WE LEARN

Project Questionnaire for LIBRARIANS working with literacy
Section A: Site Specifics
Please have this section filled out by someone in your library/resource center familiar with this information. This person need not be the same person who responds to sections B & C. You may replace this section with institutional literature (such as an annual report to donors) if it contains this information&endash;please send it with completed sections B & C. The site questions are intended to provide an understanding of the places where certain types of materials are being used. These responses will be kept confidential and summaries will protect the specific identity of the respondents.

Name of library/resource center __________________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Phone # ________________________________ Fax # _____________________________

Email address ___________________________________________________________

Website URL ____________________________________________________________

Describe the general focus of your library or your mission statement if you have one:

Type of organization (check all that apply):

___ Public library ___ K-12 school library ___ College/University library

___ Prison library ___ Corporation library

___ Resource Center / library connected to a __________________________________________

Connections to literacy: (select all that apply)

___ Our library sponsors it's own literacy program. In this, we offer (check all that apply):

___ classes ___ individual tutoring ___ Other ________________________________

___ Our library hosts a literacy program that is independently controlled

___ Our library works in direct cooperation with local literacy efforts (if yes, how. Please be specific)

_______________________________________________________________________

___ Other connections to literacy (please be as specific as possible)

___ We have a distinct selection/collection of literacy materials.

___ We have a librarian assigned to the collection development of our literacy-related materials.

___ We rely on our general collection for literacy materials.

___ Other or additional collection considerations (please be as specific as possible)

Title	On our Shelves		NOT on our shelves	Don't Know It	Please rate this material: 1 = Excellent 3 = Average 5 = Poor	Where do you use this material: LC = Literacy Collection; GC = General Collection; RS = Reference Section; LC = Classroom/Resource Center; O = Other (Please identify) (Circle all that apply)
Making Connections: A Literacy and EAL Curriculum from a Feminist Perspective (CCLOW)					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
16 Extraordinary American Women J. Weston Walch					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
Push by Sapphire					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmerelda Santiago					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
Beginning to Heal by Ellen Bass & Laura Davis					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
Breaking free from Partner Abuse by Mary Marecek					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
Chicken Soup for a Woman’s Soul by Jack Canfield					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
"New Books for New Readers" Series (Univ. of Kentucky):  1) Heartwood   2) Why Work?					1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O
Seal Press: You Can Be Free by Ginny NiCarthy Working Parts by Lucy Jane Bledsoe "Women Who Dared" Series: Getting the Real Story Heart in Politics					1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5   1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O   LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O

What additional comments do you have about any of the titles listed above (for example: reading level, general effectiveness, and so on)??

Title	On our Shelves		NOT on our shelves	Don't Know It	Please rate this material: 1 = Excellent 3 = Average 5 = Poor	Where do you use this material: LC = Literacy Collection; GC = General Collection; RS = Reference Section; LC = Classroom/Resource Center; O = Other (Please identify) (Circle all that apply)
From Laubach Literacy & New Readers Press…  "Quick & Easy Guides": Women’s Health   Having a Baby   The Safe, Self-confident Child					1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O
"Controlled Readers"  Pat King’s Family					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
"Writer’s Voices Series": Selections from… I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings/Heart of a Woman   Temple of My Familiar   Joy Luck Club   Women of Brewster Place   Accidental Tourist   Coal Miner’s Daughter   China Men/Woman Warrior					1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O
"Today's World Series":  Domestic Violence   Many Kinds of Families   Sexual Harassment					1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O

What additional comments do you have about any of the titles listed above (for example: reading level, general effectiveness, and so on)??

