Comp #9 Internet

For this competecy I used Google Advanced Search to find a reputable website that fell into the domain of my blog. To find my website I used the keywords "adults AND illiteracy:.edu. Through this search I found the website for National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Their website can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/naal/.

This website is a statistical site that assesses and provides information on the illiteracy rates in the United States. The agency assesses many different types of illiteracy, such as the rates of those that are incarcerated and those that need access to health information. I thought this was a suitable site to add to my blog as it covers not only basic adult illiteracy, but also those factors that others might not realize are incorporated into the illiteracy statistics.

Comp #8 Image

Using Google Image I typed in the keywords "image illiteracy". This image was several pages in but I felt that it accurately protrayed the attitude towards illiteracy. Oftentimes functional illiteracy is overlooked as it can be viewed as a social problem, not a economical problem, like the failing auto industry. Illiteracy is not something that affects everyone equally, it hides behind bigger problems. One of things that I feel this blog is working towards is informing indivduals about illiteracy and the serious implications that it has. While comical I do feel this image does get the message across. This image can be found at the website http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b392/arlohobbs/illiterate1.jpg.

Comp #7 Research Visual

This image shows what the adult illiteracy rates will be at in the year 2015. The areas with the darkest blue have the highest rate which is 50% or more. This research visual relates to my blog as it shows just how much education needs to be placed on reading and writing in the adult demographic, especially in third world countries.

This image was taken off of the website http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=2867_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics compiles data and research of issues that effect the world.

Comp #6 4 of 4 Successive Fractions

To do the successive fraction search I used the database WORLDCAT. In this search the idea is to narrow down a search by using the broadest facet first and then narrowing it down with narrower facets. The first search I did was using the term "adult" which brought back 270,095 articles. As this is too many books to search through, I added my second facet of "education". Adding this search term it reduced the number of books to 101,359. Still too many to work with, plus they were not relevant to my blog topic. Adding the third search term of "illiteracy" it brought back 475 articles and books. The first hit that came back was the book

"Prisoners of Silence : breaking the bonds of adult illiteracy in the United States"
Author: Kozol, Jonathan.
Publication: New York : Continuum, 1980
Document: English : Book

As this book and articles about it came up in some of my previous searches with different search strategies I found the successive fraction searching technique the best one that I have used for my blog. The thing that I appreciated the most about the WorldCat database was that it offered more information about the hits such as how many libraries carried the book and whether the database subscriber carried it at their library.

Comp #6 3 of 4 Citation Pearl Growing

For this type of search I used the database JSTOR. I used the search terms "literacy" and "illiteracy". When using "literacy" I came back with the article, "Rethinking Literacy: Comparing Colonial and Contemporary America" by Deborah Keller-Cohen, found in Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 4, Alternative Literacies: In School and Beyond (Dec., 1993), pp. 288-307. From this search I was able to to grow a list of these search terms:

literate practices
learning literacies
literate culture
literate devotion
problems of illiteracy
literate bias
literate education

When using the term "illiteracy" I came back with the article, Overcoming Library Illiteracy by Lorene A. Garloch found in The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Mar., 1942), pp. 124-128. While the article is an older one it was able to provide me with other search terms I could use. Those are:

multicultural illiteracy
higher illiteracy
library illiteracy
technical illiteracy

By using this database to employ the search type citation pearl growing, I was able to find many more search terms that could be used in research.

I think that citation pearl growing might be the most beneficial searching term for researchers. It opens up so many more possibilities for searching a subject. I found it beneficial as there are many terms and phrases that I found that would never have occured to me to search.

Comp #6 2 of 4 Specific Facet

The database that I used for the specific facet searching was LibLit. From my search terms the facet that I thought would bring me the fewest hits is adults. I tried that term and the database came back with 7,900 hits, none of which had any relevance to my blog on the first page of hits. The second facet I tried was illiteracy. I received 1,218 hits for this facet. As there were several articles on the first page that were relevant. The third facet that I tried was library. 163,429 articles were retrieved when I just searched for library.
Based on these numbers I would go back and use the building block search strategy to narrow down my hits and hopefully retrieve a number of articles and that were both small in number and relevant to my blog.

adults with 7,900
illiteracy with 1,218
library with 163,429

Combining these as (adults) AND (illiteracy) AND (library) I retreived 85 articles and while the first couple were applicable the one that was most suitable and interesting to my topic was:
Sherry, D. Providing Reading Buddies for the Children of Adult Literacy Students: One Way to Provide Onsite Child Care While Also Addressing Intergenerational Illiteracy. Colorado Libraries v. 31 no. 1 (Spring 2004 [i.e. 2005]) p. 40-2.

