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The Urban Libraries Council (ULC) has been awarded a $73,311 grant from Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund to conduct and coordinate research into library leaders’ support for library literacy programs and to suggest strategies for creating and sustaining administrative support based on the results of this research.
ULC is working with Dr. Debra Wilcox Johnson, a nationally known expert on adult and family literacy, and an Advisory Committee of public library directors and literacy experts. With Dr. Johnson, ULC will convene and conduct six focus groups of library literacy providers and library directors to examine the nature of leadership support, what characterizes it, how it grows, and how it can be encouraged, as well as the complex context in which support or lack of support occurs.
ULC’s qualitative research will be done in concert with a survey of public libraries being performed by the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana which will document trends in library based literacy programs. ULC will prepare a final report, incorporating the findings of its research as well as survey results, and providing recommendations for the library literacy community.
“The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund has made a remarkable commitment to the improvement of adult literacy in the United States through its development and support of the Adult Literacy Initiative for Library-Based Programs,” said Joey Rodger, ULC President. “Through that initiative, it’s become clear that a crucial element to the success of library literacy programs is leadership support. ULC is proud to be able to contribute to this initiative by exploring that support and how it can be encouraged.”
The final report from ULC is planned for September 1999. The Advisory Committee working on this project includes Peggy Barber, Director of Communications, American Libraries Association; Dan Bradbury, Director, Kansas City Public Library; John Comings, National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, Harvard University; Toni Garvey, City Librarian, Phoenix Public Library; Gary Strong, Director, Queens Borough Public Library; Steve Sumerford, Greensboro Public Library; and Taylor Willingham, The Reading Program, Santa Clara County Library.
The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund invests in programs that enhance the cultural life of communities and encourage people to make the arts and culture an active part of their everyday lives. It funds efforts to build audiences for the performing, visual, literary and folk arts, and supports adult literacy programs and the creation and expansion of urban parks.
Founded in 1971, the Urban Libraries Council offers advocacy, consulting, research, training and support services to its members. Membership is open to libraries serving populations of 50,000 or more in U.S. Standard Metropolitan Areas and to library vendors. |
