Maryland Trains Library Staffs in Preliteracy Activities

Thanks to an aspiring new project, every Maryland library staffer who works with preschool children will soon be able to help kids acquire the reading readiness skills they need to succeed in school. The public library staff will also be trained to share preliteracy information and easy-to-do activities with parents of young children. The project, funded by a federal Library Services and Technology Act grant, will offer 20 workshops statewide, presented by instructors from Johns Hopkins University.

"We are committed to train all the children's library staff, professional and paraprofessional, in preliteracy skills," says Stephanie Shauck, children's coordinator for Maryland's Department of Library Development and Services. The 20 training sessions, scheduled to begin after Thanksgiving and run until April, will mix child development information with activities that parents can use at home, such as placing magnetic letters on the refrigerator to encourage pre-kindergartners to learn the shapes and sounds of the alphabet's letters. Librarians can also use these activities in their own storytime presentations and their work with individual children, says Kathleen Reif, director of the Wicomico County (MD) Public Library. But, says Reif, the most important role that public youth librarians can perform is modeling appropriate behaviors for parents to take home and use with their own children. "Public librarians will never have the resources to see those children enough to make a difference," Reif says. "The person who will [make a difference] is the parent. So, we're training librarians to pass along ideas and information."

Shauck says the project will provide a preliteracy skills Web portal that will update information for librarians. She hopes the portal will soon be up and running, but she's not sure of the exact date of its debut. The new project will conclude in April, when Assistant Secretary of Education Susan B. Neuman (see "A Friend at the Top ") speaks to the state's librarians in Baltimore. Neuman will discuss what librarians can do to help children begin school ready to read. Any library directors who attend, she says, will be encouraged to bring along a local legislator. Reif says that one of the goals of the project is to change politicians' and the public's perceptions of the library, to see it as a place that helps families prepare children for school. "We've been like Rodney Dangerfield—no respect," she says.