Library Services

If you're reading this -- if you're doing more than looking at the pictures -- you have someone to thank for giving you the gift of literacy. For those of us who have reached adulthood without acquiring those reading skills, our Library established the Literacy Connection, a special department that coordinates learning resources to pair together adult learners with volunteer tutors.

Study carrels at the rear of the Adult Department provide a quiet setting for private one-on-one work.

The program began in 1992 with a new Library director whose vision included a commitment to promote literacy from the ground up, a rare service for a Library even though it is in the business of words. The Literacy Connection was developed through the diligence of MaryAnne DiAlesandro, who still remains at the heart of it all today after more than 500 new readers. The student who has been with her the longest, and her oldest at age 84, came in the door 13 years ago unable to read or write, and just recently finished writing her autobiography, testament enough to the viability and effectiveness of MaryAnne's work.

The literacy coordinator initially interviews and works with each learner, and trains each tutor. Because of the extensive resources available today, each learner uses a unique mix of materials and methods. Every volunteer brings a new vitality to the program, and since each person learns differently, matching the right two participants creates a dynamic new force answering to any need. While one student's sole motivation is to learn enough about words to be able to write letters to his wife, another wants enough vocabulary to get a learner's permit for driving. Flexibility makes the program accessible to all levels of achievement.

A responsive approach allows the program to serve literacy patrons with diverse needs and to retain experienced tutors. This team has been working together for 11 years.

It is a large commitment to learn to read, but it is a discipline of desire, and the pact is made as much to oneself as to a tutor or the Library. Students come to help themselves, and the program is here just to assist adults in helping themselves in a highly personalized and relevant way. It is the learners who decide what they want to achieve with their reading and writing, and it is the Library Literacy Connection that helps them meet their goals.