VALF Grant Due February 25

Past Grant Recipient, Monroe County LVA

Since 2008, Volunteers for Adult Literacy in Florida has been awarding grants for adult literacy programs in Florida This year we will be awarding up to $1,000 to one or more volunteer literacy programs. Applications are due February 25 this year.

You still have time to apply.  To give more guidance, we added tips on grant writing to our blog this week.

Volunteers Work with ELL

The Center for Adult Learning at the Jacksonville Public Library recruited 56 volunteers in 2011-2012 who provide conversational clubs and English language instruction in seven locations. They developed their own how to manual which they plan to share with others across the state. The project is funded by a Library Technology and Services Act Grant. The next deadline for this grant is March 15, 2012.

Tuition Increase Drops Enrollment

Beginning July 2011, adults have to pay $90 for a year’s tuition if considered instate in Florida. Out of state tuition costs $240 for a year. In Jacksonville Inmates now have to pay out of state tuition to take adult education classes funded by the school system. The state does not recognize inmates as state residents there. This tuition has increased the demand for the library program while school systems across the state are seeing a 30% to 70% drop depending on the county reported Greg Smith, Executive Director of the Florida Literacy Coalition.

Services to Inmates

Sandy Newell monitored the Expanding Horizons Adult Literacy Project, 12-LSTA-B-03 and observed a grant paid staff member teach inmates at the local jail skills to prepare them to take the GED. The library provides the only free instruction at the jail. Getting the GED improves their chances of getting a job when they leave prison

Center for Adult Learning: Expanding Horizons Adult Literacy Project

This is the 4^th year for Jacksonville Public Library's project "Expanding Horizons Adult Literacy Project" which is implemented by the Center for Adult Literacy (CAL) by Sharon Jaskula (in photo on the right), longtime manager of CAL. Last year this project served 964 adults, a 7% increase over the previous year. This project provides solutions to a local literacy crisis and continues to increase learning opportunities for adults with limited reading and functioning skills.  During FY 2012-2013, the Center for Adult Learning is continuing to provide Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language instruction. They are projecting to serve a minimum of 1,000 adult learners.  The Center is continuing to reach out to a growing refugee population and provide health, financial, and family-oriented seminars/activities to enhance literacy and English language instruction to the community. The staff is also providing literacy services to two county jails in the area.

Library of the Future--Maker Spaces

Some libraries are providing more customer friendly services which are accessible to low level readers.  The following summarizes a new trend --where libraries are moving from knowledge preserving to knowledge creation. These places are meant to be fun--even for adults, and since they foster making things--many adult learners may find the library a friendlier place for them to learn. Maker Spaces can also be centers for family literacy activities providing opportunities for Parent and Child Together Time.

The public library in Orlando is putting together a maker space. If your library is doing this, let us know. Or, you may want to talk with library staff to express your interest in partnering with the library as a volunteer literacy program. These spaces are very dependent on partnerships and volunteers.

 

Library of the Future

THE MAKINGS OF MAKER SPACES. By: Britton, Lauren, Library Journal, 03630277, 10/1/2012, Vol. 137, Issue 16

A Maker space refers to people coming together to create and share resources, knowledge, and "stuff."  It fosters a creation culture. The equipment and programming required is based on the purpose of the makerspace. The ideal maker space is meant to be fun!

"The biggest impediment to personal fabrication is not technical; it's already possible to effectively do it," Gershenfeld writes. "And it's not training; the just-in-time peer-to-peer model works as well in the field as at MIT. Rather, the biggest limitation is simply the lack of knowledge that this is even possible."

Bleiweis says that, in true Maker fashion, the library doesn't know where it's going next with its Maker space. They are allowing the space to evolve naturally.  Bleiweis says the library is there to provide the framework, not to be in charge. She says there is a shift from a librarian being the person who had all of the answers to the person who has questions and the ability to find the answers.

Susan Hildreth, director of IMLS. "We need to leverage what we know about learning and our trusted role as learning places to help prepare our visitors for success in today's digital world. Maker culture is one way for libraries to support innovation and creativity, using library space in ways that people both want and need. The IMLS stands ready to support libraries in this way."

R. David Lankes, professor and dean's scholar for New Librarianship at Syracuse University, writes in The Atlas of New Leadership, "Librarianship is not about artifacts, it is about knowledge and facilitating knowledge creation. So what should we be spending our precious resources on? Knowledge creation tools, not the results of knowledge creation."

Raising Funds Webinar Wednesday

Wednesday December 12, 2012
An Introduction to Raising More Money without Asking (CharityHowTo)
 This webinar will provide you with valuable takeaways and new insights about how to raise more money without asking. To change people’s actions your communication must change. This session will give you fun, new ideas about how to talk about your fundraising needs.
Time: 10-10:45 a.m.