Title	On our Shelves		NOT on our shelves	Don't Know It	Please rate this material: 1 = Excellent 3 = Average 5 = Poor	Where do you use this material: LC = Literacy Collection; GC = General Collection; RS = Reference Section; LC = Classroom/Resource Center; O = Other (Please identify) (Circle all that apply)
Laubach continued…. Miscellaneous Titles: The Childbearing Year   A Good Beginning   When a Baby Is New   As a Child Grows   Your Home Is a Learning Place   You and Your Child’s Teacher					1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O
Distributed by Peppercorn Books  Who Holds the Mirror from the Breast Cancer Oral History Project   Learning for Our Health & Women Getting Together   Welfare Rights & Change (from Literacy South)					1 2 3 4 5   1 2 3 4 5   1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O   LC GC RS C O   LC GC RS C O
"Black Leaders… Series"  Sojourner Truth   Harriet Tubman  "Our Lives Series" So Many Things I Could Have Written					1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5   1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O LC GC RS C O
Avanti Books Readers My Deaf Son					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O
Spike Press A Woman’s Work					1 2 3 4 5	LC GC RS C O

What additional comments do you have about any of the titles listed above (for example: reading level, general effectiveness, and so on)??

Section C: What Additional Women-Centered Resources Do You Use?

1. What published materials addressing specific women's issues have you been using that are not listed above in Section B? Please be as specific and as comprehensive as possible, including author & publisher.

    

    

    

    

2. What women-centered or feminist materials DO NOT exist (on a topic or in a genre) that you wish you had available to use with your patrons? (For example: information on specific health concerns, social relations, short stories, work situations, "issues", women's rights, memoirs, etc.)

    

    

    

    

3. Have you found it important to use or have access to literacy materials that touch on or raise issues of specific importance to women? Please explain your answer if possible.

    

    

    

    

    

4. What types of concerns or issues generally surface for the women learners/patrons in your library?
   How do they usually tend to surface?

    

    

    

    

5. When such issues or concerns are raised how does the library address them (for example, seeking additional materials, offering programs or services, referring the patron to other service providers, etc.)?

    

    

    

    

    

6. If more published literacy materials on specific concerns to women were available, would you shelve them? Why or why not?

    

    

    

    

    

7. Does your library collect printed materials developed by other literacy programs? What would this depend on?

    

    

    

8. If there are any additional comments you'd like to make about literacy resources or reading materials or curriculum packets and how they reflect issues of specific importance to women, please make them here. Please use additional pages if necessary.

    

    

    

    

9.  Does your library create its own printed literacy materials? Why? If yes, what are they?

    

    

    

    

10. Does your library maintain a listing or indexing (card catalog) of literacy materials specifically for adult patrons with basic literacy or ESL reading skills? How do your patrons know about it?

     

     

     

     

11. Who in your library makes the decisions about what literacy materials to add or keep in your collection?

     

     

     

     

12. What resources or review media do you use to find out about new literacy materials for your collection?

     

     

     

13. If literacy workers wrote reviews about the effectiveness of specific women-centered literacy materials, would you find this useful? Why or why not?

     

     

     

14. Would you refer to a resource/networking center dedicated to women-centered literacy materials? Please comment on what would work best (e.g., printed newsletter, website, mailing list) and what it should do or include.

     

     

15. What factors are important to you in choosing literacy materials for women or on women's issues?

How would you rate the following?

	Extremely important	Important	Not so Important	Doesn’t matter	Comments on this?
Length (in general) ….and specifically 1-2 pages 3-4 pages more than 5 pages
Content
Quality of writing
Reading level
Comprehension questions
Workbook format
Overall size of book
Price
Accompanied by an audiotape
Accompanied by a website
Accompanied by a software program
Accompanied by a teacher’s guide or resource book

 

Other considerations (please be as specific as possible).

 Please indicate who in your library / resource center responded to each section.

Section	Name of Responder(s) (please print) More than one person may answer each section. Please indicate by (*) who primarily handled each section.	Position in Organization	May I contact you for additional information or for clarification on responses?
A: Site Specifics			_____ no _____ yes by phone ____ email ____ fax _____ mail _____
B: Specific Questions on Reading / Resource Materials			_____ no _____ yes by phone ____ email ____ fax _____ mail ____
C: What Additional Women-centered Resources Do You Use?			_____ no _____ yes by phone ____ email ____ fax _____ mail _____

Please return to:

Ms. Mev Miller
1483 Laurel Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104

651-646-1183 (fax)
mev@litwomen.org

WE LEARN (www.litwomenorg/welearn.html)