Through my current position in the library, I have personally witnessed the impact of libraries as classrooms. As someone who creates programming for adults who want to improve their literacy skills, I always strive to make things as fun as possible! At the same time, I want to make sure that my community’s needs are being identified and fulfilled by programs and other offerings. As stated by Dr. Stephens (2014), “as part of our evolution as an educational and teaching space, expanding and updating these offerings for the 21st century is mandatory” (p. 10). One of the most vital and requested programs that I’ve identified is the series of digital literacy workshops. I launched this series of workshops as a result of the community’s needs. Here in Long Beach, California, we are placing effort into addressing digital inequity within our community. “In LA County, it is estimated that approximately 265,000 households do not have a home computer, 311,000 households have access to the internet only through their cellphones, and 416,000 households have no access to the internet at all” (Countywide Communications, 2023). These statistics really motivated me to take action with helping the community and to simultaneously foster an environment for lifelong learning. With technologies constantly advancing, I want to make sure that our community is able to keep up! During these workshops, I bring the participants into a computer lab and I play lo-fi music to set up a tech-savvy/atmospheric mood while I present different technology topics to them. During the presentation, I provide handouts, hands-on practice for them, and fun questions with iconic pop culture characters involved! My goal is for patrons to have fun while learning and retain the information without even realizing it.
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