After a welcoming everyone to the 23rd annual Family Literacy Festival and a reading of the Literacy Proclamation from the City of Gainesville, Mayor Craig Lowe presented the Alachua County Literacy Network awards to volunteers and organizations that have worked to improve literacy in our community.
This year's awards recognized two individuals and two organizations including:
Cynthia Mingo received recognition for 30 years of dedicated work with area students. Her contributions included tutoring students at Idylwild Elementary three times a week during the past two years. During that time she also implemented an African American Scavenger Hunt in which students had to read books to find the answers. She has coordinated the Brain Bowl Competition for the past six years and a Spelling Bee Competition for the past three years. Ms. Mingo has had a tutorial reading program for students from pre-school through 12th grade for more than 30 years.
Nykki Barnes was recognized for her volunteer service with an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) classroom for the past two years; tutoring students in reading and math at Duval Elementary School.
Early Learning Coalition of Alachua County's Early Childhood Literacy Committee received an award because of its collaboration and supportive efforts in order to present early literacy events and activities for children aged birth to five. This committee advocates developmentally appropriate early literacy activities that allow children to develop language and literacy skills that will lead to success in school. The award was accepted by Linda Boyles and Linda Carlson.
The Gainesville Woman’s Club was recognized for its successful “Game Day” event and Storybook Christmas Benefits Program. As part of the “Game Day” admission, each participant brought a new or gently used book as a donation to the Media Center at Rawlings Elementary School. More than 200 books were collected and $500 donated toward the purchase of new books for the statewide Reading Motivation Program for students in grades 3-8. Also, the Gainesville Woman's Club provided books for underprivileged children through participation in The Gainesville Sun’s Storybook Holiday. Carol Poucher and Nancy Webb accepted the award.
These awards were part of the Family Literacy Festival's celebration of reading and recognition of this community's commitment to improving literacy.
See article on Gainesville.com on the Gainesville Woman's Club award.
System status
A new library system and online catalog will debut on May 30. Here's the current status of:
- Checkouts: May 24-29 you must have your physical library card in hand to check out materials.
- Due dates: All checkouts will have a due date of June 22, except DVDs and GRU watt meters, which still have 7-day limit.
- Holds and requests: New holds and purchase requests cannot be placed until May 30, but those placed previously will continue to be processed.
- Returns: Please "Babysit Our Books" — keep them until the new system is running smoothly (mid-June).
- Registration: Continues as usual today, but cannot be done May 24-29, as our entire system will be down.
- Interlibrary loan: Continues as usual throughout the transition.
- Digital checkouts: OverDrive checkouts and holds will work normally throughout the transition.
- My Discoveries: Will be retired with the AquaBrowser catalog on May 24. Please retrieve any saved book lists before then.
- Website: The Library District website (www.aclib.us) will be up as normal throughout the transition.
- My Account: Account info will be available through May 24. Your account will appear on the new system on May 30.
- Bill payment: All payments including PayPal are working today. No payments can be accepted May 24-29
- New catalog: Watch for its debut on May 30, with new features.
More about the transition.
More about the new online catalog.
Have any questions? Please Ask Us!