As the specific facet search includes the building block technique I again found this search easy to narrow down and perhaps find some serendipitous results. I did find it a little frustrating to start off with searching for the broadest term first, but I do realize that it helps to build the search for later.

Comp #6 1 of 4 Building Block

For this search I used the database ERIC. On my first search I used (illiterate or uneducated) AND (adult or grown-up) AND library, I got back 81 hits which I thought was too many to work with. I took out library and (or grown-up) and got 825, way too many hits to wade through and find the information I needed. I then tried to narrow the search and the best search I did was with (illiterate or uneducated) AND people AND library. Here I recieved 21 hits and most of these were relevant to my blog topic.

I find the building block searching the easiest to accomplish. Sometimes it does feel like alot of trial and error, but sometimes that works and I find articles that I might never have found had I not been rebuilding my searching blocks.

Comp #5 Tagging

2008 reading list(1) @(1) America(2) At-Risk(1) bookcrossing release(1) children(1) class(1) culture education(1) education(21) educational issues(1) guest room(1) history(1) homelessness(1) Kozol(1) literacy(14) nf(1) non-fiction(3) Oakland(1) owned(1) Politics(2) poverty(1) public education(2) public schools(1) race(1) reading(1) Reform(1) signed(1) social theory(1) society(1) sociology(5) Technology(1) united states(1) Urban studies(1) wishlist(1)

The website that the above tags can be found at is http://www.librarything.com/work/3513
I chose the book Illiterate America by Johnathan Kozol. The reason I chose this book is becuase it embodies everything that I am writing my blog about. Kozol discusses the impact that illiteracy has on us as a society and how it effects those that are illiterate and even those that aren't.
The tag that I found had the most hits was "education" at 21. This shows that when people using LibraryThing think about illiteracy they view education is one of the most important things to promote helping stop illiteracy . If education can be improved for children and immigrants to the country then rates might fall and illiteracy might become a smaller problem for adults later in life.

RSS Feed Comp #4

For this competency I used Google http://www.google.com/ to find an RSS feed about illiteracy. The feed that I chose to subscribe to was the New York Times feed on illiteracy articles. The website can be found at http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/illiteracy/index.html. I chose this site to recieve a feed from as it covers a broad expanse of articles covering my blog topic. It is interesting to see articles that cover all aspects of literacy and the problems that the whole world faces, not just the United States.

Podcast Comp #3

Using YouTube www.youtube.com as my starting point, I found a Podcast that spoke about literacy in America. It was an ABC News broadcast titled "Illiteracy in America", that only ran several minutes, but it was a powerful segment that interviewed several women about the trials and tribulations they had to endure being functionally illiterate. Much of it was focused on medical issues that these women faced, avoiding doctors visits just because they could not fill out the forms. The segment ends with some of the women having learned how to read and then using that to help others that were in the same situation they had just graduated from.

I chose this podcast because it spoke to the librarian in me wanting to reach out and help those that are too scared to reveal their secret of illiteracy. It was also gratifying to find a national broadcast that was advocating literacy instead of ignoring it and treating it as a problem that does not exist.

The podcast can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7nCfRDCcT4 .

Related Blog Comp #2

Using the GoogleBlog web page http://blogsearch.google.com/ I searched for a blog that either contained information about public libraries or adult literacy. I got lucky and found a blog from the Greater Victoria Public Library in Canada that focuses on adult literacy. The blog is titled Carl's Adult Literacy Blog and can be found at http://adultlitgvpl.blogspot.com/.

It is this short section below (from Carl's blog) that envelopes what I believe adult literacy in public libraries should embrace.
"Abida and students like her attend an intensive literacy and numeracy program in Toronto for young immigrants and refugees with little or no formal education. Most are children of war or other conflicts. Some had spent their entire lives in refugee camps and arrived not knowing how to hold a pencil. Others have had a few years of basic schooling, but still lag well behind their peers."
"In addition to providing an education, programs such as the one in Toronto - the area receives 40 per cent of newcomers to Canada, according to the latest census figures - are important vehicles for integrating children who often teeter on the brink of dropping out of school and living on the margins of society. "

I found the rest of the posts just as informative and well presented. They related real life success stories and how regular people could better themselves with the help of those dedicated to making a difference in a public library system. From reading many other posts I felt that this blog fulfilled what my blog is trying to be about.

First Competency

This blog was created with the purpose of exploring the profession of library science and the role that it will play in my future as public librarian. It will also help to complete assignments as they are given in my ISAR 5013 class. As the semester progresses, so many different aspects of information science will be explored that hopefully a certain area will completely capture my attention.

I wish to be a public librarian, and the area that interests me most is adult literacy and the challenges that face these struggling adults. I hope that I can use adult fiction (mystery, sci-fi, fantasy and romance) as a portal for those that need help while at the same time making reading enjoyable.