Library’s Adult Literacy Support Materials

Somerset County Library System of New Jersey has received a $2,500 2016 Literacy Collection Development Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and administered by the New Jersey State Library to benefit adult library users with low-literacy skills.
Using grant funds, SCLSNJ has purchased multimedia adult literacy support materials for library customers, including: titles covering a variety of adult literacy subjects (for instance, how to prepare for the General Education Development and Test Assessing Secondary Completion tests and immigration guides explaining how to obtain visas and become a U.S. citizen); ebook titles accessible through SCLSNJ’s Digital Media Collection on a variety of adult literacy subjects like how to prepare for the GED and TASC tests and how to teach English as a second language; copies of Citizenship 2.0: A Bilingual Overview of U.S. History and Government DVD produced by the California Language Laboratories in the following languages: Cantonese, Hindi, Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish; and Launchpads from Playaway, programmed to help adults learn English grammar, phrases, spelling, and writing.
“Thanks to the generosity of The New Jersey State Library, we have made a substantial addition to our adult literacy collection offerings in a variety of subjects and formats,” said Morris Balacco, SCLSNJ collection development librarian and project director for the grant. “People learn in many different ways. With that in mind, we thought the best use of this grant would be to expand our adult literacy offerings not only in print, but also in DVDs and ebooks. Last summer, we introduced pre-loaded, circulating tablets with educational content for children called Launchpads that have been tremendously popular. When I learned that the same company had started producing Launchpads for adult learners pre-loaded with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) topics, I thought it would be a great opportunity to expand the use of tablets among our adult learners and give them a new tool for learning.”
According to the 2014 American Community Survey, 77,836 of the 328,704 residents of Somerset County, or 23.68%, are foreign born and 29.9% of the population ages five and over speak a language other than English. Recognizing a need in the county, SCLSNJ believes a robust collection of materials in a variety of languages such as Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Guajarati, and Tamil, and a variety of resources for ESOL are essential to support the literacy needs in Somerset County.
For more information about 2016 Literacy Collection Development Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and administered by the New Jersey State Library, visit www.imls.gov. For more information about the services and resources available at SCLSNJ, visit SCLSNJ.org.