Minnesota Public Radio recently had a segment on “changing technology and the future of libraries” – something of interest to librarians and their users everywhere, including New Haven, where the new city librarian is seeking community views, as indicated in a December 20 news article on this “LiteracyEveryday” site.

Another discussion of libraries comes from Harvard history professor, and university library director, Robert Darnton in the New York Review of Books.

A December 5 New York Times article featured Figment.com, a site for young readers and writers.

The Rotary Club of New Haven, in an annual effort, is providing dictionaries to third-graders citywide, as marked by an event at Truman School.

As described in an earlier New Haven Independent article, across town at Brennan/Rogers School, the goal among staff, parents, and students is to “create a culture of reading” – with one student already known as a “super reader.”

WNPR had a story last week about mothers of preschoolers in Hartford who are concluding a six-month course in English and parenting.

In New Haven, a Family Literacy Forum in spring 2010 addressed related challenges.

Local mothers group joins national initiative to encourage reading among boys in urban communities.

Mocha Moms, Inc., a national support organization for stay-at-home mothers of color, and the National Institute for Literacy have launched a partnership to support early literacy and help foster a love for books and reading. 

President Ciarra Ennis of Mocha Moms of Fairfield County, Inc. says that “Reading for entertainment is a lost art. Children, particularly boys, need to know that reading is cool and that there are enjoyable alternatives to playing video games and surfing the Internet. Why not have this concept be fostered in a familiar setting like a barbershop?”

Boys Booked on Barbershops (B-BOB) will debut on Saturday, December 4 from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon at Wayne Kellman’s gentlemen’s salon, 596 First Avenue in West Haven. The event to introduce the “book nook” will include snacks, a reading, and a free book for every child.  For more information, contact LaTasha at 203-690-6274 or Ciarra at 203-444-0433.