SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

July 31, 2018 by Gary Price

New Report from ALA: “American Dream Literacy Initiative: How 10 Years of Funding Has Helped Libraries Transform Thousands of Lives”

July 31, 2018 by Gary Price

From the American Library Association:

2018-07-31_13-32-52A newly released American Library Association (ALA) report marks the 10th anniversary of the American Dream Literacy Initiative and celebrates the many ways that participating public libraries have transformed lives, strengthened their communities, and advocated tirelessly for adult literacy and lifelong learning.
Funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, the American Dream Literacy Initiative offers grants to U.S. public libraries to expand services for adult English language learners (ELL) or adults in need of basic education and workforce development. More than $1.5 million in funding has been distributed to 188 libraries since the program’s inception, reaching approximately 25,000 English language learners.
With grants of $5,000 to $15,000, participating libraries have developed new courses, expanded their print and digital collections, increased access to technology, implemented new strategies for inclusion, and developed sustainable partnerships with organizations across their communities.
Findings shared in the report include:

  • Employment is the No. 1 reason English language learners access their public library. Other reasons include supporting children in school, language acquisition, computer/internet use, education and citizenship.
  • American Dream funding leads to deeper community connections. More than 65 percent of participating libraries reported that their American Dream grant funding improved networking with community partners and other libraries.
  • Partnership is beneficial to program longevity. Grantees that developed partnerships were seven times more likely to have sustained their English language learner services.

The report also highlights successes from American Dream libraries.

  • Sterling Municipal Library (Baytown, Texas) saw library users increase 43 percent over the grant period; use of Rosetta Stone software increased from 252 to 426 hours.
  • Guilderland (New York) Public Library trained 24 tutors who worked with 35 students both one-on-one and in small groups.
  • Terrebonne Parish (Louisiana) Library System created Conectado, a campaign that included courses, story times and festivals to engage adult English language learners and celebrate Hispanic culture.
  • Louisville (Kentucky) Free Public Library purchased iPads and software to help students study for citizenship and GED exams, improve their pronunciation, and learn English idioms and grammar.

Direct to Full Text Report (pages; PDF)

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Digital Collections, Funding, Interactive Tools, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries

SHARE:

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

Video Recordings of the METRO Four-Part Series: "Copyright and Fair Use for Libraries" Now Available; Features Presentations by...

Video recordings of the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) series “Copyright and Fair Use for Libraries” were recently made available online. Each webinar recording is embedded below and also ...

Newspapers: "Dig Into History: Search the More Than 140 Years of Yale Daily News Now Online"

From the Yale Library: The library’s digital archive of Yale Daily News (YDN)—the nation’s oldest continuously published college daily—has expanded to include 3,306 more issues than it had just two years ago. ...

Arkansas: Crawford County Parents Sue Library System Over Relocation Of LGBTQ+ Children’s Books

From the Arkansas Advocate: Three Crawford County parents have sued the county judge, quorum court, library board and interim library director, alleging “unlawful censorship of materials,” specifically children’s books with ...

Not Real News: An Associated Press Roundup of Untrue Stories Shared Widely on Social Media This Week

From the Associated Press: A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were ...

Iowa Governor Signs Education Law on Book Bans, LGBTQ Teaching

From the Des Moines Register: Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a sweeping education law that orders the removal from schools of books that contain sex acts and restricts teaching about ...

Report: "Central Arkansas Library System Moving Forward With Lawsuit Against State Library Law"

From KUAR: The board of the Central Arkansas Library System voted to move forward Thursday on a lawsuit against a new state law regulating public libraries. Act 372 requires books ...

Knowledge Matters: The British Library Releases Strategy For the Next Seven Years

From a Blog Post by Roly Keating, Chief Executive, British Library: Today we publish Knowledge Matters, the British Library’s strategy for the next seven years. It outlines the ways in which we ...

AI: "UNESCO Mobilizes Education Ministers From Around the World for a Co-Ordinated Response to ChatGPT"

Here’s the Full Text of a Statement infoDOCKET Received from UNESCO: In response to the rapid emergence of new and powerful generative AI tools, on Thursday, UNESCO held the first ...

Just Released: ARL and CARL Report on Research Libraries' Alignment with Institutional STEM Priorities

From a Joint Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Post: The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) ...

Research Tools: World Health Organization (WHO) Announces Release of Data.who.int

From the WHO: Data.who.int provides open access to WHO’s health data through a harmonized, consolidated and seamless experience. Starting with the data underlying WHO’s annual World Health Statistics report, the ...

Standards: EPUB 3.3 Becomes a W3C Recommendation

Here’s the Complete Announcement From the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C):  W3C has just published the newest version of EPUB, EPUB 3.3, as a W3C Recommendation (an international Web Standard) as ...

Fully Open Access Journals – Size Does Matter; Global Open Access Initiative, SCOAP3, Drives Dramatic Increase in Reach...

Coalition for Canadian Digital Heritage Shares its Strategic Framework (via CRKN) Fully Open Access Journals – Size Does Matter (via Delta Think) Florida: “Broward Commissioner Voices Support For Library’s Banned ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Tweets by infoDOCKET

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2023 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.