WebJunction

This article is reprinted from From Outreach to Equity: Innovative Models of Library Policy and Practice, by ALA's Office for Literacy and Outreach Services; Robin Osborne, editor.

Great Valley Center (www.greatvalley.org) is a nonprofit organization that supports the economic, social, and environmental well-being of California’s Central Valley. The valley is a vast agricultural region, one of the fastest growing and poorest in the nation. Analysis conducted by the center confirmed that the digital divide was greater here than in the rest of the state. Many immigrants, poor people, and rural families did not have access to computers or the skills to use them.

The Central Valley Digital Network was created to help rural residents get connected to technology and to provide services and training to people in traditionally unserved and underserved communities. Several libraries in California’s Central Valley have joined a larger network of agencies to achieve those goals.

In four years, Central Valley Digital Network has placed 25 AmeriCorps *VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) personnel at 31 sites in 11 counties of the Central Valley. Nonprofit organizations, libraries in particular, were invited to apply for volunteer placements. Libraries were selected on the basis of their willingness and ability to host a volunteer (e.g., to provide workspace and to supervise his or her work), their interest in technology, the level of service currently in place, and their willingness to send supervisors to training.

To ensure a successful project year, the Central Valley Digital Network supports its VISTA personnel and partner sites in many ways.

• The network conducts VISTA training seminars on community outreach, volunteer management, technology skill development, media outreach, public speaking, and other topics.
• The network’s Innovation Fund gives VISTAs a chance to apply for small grants to design innovative projects that support technology services at their sites and within their communities.
• The network offers competitive scholarships to VISTAs who wish to learn additional software, office productivity, or computer troubleshooting skills.
• The network sends its VISTAs to technology conferences around the country––past conferences have been in San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
• The network builds esprit de corps among VISTAs throughout the Central Valley through recreational trips, group activities, meetings, and resource sharing.

In their years of service, VISTA staff members have set up many ongoing programs and services. They have conducted technology literacy training, developed multilingual training materials, launched public outreach campaigns, organized technology-related projects that respond to the community’s unique needs, built community partnerships, and recruited and trained volunteers and staff to teach others about technology.

Following are just a few examples of how partnerships with the Central Valley Digital Network have enhanced the delivery of technology-related services in library settings.

The Stanislaus County Library hosts Bridges to Technology, a program that offers free technology workshops at all 13 branches in the county. VISTA staff created a system for recruiting, training, and scheduling local volunteers to lead the workshops. They also developed a curriculum in English and Spanish. More than 40 volunteers have joined the program. Workshop topics include computer basics, beginning Internet, intermediate Internet, Microsoft Word 2000, genealogy research on the Web, and making cards in PrintShop (http://www.stanislauslibrary.org/AnnualReport03-04.pdf

For some time the Lodi Public Library was not equipped to support substantive technology training for its users: the library’s computer center was open 20 hours a week, with only 5 volunteer trainers. The partnership with Central Valley Digital Network helped open the computer learning center, which is open 53 hours a week, has 25 committed volunteers, and offers multilingual training for our diverse users––28 percent Hispanic, 22 percent seniors, and 7 percent Indian/Punjabi. A grant award enabled the purchase of a new computer and an assistive technology device called QuadJoy, which allows a user to operate the computer with his mouth. Another project trains high-school seniors to use software to create short videos. In the last three months of 2003, the center recorded 2,649 user sessions––the same number recorded for the entire year before the partnership with Central Valley Digital Network (www.lodi.gov/library/).

The Sutter County Library had just completed an upgrade of 18 new public access computer workstations, including one Spanish language workstation. Although public interest was high, library staff noticed that many of the users needed basic computer skills. Staff from the Central Valley Digital Network supplemented the library’s computer classes for seniors with smallgroup and one-on-one instruction. They also offered small group instruction in Spanish serving about 20 residents per week. Network volunteers helped to set up computers at four branches, bringing Internet access to outlying areas of the county (www.co.sutter.ca.us/index.aspx?doc=/depts/ library/library.xml).

The Yuba County Library increased awareness and availability of technology resources at the library through its partnership with the Central Valley Digital Network. Community members, including the 60 percent to 70 percent senior population the library serves, learned to navigate the Internet and use e-mail. Classes at the library were promoted through networking and outreach to local media. Volunteers were recruited to translate computer workshop materials for Spanish speakers (http://www.co.yuba.ca.us/content/departments/library/).

Overall, volunteers from the Central Valley Digital Network have presented 20,484 user training sessions at community technology centers, libraries, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations throughout the Central Valley. The organization believes that access to technology must be accompanied by access to content that is of value and interest to the user, and by the ability to find and evaluate the information. Libraries are effective partners in providing such access.