? How can the community become engaged in the effort? How might Young Adult Services specialists best contribute? Having observed the love of reading blossoming among incarcerated youth, and seeing how books can serve as a source of inspiration and transformation, I believe that the library can become a key player in helping formerly incarcerated youth successfully re-integrate into society.

Is your library or community organization doing anything to help previously-incarcerated  young adults ? Leave your ideas and suggestions in the comments.

Resources

1. “Issue Brief: Teens Need Libraries.” Young Adult Library Services Association. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013
2. “Helping Libraries Meet the Diverse Needs of Teens Report 2012.” Young Adult Library Services Association. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.
3. Davis, Lois. “To Stop Prisons’ Revolving Door.” RAND Corporation. The Los Angeles Times, 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.
4. Ibid.
5. Bilchik, Shay. “Five Emerging Practices in Juvenile Reentry – CSG Justice Center.” CSG Justice Center. Council of State Governments, 31 May 2011. Web. 5 Oct. 2013.
6. Lilienthal, Stephen. “Prisons and Libraries: Public Service Inside and Out.” Library Journal 1 (2013): n. pag. Library Journal. Web 21 Sept. 2013.

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