Iowa Literacy Resource Center - FY01 Year End ReportJuly 1, 2000 - June 30, 2001The Iowa Literacy Resource Center (ILRC), while continuing under operation by the Northeast Iowa Regional Library System, 415 Commercial Street, Waterloo, Iowa 50701, expanded its focus from the four main areas of Collection Development, Promotion and Sharing of the Resources, Communication, and ILRC Staff Training from last year to include preparation for processing statistical tabulation and report generation for the ABE and ESL community on behalf of the Iowa Department of Education. Collection Development During the past year, 797 new items were added to the total bibliography of resources physically available from the ILRC to all residents of Iowa increasing the collection to a total of 10,760 items. As has been the practice, approximately three quarters of the materials reside with the main collection with the remainder in remote locations in over half of the community colleges in the state. As in past years, at any particular time, a majority of the items are in circulation in the hands of tutors and students statewide. These figures reflect exclusively books, pamphlets, video and audio tapes, book and tape kits, program kits, CD-roms, and software. They do not reflect materials available electronically. All items purchased were included in the ILRC electronic catalog, the statewide bibliography of library materials (SILO), and in paper format. Highlights of the new additions were advertised in the quarterly ABE Network newsletter, with a complete listing being maintained in the on-line catalog format. We continued to receive requests for a revised printed catalog but time did not allow us to up-date the printed catalog during the year. This will become a major focus for the next year. The ILRC expanded its on-going arrangement with the Regional Technology HUB in Ohio to not only continue to submit full text documents generated by practitioners in the state for inclusion electronically in a state and national electronic resource collection but to providing cataloging services to other states within the region. The ILRC continued its participation on the Iowa Adult Basic Education State Staff Development Committee and contracted with Floyd County Department of Human Services and the Chickasaw County Extension Office to develop Bookbag Presentation Kits was part of the EAGLE Project (Exploring Avenues of Getting Literate Early). Promote the Resources Circulation of the non-electronic materials (print documents) for the year dropped to 4,751 from 7,466 last year. While this is from the main collection and does not including usage of items housed at the community college ABE training sites, it is a significant change in usage styles since electronic access and use of the ILRC soared by over 118% from the previous year. The role of the ILRC web site (www.readiowa.org) expanded significantly during the fiscal year. Work continued with the Iowa Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges on making the ILRC the focal point for data collection and report generation for both state and federal needs. The ILRC participated in tri-fold meetings with the Department of Education to help train community college personnel in the use of TOPSpro. ILRC personnel worked with the CASAS TOPSpro team to development and test software to generate reports for the NRS. A development and test schedule was established and met. And by the conclusion of the fiscal year, the software was in place and initial testing was both completed and successful. Significant effort was invested in promoting the resources of the ILRC website throughout the year with a diversity of audiences statewide. This investment paid off with the use of the site increasing dramatically. Total number of visits for the year soared to 75,665, compared to 34,640 last year. And the total number of requests during the year nearly doubled rising to 213,438 from last years record of 117,814. The ILRC continued to be an active participant in HUB District 3 under the National Institute for Literacy's program of networking and information distribution. In January, the ILRC participated in the annual HUB meeting concerning planning for joint resource sharing. Discussion focused on how to promote the wealth of resources available electronically both to those fluent in computer usage and to those resistant to electronic resources. While this is an on-going opportunity, Iowa will continue to play an active role. Training and information about the LINCs and the LitLink programs thus continued to be standard parts of presentations and information about the ILRC. The ILRC presentations in conjunction with Hawkeye Community College ABE Metro Campus continued to participate in the development role of the LiteracyLink with PBS and IPTV. In addition to involvement in planning and development meetings, Hawkeye's Innovation Sites participated in the formative evaluation of the developing Workplace Essential Skills program. While all materials from the ILRC are available to everyone in the state either through in person visits or by mail, the ILRC continued its practice of "taking the collection on the road". The annual ABE Institute, the New Readers Conference and the annual LDA of Iowa Conference were sites of circulating displays of ILRC resources and presentations. Visits to specific community colleges continued with presentations at Hawkeye Metro Campus, Indian Hills, and DMACC. At each session, presentations on the services available by the center and a chance for those attending to borrow and return materials were provided to over 300 practitioners, tutors, students and interested citizens of Iowa. The ILRC also continued the practice of seeking out civic organizations to share information about the center and solicit support. The ILRC worked with the LDA of Iowa and was the recipient of a gift of $5,000 for collection development in the area of learning disabilities. Discussion was started with the HAWC Empowerment Group in Decorah to establish ways of increasing literacy services to those of non-American nationality in the four northeast counties of Iowa. The project envisions utilizing "home visitors" to encourage reading and to promote an awareness of the resources available at the ILRC and the public libraries in the region. It is hoped the project will serve as a model for implementation throughout the state later in the next fiscal year. Communication The ABE Network newsletter continued to be produced by the ILRC during the first half of the year. During the second half of the year discussions about the time and resources required to produce a printed newsletter transpired. A determination as to whether to continue exclusively with an electronic version will be made during the first quarter of the next fiscal year. The ILRC continued is involvement and support for the Iowa Literacy Council, functioning both as a member and as the fiscal financial agent with funding support coming for the Council from the Iowa Department of Education Staff Development fund. Continued awareness of the resources of the ILRC to the library community were promoted through the Northeast Iowa Regional Library System. This included presentations at the annual Town Meetings for librarians held by the State Library of Iowa and via the regional web site, newsletter, training workshops, and county library association meetings. Staff Training The ILRC is operated by Northeast Iowa Regional Library System personnel. Training continued to be focused on the CASAS program and TOPSPro. This included specialized training for SPSS software with staff participation in two of three scheduled workshops taking place during the fiscal year. In addition, meetings with CASAS TOPSPro personnel to focus on specific software development continued culminating with meetings and attendance at the CASAS Summer Institute in June. The ILRC continued its involvement with the annual ABE Institute with personnel both participating in and attending sessions.
July 27, 2001 |