WebJunction

Collaborations to Support Literacy for Children and Young Adults

1.      Applicant:                          Canterbury Public Library

         Municipality:                       Canterbury

         Funding Requested:         $18,413

         Funding Recommended: $18,413

         Project Abstract:

The goal of this project is to enhance the literacy skills of Canterbury’s young adults by reconnecting them with the community while engaging them in activities designed to enhance their individual literacy skills.  The Canterbury Public Library will become the young adult center for the town by creating a welcoming space inside the library specifically for teens and instituting a Young Adult Advisory Team. This team will review and suggest materials to be added to the library’s YA collection, help design and implement teen programs and have a voice in the creation of the new teen area. In addition, along with a trained library staff member and two high school teachers, the team members will serve as liaisons between the community, library area high schools and Canterbury teens. Participants in the project will be exposed to a diverse array of programs and activities that, in addition to being fun, will augment their information literacy skills.  In addition, the library webmaster will work with young adults to design a new website for the library, and the curator of a local museum will work with teens to design and create a relevant display for the museum.

2.      Applicant:                          Jonathan Trumbull Library

         Municipality:                       Lebanon

         Funding Requested:         $21,137

         Funding Recommended: $21,137

         Project Abstract: 

The Jonathan Trumbull Library seeks to establish Read, Rock and Rhyme, an early literacy project designed to connect babies and toddlers and their adult caregivers to a variety of learning experiences that will increase children’s pre-reading skills and parents/caregivers awareness of those skills.  The project will be based on a research-based program, “Mother Goose on the Loose”, which integrates the latest research in early literacy and infant brain development with traditional story time elements. Funding is requested for staff time, program supplies and materials, presenters and workshops, and library materials to support effective early literacy development. The Library will be collaborating with the Lebanon Elementary School in this long-term venture.

Services to Persons with Disabilities

1.      Applicant:                          New Canaan Library

         Municipality:                       New Canaan

         Funding Requested:        $ 13,660

         Funding Recommended: $ 13,660

         Project Abstract:

With this project, New Canaan Library will establish Webster’s Bridge: materials, services, technology and programs for Special Needs students, parents, siblings and educators. Webster, a cartoon cat who advises readers, researchers, and internet searchers, has been our Library’s mascot since 1999. Webster’s Bridge will not be a physical space, but will be a fully integrated collection, expanding our present resources and adding assistive technology, enhanced services, and quarterly programming.  The New Canaan Library has a longstanding commitment to serving special needs populations. Webster’s Bridge will build upon a grant the Library received from a local family in late 2005 to help the community of special needs children.  . Meetings that New Canaan Library with parents of children who are challenged and Special Education teachers from the New Canaan Public Schools looked at the needs of this population: students, parents, siblings, and  New Canaan educators.  Results of a survey the Library administered to members of the New Canaan Parents’ Advisory Council to the Director of Special Education showed the library what parents and students want: more books and other materials at the Library, the opportunity to borrow these materials, the assistance of library staff, and more programs directed to their specific challenges. 

Programs for Older Adults

1.      Applicant:                          Hartford Public Library

         Municipality:                       Hartford

         Funding Requested:         $ 23,780

         Funding Recommended: $ 14,000

         Project Abstract:

Hartford Public Library will establish a Cognitive Fitness and Creative Wisdom Center, featuring resources, services, and programs designed to attract older adults, including Baby Boomers, to the Library. Older adults now are more active and healthier than in the past, with different expectations, interests, lifestyles, and outlooks than their counterparts in previous generations. They comprise a "new" generation experiencing, what some have called, a second adulthood, in which aging looks very different than it did to their parents. Cognitive Fitness and Creative Wisdom Center activities will address these changes, appealing to today's older adults and providing them with the dynamic, safe, and supportive environment of the Library in which to explore cognitive fitness, creativity, critical thinking, and other learning opportunities to enrich their lives.  The funding request was cut due to availability of funding, not for deficiency in the grant application or project.  It was felt that the programming portion of the grant would still be viable with a decrease in the amount of funds for materials.  Hartford Public Library agreed to proceed with the project with this reduced funding.

Programs for Multilingual Populations

1.      Applicant:                          Hartford Public Library

         Municipality:                       Hartford

         Funding Requested:        $ 24,966

         Funding Recommended: $ 23,066

         Project Abstract:

Hartford Public Library’s The American Place (TAP) is a sustained program of services for Hartford’s ethnically diverse and immigrant populations. The proposed project will create a Citizenship Resource Center that will strengthen the Library’s current resources to immigrants/refugees and provide a core collection of civics material and programs that will streamline the federal naturalization process and offer support to immigrants at the local level.  It will encourage eligible candidates to apply for citizenship by offering them assistance with the application process and helping them prepare for their citizenship test.  In 2008, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will implement a new test. The Director, Emilio Gonzalez said the goal of the new test is “to inspire immigrants to learn about the civic values of this nation” instead of just memorizing facts.1   Thus, helping immigrants learn about opportunities available to them to become engaged in our democracy will be an integral part of this program.  The grant was reduced to eliminate funds for a lap top.

Long Range Planning

Each of these libraries will engage in a long range planning process following the Public Library Association’s Planning For Results process.

         Applicant:                          Beacon Falls Public Library

         Municipality:                       Beacon Falls

         Funding Requested:        $ 10,000

         Funding Recommended: $ 10,000

         Applicant:                          Fairfield Public Library

         Municipality:                       Fairfield

         Funding Requested:        $ 10,000

         Funding Recommended: $ 10,000

         Applicant:                          Plumb Memorial Library

         Municipality:                       Shelton

         Funding Requested:        $ 10,000

         Funding Recommended: $ 10,000