Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment on Adult Literacy http://nces.ed.gov/Pubs2007/2007480_1.pdf
Literacy in my community
A 2003 survey indicated that 19 percent of adults could not read at level one. 4,000 adults could not fill out a job application, read a food label or a simple story to a child.
Community Impact
We cannot afford to leave any adults behind. We need each and every individual to work to their full potential. Businesses need a well-trained workforce; our economy depends on a skilled, educated workforce. We cannot afford to send jobs overseas because of deficits in essential workplace skills. Individuals with lower literacy levels are disproportionately represented in the unemployed.
 Graph provided by Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment on Adult Literacy, published April 2007
http://nces.ed.gov/Pubs2007/2007480_1.pdf
Economic Impact
1 out of every 5 adults is below basic in literacy skills, which means that 1 in 5 adults do not score above 200 in the literacy scoring used by the National Assessment on Adult Literacy, or 1 in 5 adults do not qualify for any jobs offered in the City. Businesses that cannot find good quality workers will go elsewhere for their business or will not be attracted to the City to conduct their business. At first, they may see an advantage in paying a low wage to its workforce, but the business will never be able to grow or evolve its workforce without qualified applicants. This situation threatens economic development in the city.
Personal Impact
He is a stranger in a strange land of incomprehensible symbols. Knowing the stigma attached to illiteracy, he uses many strategies to conceal his inability - - though he knows people will see through it anyway. That takes even more work, as well as the shame inherent in the ruse. Keeping himself convinced he isn't stupid is a constant effort.
Action is required now to solve this problem in the future.
"The great French Marshall Lyauteyone asked his gardener to plant a tree.The gardener objectedthat the tree was slow growingand would not reach maturity for 100 years.The Marshall replied,In that case, there is no time to lose,plant it this afternoon!"
John F. Kennedy
It takes seven years to acquire a new language and it takes a year for basic literacy skills for current English speakers. Attracting businesses to our community is important now!
"Furthermore, many researchers caution against withdrawing the support of the home language too soon. There is a great deal of evidence that, whereas oral communication skills in a second language may be acquired within two or three years, it may take up to four to six years to acquire the level of proficiency for understanding language in its instructional uses"
(http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/issuebriefs/ib5.htm Lessons From Research: What Is the Length of Time it Takes Limited English Proficient Students to Acquire English and Succeed in an All-English Classroom? September 2000, Issue and Brief)
What the Library is doing to provide assistance with this problem:
One on One Tutoring Program
Laubach technique is used for one on one tutoring.
Tutors for Pre-Lit to 3rd grade reading level.
18 hours of training plus working with the students ahead of time to become a regular volunteer.
Nine month commitment to each student
Need to meet with students two (2) to three (3) times per week (at least 4 hours).
Need at least 30 tutors, 60 when at full steam and they need to fill out monthly reports on progress.
Coordinator will meet with tutors 4 times a year
Library resources
The Library provides a host of resources to assist our tutors and the general public. The library currently has a full set of Laubach materials for one on one tutoring and other resources for the general public. The library will also have computer programs available for students to use on their own to supplement their training.
Library Bookmobile
The Library maintains bookmobile services. This service provides transportation for tutors, the ability to provide literacy training on site, job searching and internet access on site, as well as general bookmobile services.
Other literacy details:
Literacy Levels
"The percentage of adults with Below Basic quantitative literacy decreased, and the percentage of adults with Proficient prose and document literacy also decreased. In 2003, some 5 percent of adults were nonliterate in English."
Education and Literacy
"Educational attainment increased between 1992 and 2003, with a higher percentage of adults completing an associate’s or college degree and fewer adults ending their education before completing high school. In 2003, average prose, document, and quantitative literacy increased with each increasing level of education, except for students who were still in high school."
Employment, Earnings, and Job Training
"In 2003, adults with higher literacy levels were more likely to be employed full-time and less likely to be out of the labor force than adults with lower literacy levels. Adults with lower literacy levels also generally earned lower incomes. On all three literacy scales, a higher percentage of adults with Proficient literacy were employed in professional and related occupations and management, business, and financial occupations than in other occupations. Many individuals with lower literacy levels were employed in service occupations. Specifically, 30 to 35 percent of adults with Below Basic and 22 to 24 percent of adults with Basic prose, document, and quantitative literacy worked in service jobs, compared with 7 to 10 percent of adults with Proficient prose, document, and quantitative literacy."
