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There are many areas in which a person can be literate.

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This is a current article discussing how public librarians are trying to meet the many different literacy needs for their patrons.

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Literacy-and how libraries are reimagining services to address it for patrons of all ages-took center stage at the Northeast Dade-Aventura Branch, Miami Dade Public Library System (MDPLS), FL, March 9-10, at LJ and School Library Journal 's 2017 Public Library Think Tank. The event-targeting "Libraries and Literacies: Redefining Our Impact"-looked at multiple literacies, including digital, media/information, civic, reading, visual, multicultural, and health, and focused on strategic thinking through a literacy lens.

Among the gauntlets thrown was a call from Gina Millsap, CEO of the Topeka-Shawnee County PL, KS, for librarians to work on improving their own "literacy literacy." Jason Kucsma, deputy director, Toledo Lucas County PL, spoke to the importance of creating an intentional culture within the library. John Szabo, City Librarian, Los Angeles PL, noted that one can "replace the word literacy with equity " and still have it be on the library mission.

PUBLIC VS. GOVERNMENT

John B. Horrigan, senior researcher, Pew Research Center, shared thoughts from " The Role of Libraries in Advancing Community Goals," a recent study of what government officials want from libraries, conducted by the International City/County Management Association in partnership with the Aspen Institute and the Public Library Association, and correlated the findings with Pew's research into the desires of library users.

Much of what communities value (high-speed Internet, education, civic engagement, digital literacy) are also considered by officials as areas in which libraries can play a major role. The one exception: neighborhood/ community development.

"The striking thing is the role of digital," Horrigan said. By contrast, he noted, "economic issues were the dog that didn't bark as loudly as I expected." Workforce development efforts didn't make the top 50 percent. The public shares officials' high priority on digital skills, coordination with schools, and Maker spaces. However, early literacy is the public's top priority, according to Pew; privacy programming ranks much higher with the public than with officials; and services to entrepreneurs and immigrants also show up near the top.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

Christopher Sopher of WhereBy.Us, a start-up focused on "real world literacies and communities" through a local lens, spoke to the problem of fake news, saying that the model of "more information helps people make better decisions" is flawed. Instead, he said, we should focus on connecting to users with content that's relevant to their day-to-day lives, so that when information on big issues is added into the balance, it doesn't feel unmanageable. By building "with, not for" users, we can ask, "What's the emotional thing that can bring people into the conversation?" and layer relevant data on top of that dialog.

LIBRARY EXEMPLARS

In other event highlights, Kimberly Matthews, assistant director, MDPLS, outlined Miami's literacy programming. Danielle Patrick Milam, director of development and planning, Las Vegas-Clark County Lib. Dist., NV, explained how the library partnered with Civic Technologies on a community needs assessment via market segmentation to map areas of low literacy.

Jill Bourne, city librarian of San José, CA, and LJ 's 2017 Librarian of the Year, spoke to the San José library's central role in recovery from recent flooding and addressed the library's position as the lead agency in a new collaboration with the city's 19 school districts. "Don't shy away from real goals," she urged. "Pick what's important, and then see how to make it happen."

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Literate on Literacy | Public Library Think Tank

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Literacy-and how libraries are reimagining services to address it for patrons of all ages-took center stage at the Northeast Dade-Aventura Branch, Miami Dade Public Library System (MDPLS), FL, March 9-10, at LJ and School Library Journal 's 2017 Public Library Think Tank.

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This article, though 16 years old, still has valuable information information. It's from the state of Iowa and focuses on study that was conducted in Pennsylvania about summer reading programs.

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The Role of Public Libraries in Children's Literacy Development; An Evaluation Report - State Library of Iowa

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This looks at how to make students active participants in their learning, But also understanding that students need to comprehend what

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This site is based out of Ireland, however it focuses on helping adults improve their literacy with words, letters, numbers, writing, and computers

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LiteracyTools.ie - Irish National Adult Literacy Agency

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Literacy Tools is for adults who would like to improve their spelling, reading and number skills using a computer

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The blog discusses literacy tools that engage student and allow them to be participant instead of just quizzing them.

