News & Dates

March 2010

Best Wishes, Mari and Welcome, Juliet!

Mari Sakai has served as Literacy Coordinator for the past year and was instrumental in expanding the program in a number of areas. For students, she added the English Conversation Classes and Health Literacy Classes. For tutors, she updated and enhanced the tutor training workshops and seasonal Tutor Meetings. Mari will be leaving HLC at the beginning of March to pursue her doctorate degree in linguistics.

Juliet Douglas, a senior librarian with the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library, is joining HLC as Literacy Coordinator. She has worked with the library system since 2006, first as a librarian at the Austin Davis Public Library and then later at the John F. Germany Library in Reference Services. Juliet is excited about joining the Hillsborough Literacy Council. We wish Mari well and welcome Juliet aboard!

Spring Tutor Meeting and Workshop

Mark your calendar for the Spring Tutor Meeting! It will be from noon to 2:00 PM on Saturday, March 27, in the Auditorium of the John F. Germany Library in Downtown Tampa. Come downtown to meet Juliet and welcome her to the program! All tutors are invited to attend this session as we discuss financial literacy and how tutors can help their students with this important topic.  Some issues we will cover include budgeting, savings accounts, and credit cards.

If you are a new tutor and have not attended a Supplemental Resources Workshop, please join us from 10:30 AM to Noon at the Downtown Library just before the Tutor Meeting. Meet to discuss your new matches and learn about teaching strategies and extra resources that are available for you to improve your tutoring sessions. Tutors must attend the Supplemental Resources Workshop to receive the tutor certificate.

Contact Juliet at douglasjs@hillsboroughcounty.org or 813-274-1981 to RSVP by Wednesday, March 24. 

Library Closings

Monday, March 8: Bruton Memorial Library is closed due to the Strawberry Festival Parade.

Friday, April 2: The Hillsborough County Public Libraries will be closed for a furlough day, and the Temple Terrace Library will be closed for Good Friday.

Sunday, April 4: All HCPLC branches are closed for Easter.

Microsoft Digital Literacy

Microsoft is now offering a free digital literacy curriculum online. Once completed, participants may take a test and receive a certificate. The curriculum is available in English as well as 30 other languages. To learn more, click here.

In addition to this online resource for your students, HLC has a computer instruction series that we’re giving away for free. Computación sin Barreras is a series of seven self-study programs designed for Spanish-speakers with little to no computer and Internet knowledge. The programs in the series include Introduction to Your Computer, Vista, Introduction to the Internet, Guide to Microsoft Word, Guide to Microsoft Excel, Guide to Power Point, and Digital Photography. We have two complete sets and will give away the whole series or individual parts to whomever responds first. Email Juliet if you’re interested (douglasjs@hillsboroughcounty.org).

HLC Tutor Book Club

This month, the book club will be reading Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Join us on Wednesday, March 17 at 7:00 PM.  We will be meeting at the Jimmie B. Keel Library in the Tutor Room.  Please email Carol at bockenek@earthlink.net if you are interested in attending.