Some library funding stories from the past few weeks around the nation: Town library will get funding, Plainfield leader saysBy JESSICA DURKIN Norwich Bulletin April 4, 2007 (Norwich, CT) http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/NEWS01/704040317/1002SNIP PLAINFIELD -- First Selectman Kevin Cunningham said Tuesday selectmen will continue funding the Plainfield Public Library in next year's budget. Six members of the library board and the librarian attended a Board of Finance meeting Tuesday, upset selectmen eliminated the library's funding for next year, which threatened closure. Library officials asked the money be put back into the selectmen's proposed budget. "I'm sure many people would be very angry to find out the town will have no library," Librarian Nancy Wilcox told the board. END SNIP Yes I would imagine people would be unhappy that one day they have a library and one day they don't without any public input. Its amazing how flippant city officials can be with the library budget and operations. Library funding approved, tax rates same as last yearBy Anita J. Firebaugh Craig County, Virginia April 21, 2007 http://mainstreetnewspapers.com/articles/2007/04/11/new_castle/news/news01.txtSNIP The county has also put $13,850 in the regional library line item and allotted $6,000 for tourism.Prior to the budget hearing, Marjorie Hodge, president of the Friends of the Library, told the supervisors the library is a necessary service to citizens and that use numbers continue to increase.She asked the supervisors to include funding for a part-time paid library employee in the upcoming budget.The county had to give back $5,176 in state funding to the Library of Virginia because the local library had failed to meet its obligations. One of those obligations is a paid staff member. END SNIP Its too bad that local governments don't understand the value of libraries and too often they are found on the chopping block. I like that many state libraries provide a punitive incentive to fund libraries. The availability of books and library services should be as commonplace as the streets one drives on. Cap to library funding considered By NAOMI SMOOT / Journal Staff Writer http://www.journal-news.net/news/articles.asp?articleID=8445Saturday, April 21, 2007 Berkely County, West Virginia SNIP During the meeting, commissioners told delegates that they would also be interested in finding a way to cap the amount of money that they put toward libraries. In the past five years, the county’s library funding allocation has increased from $289,000 to more than $500,000, Overington said. Commissioners agreed that the increase had been sizable, and questioned whether their budget could continue to accommodate this expansive growth in the library’s funding requests.“Everybody else comes to petition before the County Commission,” Commissioner Bill Stubblefield said. “We can’t afford this continual escalation.”Commissioner Ron Collins agreed, noting that he was beginning to question the amount of funding that the county is being asked to put towards libraries each year. He said it was time to consider a cap on the amount of money that they would allocate for the library. Stubblefield said he would be interested in seeing a cap placed on the library’s funding, perhaps at the 2007 budget level.At present, the library has a $1.5 million budget, $540,000 of which comes from educational funding. END SNIP Goodness, you mean that the people who want library services and have asked for an increase in library services shouldn't get it? Why is that? Why should there be a cap on library services, is there a cap on other government services? I also have a difficult time in the complaint about the rise of library funding a mere $200,000 in five years, that's only $40,000 a year! How cheap can you get! I always find it surprising how governments want to squeeze libraries instead of putting a general squeeze on all services. I am also surprised how much service these libraries can provide in the midst of these trying situations. Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks' battle with Central Library Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Feb 23, 2007 by Tara E. Buckhttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4180/is_20070223/ai_n18638906Poll: Readers split on Internet policy, APril 20, 2007 http://www.rbj.net/fullarticle.cfm?sdid=66185Rochesther (Monroe County), New York SNIP RBJ Daily Report readers are divided sharply on Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks’ threat to withdraw all county funding of the Central Library unless it acts immediately to “halt the public viewing of pornography and other graphic materials” on computers at the library. END SNIP To filter or not to filter can be discussed in a reasonable matter. Libraries must comply with federal law unless the local municipality should choose to refuse federal grant money. Libraries are cash strapped as it is, so its difficult to get such an extreme reaction from a funding source. To say "Filter or I will close your library" seems extraordinarily extreme, especially since computer and internet access is just ONE of many services the library provides. Times can be very tough for libraries. All I know is that the more the financial decision makers use libraries, the more they understand their use, the more funding that usually follows.
One of my favorite children's stories is The Zax. 
The Zaxby Dr. Seuss
From The Sneetches and Other Stories
Copyright 1961 by Theodor S. Geisel and Audrey S. Geisel, renewed 1989. One day, making tracks
In the prairie of Prax,
Came a North-Going Zax
And a South-Going Zax.
And it happened that both of them came to a place
Where they bumped. There they stood.
Foot to foot. Face to face.
"Look here, now!" the North-Going Zax said, "I say!
You are blocking my path. You are right in my way.
I'm a North-Going Zax and I always go north.
Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!"
"Who's in whose way?" snapped the South-Going Zax.
"I always go south, making south-going tracks.
So you're in MY way! And I ask you to move
And let me go south in my south-going groove."
Then the North-Going Zax puffed his chest up with pride.
"I never," he said, "take a step to one side.
And I'll prove to you that I won't change my ways
If I have to keep standing here fifty-nine days!"
"And I'll prove to YOU," yelled the South-Going Zax,
"That I can stand here in the prairie of Prax
For fifty-nine years! For I live by a rule
That I learned as a boy back in South-Going School.
Never budge! That's my rule. Never budge in the least!
Not an inch to the west! Not an inch to the east!
I'll stay here, not budging! I can and I will
If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still!"
Well...
Of course the world didn't stand still. The world grew.
In a couple of years, the new highway came through
And they built it right over those two stubborn Zax
And left them there, standing un-budged in their tracks.
http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~cs315/subpages/inline/Zax.html
It demonstrates what can happen when two stubborn people do not budge. I find myself in situations where I can be very stubborn, especially something that I feel very passionate about.
The lesson to be learned in the story is that by stepping to one side would get both to their respective destinations. Maybe your pride gets hurt, but everyone gets what they want. I think as a Manager, you need to set your pride and ego to one side. Otherwise, you never go anywhere and you only end up proving how stubborn you can be. I recently had this situation with my staff and decided to step to one side. I wasn't happy about it at first, but I realized that for better service and for a better work environment I had to step to one side. It is not easy, but I felt it was the right decision.
This type of scenario can ring true for librarians trying to implement library 2.0 concepts, or in just trying something different. Whenever I am asked by a staff member to change
something, the first thing I think is why should I say no to this?
Many times there is a good reason for things to remain the same, other times, its important to try something different. By creating change suggested by staff they are empowered to look for ways to improve their job environments AND it increases morale.
It's not always easy to change since change can often mean more work. However, the reward for forward thinking is immense both for staff and the public. Its better to get where you are going then to stand in each other's way making no tracks in the prairie of prax :)
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