From May 16 to 18, Contra Costa County’s Library System will be throwing a three-day reading festival that includes “readings and circus acts, panel discussions and puppet theater at 25 libraries in the county system.”

The festival includes many big name guests, including “New York Times best-selling author Catherine Coulter, author of several suspense thrillers including her newest, “Double Jeopardy,” and local author Kelly Corrigan, whose memoir “The Middle Place” spent several weeks on the Northern California best sellers list.”

Even more interesting than the festival itself is the history behind the creation of the festival. From 2003 to 2005, the Contra Costa County Library system underwent an extensive self-evaluation process, focusing on the role of a library in the 21st century. After many meetings in coffee shops, libraries, and community centers, the county library decided to transform the library into a place that, according to Laura O’Donoghue, deputy county librarian, offers “lifelong opportunities and special programming”, along with a wide variety of books.

From this mission, the idea of the festival evolved, offering, in the words of Susan Lynn, the Contra Costa County Library’s reading and literacy manager “a chance to discover the wonder of libraries while celebrating reading and literacy.” A reading festival of this scale would be an amazing idea here in Stockton!

For more information on the festival, click here.

To all those who have supported Stockton2020, we thank you. We are proud and excited to officially announce our transition to a 501c3 non-profit corporation. In honor of our new status as the first youth-based non-profit in our area, we would like to invite you to the first Stockton2020 Milestone Celebration held in the lobby of the Benerd School of Education on the University of Pacific Campus. The Stockton2020 Milestone Celebration will be held from 7 to 8:30 PM this Friday May 2nd. Refreshments will be provided, but it would be awesome if you could bring some goodies! The event will be held in honor of the late Fran Abbott, a long-time youth advocate, who played a crucial role in our beginning.

This could not have been possible without the help of dedicated individuals and organizations. A special thanks goes out to Fred Gertler, Lynn Beck, Philip Gilbertson, Susan Eggman, the Library and Literacy Foundation of San Joaquin, the Friends of the Stockton Public Library, Sophoan Sorn Productions, and Susan Lenz and Connie Logan from Iacopi Lenz & Associates. You dreamt with us and believed in us. Now please join us as we celebrate this milestone.

Life is a learning process…even when you turn 70! Alferd Williams was illiterate all of his life, but after watching Alesia Hamilton’s class through the door after taking his grandchildren to school, Williams eventually got up the nerve to ask her to teach him to read.

It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you come from. Literacy is something that benefits mankind in itself.

Williams said that as the son of a sharecropper, he was obligated to work in the fields with his father at the time most kids were learning the three “R’s”. He says he always knew the importance of education because he saw how his father was always mistreated due to his illiteracy.

Williams began learning to read at the age of 68, and now he says that his life is much easier. He is able to do the grocery shopping and save money. Instead of wandering around aimlessly or squandering money on things he did not need, he can efficiently get the job done.

Williams plans to take his new learning skills all the way to college. He serves as an inspirational figure for all his fellow first graders telling them that they can accomplish anything if they set their mind to it.

Like Alferd Williams says…
“It’s a whole new world.”

Watch his video, click here
* * *

According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, roughly 30 million adults in the US are unable to read basic texts, such as directions or medical instructions. One of the most common causes of illiteracy is parents who are unable to read, says David C. Harvey, president of ProLiteracy Worldwide, a nonprofit advocacy group.
The consequences of illiteracy are devestating; they carry on through the generations. Low literacy is a cause of unemployment and poverty.
Harvey says, “People can change their lives completely by improving their literacy.”

The Libraries Change Lives Campaign of Stockton 2020 couldn’t agree more.

Due to the repair worked needed on the Troke Branch Library’s roof, most ofthe libraries collections and computers will be temporarily moved to Weberstown Mall. Since the most successful libraries are located in areas of high foot traffic, we look forward to what this opportunity will bring. Council Member Susan Eggmen cordially remarked, “”Perhaps people who wouldn’t think about going by a library … might discover the joy of reading.”

The Record
David Siders
“Troke Library headed to mall”

Trucks will ferry computers, furniture and thousands of books from north Stockton’s Margaret K. Troke Branch Library to Weberstown Mall this spring. The branch will be closed from April 26 until June 7 when it reopens for a six-month stay at the mall.

