Hawaii Library and Information Services In Support of Literacy

Third Governor's Conference on Library and Information Services

Introduction

In 1988, the Hawaii Statewide Literacy Assessment determined that 19 percent of Hawaii's adult population (an estimated 154,000) was functionally Illiterate. 1

Many hundreds of thousands more of Hawaii's adults are not "information literate."

"In an information society all people should have the right to information which can enhance their lives. Out of the super-abundance of available information, people need to be able to obtain specific information to meet a wide range of personal and business needs." 2

The well-being of a democratic society is dependent upon an informed, literate citizenry that can make knowledgeable choices. An information literate citizenry also has the capacity to recognize propaganda, distortion, and misinformation. "All men are created equal, but voters with information resources are in a position to make more intelligent decisions than citizens who are information illiterates." 3

Hawaii's libraries have a leadership role to play in efforts to make Hawaii the "literate" state, and to promote lifelong learning for all individuals. All types of libraries in Hawaii support literacy efforts to the degree appropriate to their mission.

To ascertain the present level of literacy support, an information grid was sent to various types of libraries through their respective organizations or professional associations. Averaged responses received from this informational survey are attached as Table 1. The information grid outlines current activities and highlights areas where there is a critical need for additional support for programs, services and resources to enhance library support for literacy efforts in Hawaii. Appendix 1 lists those institutions and individuals who responded to or provided input for this informal survey.

Goal for the Year 2000

The goal of Hawaii's libraries is to play a critical role in developing and serving a populace that is functionally literate and able to recognize when information is needed and knows how to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information.

Basic Literacy Support

A. Definition

The dictionary defines literacy as: 1) Quality or State of being literate, especially the ability to read and write; 2) Possession of education; 3) A person's knowledge of a particular subject or field (i.e. to acquire computer literacy).

Understandings of what is implied by "basic literacy" have evolved towards the view that literacy is

"...to be viewed as a continuum of abilities in a set of skills used in a variety of functions in everyday life or on the job...These skills include reading, writing, speaking, listening, computation, problem-solving and interpersonal relations." 4

What is referred to as "basic literacy support" means support necessary for instruction and guidance in developing those baseline or "core" literacy skills.

As noted below, there are library programs throughout the State addressing basic literacy needs. There is however, a critical need for improvement and substantially increased support for adult literacy programs.

School libraries provide resources to help students learn to read, write, speak, and compute, as well as locate, evaluate and use information, i.e., to become literate. In school libraries the goal is to "encourage students in their desire to learn and to help them develop information skills needed for independent lifelong learning." 5 Target groups include students in "at risk" categories and those from language minority backgrounds.

Public libraries nationally, as well as locally, have been in the forefront of libraries providing direct support to improving literacy of the individual American citizen.

As outlined in the Directory of Hawaii Adult Literacy Services, the Hawaii State Public Library system maintains special collections of adult literacy materials for new adult readers and for teachers/tutors in literacy programs which are available through the branch libraries. These special collections are located in the Kalihi-Palama, Waianae, Waimanalo, Waipahu, Lihue, Makawao and Hilo public libraries.

Public libraries provide meeting space for nonprofit literacy agencies and for tutor/student meetings.

Federal libraries, primarily military libraries to date have not systematically provided programs for literacy. There are family assistance and support and education centers who may take this role.

Community colleges have adult literacy programs, but these are primarily supported through learning laboratories rather than through libraries.

Support For Information Literacy

A. Definition

"...To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information...ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn." 6

School, Public, Community College, College and University libraries enhance information literacy in a variety of ways:

• by providing opportunities to further life long learning skills,

• by providing opportunities to encourage an appreciation of resources and the pleasures of reading, listening and viewing,

• by providing access to a variety of points of view on any issue,

• by conducting classroom sessions, and introductory credit courses in information literacy (bibliographic instruction)

• by helping users to develop research strategies, or techniques for deciding how to approach learning about any particular topic

• by developing pathfinders, workbooks, and other self-guided information tools for users

• by introducing users to the intricacies of searching computer databases,

• by providing computer software and hardware to enable students to work with computers and to learn reading, writing, math and other subject skills through self-paced computer aided instruction

• by providing the library collections, resources and teaching material to aid teachers of literacy skills.

In addition, these libraries act as information referral points to other agencies and literacy service providers within the community.

Special libraries and information services provide specialized and tailored services to their constituent groups or clients. As the push toward "Literacy in the Workplace" becomes more widespread, corporate special libraries may play a more direct role in support of literacy services and programs to encourage employee appreciation and discovery of reading. Special libraries also play a role in providing referral services to other public libraries, agencies and information providers. Information services to the general public occur in such areas as genealogy research (retired company employees) or environmental and health information of a specialized nature associated with a specific industry or product.

Recommendations

1. Bring the need for basic and information literacy to increased public awareness.

2. Stimulate lifelong learning and the pleasure of reading through active programming in school and public libraries.

3. Allocate additional resources for programs and services, to all types of libraries, to serve their constituents' basic and information literacy needs and improve access to these services.

a. Help users become lifelong learners by providing instruction and guidance in:

• organizing searches for information

• using indexes and gathering information from a variety of sources

• evaluating a variety of resources based on purpose of search

• nurturing an appreciation of resources and the pleasures of reading, listening and viewing.

b. Create in school library/classroom situations, learning experiences that integrate information skills with content area instruction and that foster critical thinking skills.

c. Recognize that public libraries remain as potentially one of the strongest and most far-reaching community resources for lifelong learning, provide support to enable those libraries to expand and enhance public outreach programs and services directed to the illiterate and information illiterate individuals in the State of Hawaii.

