“Public librarians have embraced their responsibility to be the first literacy coach for parents and caregivers of all children, especially children in low-income families,” says Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington Office, in filed testimony to Congress.
I'm copying this from the Geek the Library Facebook page, where an interesting conversation has developed about this document, written as a testimony for the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, which held a hearing on November 19, 2009, pertaining to the LEARN Act (Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation).
The debate on the Geek the Library page has to do with the librarian's role. Are librarians rightly named "coaches," which implies teaching and leading responsibilities, or should librarians be considered more narrowly as "providers of information" rather than teachers?
How do you see your role as an early literacy expert in your community?