Founding and Funding Family Literacy Programs: A How‐To‐Do‐It Manual for Librarians

Citation

Higgins, S.E. (2001), "Founding and Funding Family Literacy Programs: A How‐To‐Do‐It Manual for Librarians", Library Management, Vol. 22 No. 1/2, pp. 103-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.2001.22.1_2.103.9

As noted in the preface, Founding and Funding Family Literacy Programs is directed at adult services librarians or children’s librarians who are interested in positioning the library as the primary family literacy agency in the community. The guide is based on the Families for Literacy Program (FFL): a California state‐wide, state funded, library based family literacy initiative designed to address the literacy needs of adults; provide for the emerging literacy needs of children; provide intergenerational activities around language, drawing and music; and provide training in parenting concepts and access to information on parenting. The author, Carole Talan, who is director of the State Literacy Resource Center of California, notes that because community expectations of children’s proficiency in print, media and technological literacy often leave parents feeling inadequate and powerless, public librarians can perform a special role through family literacy programmes. Public librarians have traditionally acknowledged the needs of early childhood education as cultural opportunities for parents and siblings.

Strong justification is given for the advocacy of literacy and research studies cited in Chapter 1. For example, Tom Sticht is quoted as saying “the major source of cognitive ability is the social environment into which the child is born and reared. It is this environment that provides the basic tools of thought, language, concepts and the means and motivation for ‘intellectual’ activities”. Changing educational needs, the rise of illiteracy in the country due to a burgeoning population, the problems of school failures in youth and the influx of new immigrants arriving daily are mentioned by Dr Talan as justification for active family literacy programs. She finds the legacy of public libraries to be an enduring tale of literacy, libraries, and the family.

Along with the California‐based FFL, an overview of nine family literacy programs around the country is given in Chapter 2, so as to model projects for librarians wishing to embark on literacy initiatives. For example, in 1986 the Kentucky Department of Education developed a family literacy model that would work in their rural areas where illiteracy rates were high and transportation was a major problem. The model consisted of five components: adult literacy and GED preparation, emerging literacy activities for the child, parent and child interaction time together, parent discussions and development of basic parenting skills, and parent involvement in the child’s school as volunteers in a variety of positions. Other programs reviewed are the Illinois SOS Family Literacy Projects, the Barbara Bush Foundation project and Handel‐Goldsmith’s Literacy Intervention for Families.

Justification for literacy programs is given in Chapter 3, from developing positive public relations to protecting a vested interest in literacy. The author’s statement, “involvement in family literacy programming in the library clearly leads to the development of information‐seeking behaviour on the part of the adult learners and their families” is particularly powerful in context. Without strong motivation, many people in the community cannot take advantage of the resources in the library.

Because of its strengths, this is a necessary item in the professional librarian’s library. It has great value for the practitioner from the sample survey of Family Literacy Services for Literacy Providers, the sample Telephone Interview for Potential Client Families, to several examples of budgets for small and large libraries, to tips for asking for money locally. A section for serving special populations is included in Chapter 6, and ideas for recruiting and retaining families are discussed in Chapter 7. Staffing needs are discussed. The extensive appendices are valuable, hand‐ons administrative tools. Appendix A includes sample lessons from FATHERS Program and PARENTS Curriculum Guide. Appendix C includes a Sample Memorandum of Agreement form to guide a program between Head Start and the local library and Appendix G contain short annotations concerning the different parenting issues explored in the children’s books. Training materials, reproduced with permission of the California State Library Foundation are given in Appendix E . Tips on the value of reading to the child are given in Appendix F as well as an interesting outline of literacy development in young children. Hints for reading to your child, talking to your child and communication with the child’s teacher are enclosed as an attractive reference for parents. Appendix G includes an annotated bibliography of children’s books for family literacy, and Appendix H, a sample family literacy parent survey. During the course of this study, Dr Talan has developed a bibliography of useful family literacy publications and included it here. Children’s librarians in public libraries will find the selection an inspirational as well as a practical one.