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My first exposure to immigrant services in public libraries was when I read a case study on free English as a Second Language tutelage for adult learners in Michigan. I was touched then, reading about how great it was for the people involved and the community at large. I saw this NYLA program, Libraries Pave the Road to Citizenship, as a chance for me to learn more about that subject.

I was surprised to learn that I would hear not only about libraries participating in teaching adult immigrants the English language, but also that there are libraries participating in aiding patrons with the naturalization process. The panelists were:

• Homa Naficy, Manager of Multicultural Education and Outreach, The American Place, Hartford Public Library
• Elaine Giardino, Civics for Immigrants Project Manager, Literacy Volunteers of Westchester and Rockland Counties
• Norma V. Menard, Executive Director, Literacy Volunteers of Clinton County

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I’ve always found information literacy to be really interesting, not least because of its importance in being a good citizen of a democratic government and making wise decisions. Without knowing how to judge sources on their reliability and bias and critically analyze them, all information is useless.

So it is no surprise that the first program I chose to go to at the NYLA Conference in Saratoga Springs was called 21st Century Information Literacy Standards for Digital Learners of New York. The presenter was Fran Roscello, of Roscello Associates Information Literacy Consultants and the co-chair of the NYLA Information Literacy Task Force. (more…)