>> Carla Hayden: Good
afternoon and congratulations
to the recipients of the Library
of Congress Literacy Awards.
The Immigrant Learning Center
in Malden, Massachusetts,
recipient of the
2020 American Prize.
The International
Rescue Committee, Inc,
Pakistan Reading
Project, New York,
recipient of the
International Prize.
And to the three, David M.
Rubenstein's Special Response
Award recipients, the National
Center For Families Learning,
Louisville, Kentucky, Pratham
Books, Bengaluru, India,
and Room to Read, San
Francisco, California.
Congratulations also to the 15
2020 Best Practice honorees.
I've been reading
about the great work
that you are all doing
in the United States
and around the world,
and I am most impressed
because you are doing
such important work.
Literacy is a civil right
indispensable to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.
And literacy is what powers the
pursuit of learning, knowledge,
and opportunity around
the world.
It enables us to both survive
and thrive in the world.
And no one knows this better
than all of you for working
in this area every day.
I'd like to recognize the person
who funds the Literacy
Awards Program,
Mr. David M. Rubenstein.
It is through his generous
ongoing support that the Library
of Congress continues
this distinguished program
that has awarded, in just eight
years, more than $2.2 million
in prizes in 36 countries.
We also owe a special
debt of gratitude
to the extraordinary
individuals who serve
on the Literacy Awards
Program Advisory Board,
some of whom you will
see in the videos.
Thank you all for giving
so generously of your time
and expertise to this
worthwhile endeavor.
And as always, the quality
of your recommendations to me
for awards, and recognition
are evidence
of the expertise you
lend to this program.
Through its outreach program,
such as the Literacy
Awards Program,
the Library of Congress seeks
to nurture and expand a culture
of literacy and reading.
Here our hopes for this
gathering and beyond.
First, collaborate
with each other.
Being online over
the next two days
with literacy organizations
doing amazing work
across all ages and
in different parts
of the world presents a
unique chance for us to learn
from each other and
share with each other.
So please be open to possible
collaboration opportunities
that might increase the
impact of your great work.
Second, think about how
you could use the Library's
collections to support
your work.
Literacy enables communication
and self-expression,
gives shape to our
lives, preserves memory,
archives history, educates
both the mind and the spirit,
always offering the
potential for transformation.
And what better example
of the reward and richness
that literacy offers than
the vast collections found
at the Library of Congress?
The Library's aspirational
vision is
that all Americans are connected
to the Library of Congress.
And for those of you who work
outside of the United States,
in the Dominican Republic,
India, Israel, Pakistan,
South Africa, and
many other countries,
we have phenomenal
collections and resources
of possible interest to the
people you serve as well.
So please know that we value
our international connections
and connectors too.
Let me repeat our
aspirational vision,
"All Americans are connected
to the Library of Congress."
That is a bold statement.
And how can we realize
our vision and connect
in meaningful ways
with individuals
who have varying interests,
skill sets, and life journies?
In part, we believe the
answer lies in partnerships
and collaborations with
organizations such as your own.
Organizations can serve as
connectors between your users
and the library, a
conduit, if you will,
to promote our collections,
experts, and services in ways
that are meaningful to
the people you serve.
So I hope, through today
and tomorrow's discussions,
that this gathering will
spark some ideas lead
to the next steps for possible
ways for you to collaborate
with each other, and
hopefully with us.
Congratulations again to our
outstanding 2020 Award winners
and Best Practices honorees,
perhaps future Library
of Congress partners
and connectors.
Your work is helping millions
of people achieve the
success that literacy brings.
>> Shari Werb: Hi, I'm
Shari Werb, and it's great
to be with you here today.
Congratulations to
the five 2020 Library
of Congress Literacy
Award winners
and the 15 Best Practice
honorees.
Individually, your
work is inspiring
and collectively, so powerful.
Even during the challenges
of the COVID-19 pandemic,
you and other literacy champions
have been fully engaged
in ensuring that
learners continue
to build critical
literacy skills.
Your work, intention,
and passion are inspiring
for all of us.
With school closures,
access to broadband internet
and digital devices
presents challenges for many.
You have pivoted and found
ways to move forward.
Some of you are providing
mobile hotspots, laptops,
and e-readers to learners.
Some of you are helping
others apply
for internet access grants.
Others are using the
telephone and radio
to deliver your services.
Some are expanding your
use of social media
and online outreach tools
to reach your stay-at-home
audiences.
Some of you are promoting
a variety
of existing online resources or
enhancing what's already there.
And so, others are
collaborating with many
to distribute hardcopy books,
worksheets, and other materials.
Some of you may have not had
to alter your programs
significantly
because your models may continue
to work well during COVID-19.
I hope that this conference
serves as a way for you
to connect with each other and
share what is working for you,
with the hope that these
connections will lead
to future collaborations
that will expand the impact
of your work because
your work is crucial.
After all, literacy leads
to better citizenship
and civic responsibility.
Indeed, democracy depends
on a literate populace.
This idea has been expressed
in various ways by our founders
and permeates the entire
Library's collections.
I hope that some of the
connections and collaborations
that result from this conference
over the next two days
will also lead you
to explore our collections,
which,
as the world's largest
library, are quite vast.
And hope that you'll
discover ways
that these materials might
help you in your work.
Again, congratulations
to our 2020 Library
of Congress Literacy
Awards winners
and Best Practice honorees,
keep up your important work.
Thank you.
>> David Rubenstein:
Hello, I'm David Rubenstein.
And I'm the proud sponsor
of the Literacy Awards
of the Library of Congress.
When I was six years old,
growing up in Baltimore,
I received my first library
card, and I didn't realize
that that would change my
life because I fell in love
with reading books and reading.
And throughout my
life, it's been one
of the great pleasures
of my life.
Sadly, sadly, as
many of you know,
many people in the United
States and many people
around the world cannot read.
In fact, about 14% of adults
in this country are
functionally illiterate,
which means they can't read
past a fourth-grade level.
In some countries around the
world, particularly in Africa,
the literacy rate is below 50%,
in some cases, below
20% for adults.
Those individuals in those
countries obviously are going
to have a difficult time
because, without literacy,
you not only don't have
the pleasure of reading
but your chance of
earning a good living,
your chance of having an
enjoyable life is very
much reduced.
It's a sad case, but it's
something we have to work on.
People commonly talk about the
problems of global warming,
and that's an important problem.
And we obviously have the
pandemic and economic effects
of the pandemic, and those
are serious problems as well.
But when those are
long behind us,
and when we have maybe
conquered the problems
of global climate change,
we're still going to have,
unless we make real
changes, the problems
of illiteracy in this world.
And so all of you who've
been working on illiteracy
for your career over
the recent years,
I want to congratulate
you and thank you,
you're doing God's
work on Earth.
The awards you're getting
today are just a small token
of the Library of
Congress and my thank you
for what you're doing to
make the world a slightly
better place.
And if we all live long enough,
I hope we can get the literacy
rates in the United States
and around the world, much
higher than they are today.
To give pleasure to those people
who don't know how to read
and also to make sure that
they have a better life,
and in the end, to make
the planet a better place
to live on.
So thank you for
what you've done.
I hope, at some point,
when we can meet in person,
I congratulate you in person.
Thank you all.