The Franklin County Library has been awarded a grant to support a literacy program. The American Library Association has awarded the library $65,000 to help fund its Libraries as Literacy Centers program. This library was one of just two rural libraries in the nation to be awarded this funding.
Brianna Lamb is the branch manager for the Ozark location. She says the funding will help them improve the resources available to patrons.
"So it will help support curriculum, technology, paying tutors to be in the library. That is something that we definitely wanted to help out. We wanted to pour back into our community, so getting people paid to do this was a big part of it."
Lisa Sands is one of those tutors. She says it started with just one mom and her daughter showing up on the first day. The mom brought her daughter in for some help with one of the tutors named Alice.
"She's working on her driver's license and she's failed it so many times, but it's because her reading level and comprehension is not great. So Alice has been working with her to bring up her reading level and is reading the test to her and she's doing excellent. She's really — so she can have someone go in with her and read the test with her when she does take the exam."
But while her mom was there holding the baby, she decided she needed some help and she wanted help in fractions. They're remodeling part of their house, and her husband keeps saying things in fractions and on the tape measure. And she's like, I don't, I never picked it up. I never really learned it. I mean, we forget a lot, but sometimes you even miss that. So she started working on basic fractions.
Access to a driver's license in a rural county like Franklin County is more than just a want. It can be a need. A driver's license can offer someone the ability to support themselves economically by driving to work or driving to the grocery store themselves.
Lamb says one way they'd like to spend that money is on a driving simulator to help combat this struggle.
"Well, if you fail the driving test, so after a certain amount, the state makes you pay to take it. And that's going to be a discouragement to people because they don't want to pay out of pocket to get a driver's license, and they won't have one then. They may not have a job, then they may not. It's just a downward spiral of discouragement. And so if we can help with that comprehension where someone can get some confidence going through the booklet. Well, one just trying to find the booklet, it's even hard to just get your hands on that. So we're going to have some of those on hand and then you get some practice with it."
Meredith Martin-Moats is the executive director of the River Valley Adult Learning Alliance and a partner in this programming. She says an amount like $65,000 might not sound like a lot, but this grant will have a big impact because —
"One of the things I think that is so important about a small town is that people inherently partner together because we have to. Like that is just like, if you want to get anything done in a small town, you do it together so that we can all partner with that. We can amplify that and make that go so, so, so far. And like she said, I think that there's such a ripple effect with it as well."
One example of that ripple effect is the ability for patrons to check out hot spots. Those devices will allow someone to take it home where they may not have reliable internet access and do work that they might otherwise have to drive up to an hour to the library to accomplish.
Martin-Moats says another example of that is paying local tutors.
"And that allows us not only to provide that stability for these students that are coming in. Like, you know, it's not a volunteer situation. I know you're going to be there. You signed the paper, you're going to be there every time. But it also helps us reinvest in our community. We're not bringing in tutors from outside. We are literally investing money into the community. And we are stipending people that live in the community that have, as someone in Dardanelle, I always tell this, I understand my community super well. I don't live in Ozark. I need the wisdom of the people in Ozark to know what to do in those situations, because they see the community up front in a way that I don't see."
Libraries as Literacy Centers provides free tutoring at the Ozark library every Tuesday from 2 to 5 p.m. Whether you need help with the driving test, fractions or anything in between.
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