• Foster creative programming, workshops based on patron needs.

• Promote availability of programs through non-print media (radio, television, the movies) to reach non-literate individuals.

d. Develop library-based family literacy programs and support collaborative programming across types of libraries and the public and private sectors to promote family literacy.

e. Encourage development of innovative strategies to provide information to parents on the importance of reading to their children.

4. Create a positive atmosphere which eliminates barriers to library use.

a. Examine and modify procedures, policies and practices which may "turn off" potential users and discourage them from using the resources available.

b. Examine staff recruiting and training practices to ensure that those providing library services encourage the non-literate and information illiterate to acquire literacy skills. Recruit multilingual staff to serve immigrants.

5. Allocate additional resources to all types of libraries to support collections of print and non-print material that support basic and information literacy needs and improve access to these collections, especially in the areas of workplace literacy, family literacy and English as a second language.

a. Build well-balanced, current collections for children and young adults.

b. Provide larger collections of material in foreign languages to reach minority language populations and to promote a multicultural perspective.

c. Provide stronger adult-learner collections for public libraries.

d. Provide additional research level material for use by Hawaii's public and private literacy providers.

e. Develop multi-media collections for use by employers who have established "workplace literacy" programs.

6. Provide financial, technological and political support to current and future efforts to facilitate inter-library communication and cooperation through online networks which can provide access or gateways to a wide variety of public and private information databases.

a. Ensure that publicly funded online library systems can "talk to each other" by providing appropriate technical support to develop interfaces between systems.

b. Promote expansion in both size and sophistication of present online systems so that the end user can freely access public information online.

c. Establish, and separately fund, interlibrary loan agreements which provide accompanying document delivery services.

d. Explore cooperative acquisition projects among appropriate types of libraries.

e. Develop local databases of information for access by patrons.

7. Provide additional funds for infrastructure support for all types of libraries.

a. Increase library staffing in order to provide for an expanded range of services to meet basic and information literacy needs.

• Increase clerical and technical staffing.

• Increase professional staffing.

b. Provide training for library personnel to assume more effective leadership and support roles in meeting needs of basic and information literacy programs.

• Expand continuing education opportunities for both professional and paraprofessional staff.

• Provide literacy workshops to promote awareness among library staff.

c. Provide equipment and software that enable libraries to take advantages of the latest technological tools to support information literacy needs: to purchase computers, CD ROM equipment, video equipment and telecommunication services.

d. Provide the telecommunications infrastructure that supports equal and timely access to information.

e. Provide suitable facilities to house a range of activities and programs to support basic and information literacy needs.

• Create meeting space for tutors/adult learners.

• Create individual, small and large groups activity areas for use by students, workshop presenters and community groups.

• Create workstations for use of the latest technologies.

8. Create administrative/governing structures which allow for maximum neighborhood / constituent involvement in basic and information literacy efforts.

a. Encourage neighborhood involvement in planning and programming literacy efforts at their respective public libraries.

b. Seek input from broad based citizens groups regarding overall school and public library planning for information literacy.

c. Provide stronger mechanisms for faculty/student input into programs and services of school, college and university libraries. Especially facilitate integration of library bibliographic instruction into course content.

Conclusion

Literacy is a core requirement for functioning in modern society Information literacy is necessary to fully participate as productive, informed citizens in an increasingly technologically sophisticated, globally oriented society. Given the tsunami of information with which Hawaii's citizens are bombarded on a daily basis, supporting the learning skills and evaluative skills necessary to cope in this environment is a vital role for all types of libraries.

To that end, increased attention, resources and effort must be channeled to develop the capacity for Hawaii's libraries to take the lead in achieving the goal of a functionally literate Hawaii and making Hawaii's citizens information literate lifelong learners.

Position Paper Committee on Literacy members: Chair, Jean Ehrhorn, is an Associate University Librarian Planning Administration, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Facilitator: Diane Eddy is a Librarian, Ewa Beach Public & School Library. Earl Arruda is Past President, Hawaii State Teacher's Association. Sue Berg is Family Literacy Coordinator, Office of Children & Youth. Violet Harada is a School Library Services Specialist. Wing Tek Lum is a Poet, Bamboo Ridge Press. The authors wish to thank all individuals and organizations who responded to the draft literacy paper and information grid.

References

1. Berg, Sue, Bridges to Literacy, 1989, p.13.

2. American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, Final Report, 1989, p.1.

3. Quoted from U.S. Representative Major R. Owens, in ALA Prresidential Committee on Information Literacy, Final Report, 1989, p.5.

4. P.1 of unpublished working paper, Dept. of Education. Contact Joan Seamon, Director of Adult Education & Literacy, Office of Vocational and Adult Education & Literacy, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Received, March 1990.

5. Guidelines for Hawaii's School Library Media Centers. Dept. of Education, January, 1990. Draft.

6. American Library Assocation Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, Final Report, 1989, p.1.

Bibliography

Adams, Dennis M. and Mary Hamm. Media and Literacy; Learning in an Electronic Age. Springfield, Ill., Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, 1989.

American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report. January, 1989

Berg, Sue. Bridges to Literacy; Today's Plan for Tomorrow's Hawaii, Governor's Office of Children and Youth, The Governor's Council for Literacy. March, 1989.

Breivik, Patricia Senn and E. Gordon Gee. Information Literacy; Revolution in the Library., New York, American Council on Education, Macmillan, 1989.

Chisman, Forrest P. Jump Start; the Federal Role in Adult Literacy, sponsored by the Southport Institute for Policy Analysis, January, 1989.

Hawaii. Governor's Council for Literacy. Directory of Hawaii Adult Literacy Services (Nonprofit). 1988.