The change in location is being driven by needed roof repair work on Troke’s original building at 502 W. Benjamin Holt Drive.

Troke, the busiest branch in the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library system, is expected to resume regular operations by November, library spokeswoman Heather Mompean said. The temporary branch will open at the mall in space previously occupied by Gateway Inc., next to Dillard’s department store.

To read more click here.

The cultural transformation Stockton is waiting for will take place when our youngest citizens are equipped with the tools of transformation. Salinas is doing exactly this by handing each student in the nearby school district of 7,400 a library card. In our world , the library card represents more than access to fanciful tales of fictitious foes; in fact, it retains the power to aid so many people in our community in pursuit of a healthier and more prosperous life. Check it out!

Salinas Californian - www.thecalifornian.com - Salinas, CA

Many individuals overlook the potential of libraries to help the homeless pull their lives together. The Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article on how Seattle’s latest central library built four years ago was built with the homeless in mind. Enjoy!

Nancy Pearl keeps telling this story about the homeless man in the library, because — landmark new building or not — the problems he represented still exist:

She was walking in the old Central Library when the man stepped out, holding an iron. He was looking for an electrical outlet, she said, and couldn’t find one in the men’s bathroom. He had a job interview. He needed to iron his shirt.

Pearl, director of the Washington Center for the Book, led him upstairs and let him iron in her own office. His plight still brings tears to her eyes.

…The new library was designed with those issues in mind.

To read the whole article, click here

This past Saturday the Stockton-San Joaquin Library System hosted a summit to discuss the current state of the library system and to unveil their strategic, economics, and facilities plans. The Stockton-San Joaquin Library System hopes to concentrate their resources and efforts on achieving three main goals:

1. Creating and Empowering Readers

2. Creating a Comfortable Place

3. Connecting to the Online World

Some people question the value and usage of libraries by the youth of today’s society; this article from CNN shows that, despite their web addiction, teenagers utilize libraries more often than the adult population. This proves that libraries are not a lost cause, but rather a fundamental and educational foothold for America’s youth.

Here are a few important excerpts:
“Young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access a wealth of information over the Internet from the comforts of their homes”

“The study found that library usage drops gradually as people age — to 62 percent among Americans generally aged 18-30 compared with 32 percent among those 72 and up, with a sharp decline just as Americans turn 50.”

“‘We know everyone has problems and needs for information, and libraries still need to reach out and make sure people know’ about the resources available, Roy said.”

“‘It was truly surprising in this survey to find the youngest adults are the heaviest library users,’ Rainie said. ‘The notion has taken hold in our culture that these wired-up, heavily gadgeted young folks are swimming in a sea of information and don’t need to go to places where information is.’”

” Leigh Estabrook, a retired professor of information science and sociology at the University of Illinois, said young adults used to finding information online are likely to crave even more and realize they need to turn to libraries to get it.
Rainie added that young adults are the ones likely to have visited libraries as teens and seen their transformation into information hubs, with computers and databases alongside stacks of printed books.”

The Stockton Record published an article today that gave Stockton the dubious honor of being America’s Least Literate City. The full article can be found here. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

“…For the third year in a row, Stockton ranks last in a Central Connecticut State University study of literacy in U.S. cities with populations of at least 250,000.”

The report, America’s Most Literate Cities, considers not whether residents can read, but whether they do. It measured newspaper circulation, library and Internet resources and use, educational attainment, number of periodicals published and number of booksellers in 69 cities…

…As in 2006, Stockton in 2007 ranked lower than 60th in all but one measure, Internet resources. It placed 58th in that category, based on its number of library Internet connections and percent of adults who read the newspaper or bought a book online…

Library goers taking advantage of the resources of the Troke Library in Stockton, CA.

…[Councilman Susan Eggman] said, ‘It didn’t get this way overnight. We’re not going to fix it overnight.’

…Ken Yamashita, deputy director of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library, called the report a ‘call to action.’ He said the library is focusing greater attention on its adult literacy program and is ‘doing everything that it can to get us out of that bottom spot.’”

As Councilman Eggman has stated, these rankings will not change on their own. Libraries are a proven cure for illiteracy, and if we desire change, we as the community must demand the world-class library system that we need and deserve.