Longtime CLA member Dr. Leslie S.J. Farmer's, new book, Impactful Community-Based Literacy Projects, has been published by the ALA. Farmer's book provides evidence-based practice guidelines for librarians and educators. The projects described in this book blend early literacy benefits, fundamental reading skills, and other foundational concepts with culture- or community-specific sensitivity and leveraging. They’re adaptable based on age, audience, size, resources, and budget; and most importantly, they address social inequities and foster cross-culture interactions. The book features profiles of dozens of successful literacy projects.
Farmer is a professor at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), coordinates the Teacher Librarian Program and manages the CSU Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy Project Literacy Project. She has worked as a librarian in K–12 school settings as well as in public, special, and academic libraries. She is the CLA 2020 Katharine Drexel Award recipient.