Christie Vilsack reaches goal of visiting 500 Iowa libraries
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By Dawn Feddersen | Wednesday, November 15, 2006 |
Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack reads to preschoolers from the Friendly House during a visit Tuesday to the Davenport Public Library-Fairmount Street. The governor’s wife has now visited 500 libraries around the state after dropping by four in the Quad-City region on Tuesday to announce a new initiative aimed at helping parents guide their children in the use of new media.
Christie Vilsack, wife of outgoing Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, visited the Davenport Public Library-Fairmount Street Tuesday and reached her goal that same day of visiting 500 Iowa libraries during her tenure as first lady of Iowa.
She’s been busily visiting libraries over the last seven years to raise awareness for literacy and the important part that libraries can play in families’ lives.
She recalled being eight years old in Mount Pleasant, riding her trusty blue Schwinn to the library, and stopping by her father’s law office to tell him where she’d be.
“I’d walk in and there’d be Mrs. Alma Van Allen. I would be afraid because she’d always say, ‘What are you reading these days?’ ” she said.
Vilsack said she now realizes that that kind of focus on reading is one of the reasons why Van Allen’s four sons all grew up to be well educated and successful in their fields. Notably, her son, James, was the physicist who discovered the Van Allen radiation belts, which were named for him.
But Vilsack, who has been an avid reader from a young age, does not give credit for her love of books to just one source.
“It was Mrs. Van Allen, the school librarian, my teachers, neighbors, parents, they all encouraged me to be a reader,” she said, adding that a sense of community also was important for libraries to succeed.
Vilsack took the opportunity at her visit to announce her new media literacy initiative to Iowans.
“What I am turning my attention to is how to expand the definition of literacy to include technical literacy,” she said.
As an educator and a parent, Vilsack knows that parents with little or no computer savvy can actually inhibit their child’s educational development.
“How are you going to have that conversation? How are you going to set the guidelines on screen time and safe navigation when you don’t even know how to do those things, yourself?” she implored.
She announced her role in promoting the Verizon Tech Savvy Awards. Through a partnership with the National Center for Family Literacy and the Verizon Foundation, Vilsack created the awards to recognize programs that de-mystify technology for parents and enable them to better guide their children in the use of new media.
The awards program is designed to assist grassroots, community-based non-profit organizations, libraries, and schools to incorporate information, communications, and technological literacy as a component and enhancement of literacy. Four $5,000 regional awards and one $25,000 national award will be presented annually.
The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.
verizon awards
For more information on the Verizon Tech Savvy Awards, visit www.familylit.org.
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