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By Jessica Sanders

There are so many apps, tools and websites available to educators now, it's hard to separate the ones that will help you and the ones that will just distract, or fall short of what you need.

This is especially true with literacy tools, where you'll find a seemingly endless amount of reading games and apps, covering everything from phonics to sight words.

Often times in education technology, however, less is more, so we compiled a list of just three tools that would be beneficial in a number of classrooms, with a wide array of different students.

We also share a few tools we don't think are necessary-getting rid of tools like these will allow you to declutter your digital teaching portfolio.

Literacy Tools You Need

These tools have two important things in common: They engage students, while giving them power of choice-this empowers students to take control of their own learning.

Whooo's Reading is an online reading log that motivates all students to read and pushes them to think critically about what they've read. After logging their read students write responses to open-ended critical thinking questions, which are aligned with Common-Core standards.

Based on the amount of minutes they read and how good their answer is, students are awarded Wisdom Coins that can be used to "buy" accessories from the Owl Store for their Owlvatar.

"After using Whooo's Reading for 6 months, weak readers were choosing books that were, on average, 2 to 3 Lexile Levels higher than the books they chose at the start."

This gamification has proven to be an effective method for improving reading skills and confidence: After using this tool for 6 months, weak readers were choosing books that were, on average, 2 to 3 Lexile Levels higher than the books they chose at the start.

As a teacher, you can watch these improvements in your students, via Lexile Level, Reading Recovery, DRA and more.You can see data for both individual students and the class as a whole and give personalized feedback to responses so that their reading comprehension and writing spiral upwards.

You can find Storybird in more than 300,000 classrooms worldwide-a surefire sign of its value to teachers. With this web platform, aimed at helping students discover, write, share and read the books they'll remember forever, students can read various leveled content, build their own stories and find new books and authors that they love.

You, as a teacher, can tie assignments to your lesson plans and Common Core requirements, making it a perfect fit for everyone.

This app makes writing and creating stories fun and engaging, while still being educational. "Toontastic leads students through the story-arc while giving them a wide variety of settings and characters to play with-students can even draw and animate their own characters," says Katie Chirhart, National Board Certified Teacher.

Use it when teaching students the different parts of a story, allowing them to take the elements they learned and create a story of their own.

Literacy Tools You Don't Need

Now that you know what you should use, here are two tools that don't serve as great a purpose. These tools do not engage students and are often seen as "boring."

Accelerated Reader

While many schools have adapted this expensive program (helpful add-ons make it even pricier) within their school over the last decade, a variety of new literacy-focused apps and tools have come to market that offer the same features and more, for a much lower cost, often times even free.

One of the biggest complaints about the program is their multiple-choice quizzes, which do little for truly testing comprehension and engaging students. Programs like Whooo's Reading, which offers open-ended questions that promote higher-level thinking, allows students to focus on reading the books they love, while giving the teacher a clear picture of what each student understood.

Flashcard Apps

There are dozens of flashcard apps available to teachers, helping students improve their vocabulary and reading skills. While these may seem convenient-say goodbye to giant stacks of flashcards-students retain material more when they write it because this process increases the attention given to a piece of information.

Having students write the definition (without having them copy it verbatim) is also beneficial, as this forces them to recall the concept and then write it in their own words, increasing the chance that they'll remember it.

Tech tools provide teachers with an opportunity to engage students and bring learning into the 21st century. However, not every tool, app or website will be a good fit for your classroom. Instead of trying to use a lot of tools, focus on the ones that are most beneficial. When choosing them, just remember, a little goes a long way.

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3 Literacy Tools You Need (And 2 That You Don't!)

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By Jessica Sanders There are so many apps, tools and websites available to educators now, it's hard to separate the ones that will help you and the ones that will just distract, or fall short of what you need.

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Marie Boulton - Masters degree in Reading from UI

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Cheri Semprini - masters degree from Drake in Administration; endorsement in TAG - works with multiple literacies in her room

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Allison Pargeon - masters degree in math with BA in math education and Applied Computer Science

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This article could have fit in a number of categories - but I put it here because I feel literacy stems a lot from our instruction