Top Titles for Adult New Readers

If you're ever looking for books for adult literacy students, here’s a website you may want to visit. Every year the American Public Library Association publishes a list of Top Titles for Adult New Readers on their website, http://www.pla.org/links/ link.html.

The lists are made up of both fiction and non-fiction books published in the current year which may appeal to adult readers. The books are said to be at an eighth grade readinglevel or below. Short descriptions of the books are provided, including the reading level, publisher, price and ISBN.

Receiving Donated Computer Equipment

Never turn down anything that’s free, right? On the surface, receiving donated computer equipment may seem like a windfall, but sometimes used computers can be more trouble than they’re worth. The American National Institute for Literacy’s (NIFL’s) technology listserv recently discussed the pros and cons of accepting donated computer equipment and here are some of their recommendations.

To begin with, always examine the equipment or an itemized list of the equipment before you accept it. First, you want to ensure that you aren’t just receiving a collection of parts. Next, if possible, find out what types of computers they are, if the computers are in working order and what software will be provided with them. If the computers are coming from a business, it is quite possible that they may not contain any software because the company has completely erased the hard disks for security reasons.

Be wary of accepting computers that are more than two generations old. For example, today people are buying new Pentium III’s so therefore you shouldn’t accept computers older than first generation Pentiums. When computers are older than this, the operating systems are likely to be significantly different than new computers making it difficult for students to transfer the skills they learn to today’s computers. Accepting computers with a variety of operating systems (ie. Mac, DOS, Windows 3.1, etc.) can also cause similar frustrations. When a computer is only a few generations old, the search for software that will run on this type of equipment also becomes less frustrating.

That having been said, before deciding to follow this rule, think about what your program's needs are in terms of computer equipment. If you are wanting to be able to teach your students keyboarding and simple word processing skills, then older computers may be quite adequate. Newer computers may run faster and have more bells and whistles but speed isn’t everything and these types of programs don’t normally require bells and whistles. In general though, don’t feel obligated to accept the equipment if it isn’t going to meet your needs.

Finally, if you do accept used computer equipment, get what you can out of it, but don’t invest extra money or teacher time into fixing it up if it breaks down. Once you start investing time and/or money, this inevitably takes valuable resources away from other areas of your program. Now if you are able to rely on volunteers with computer expertise, that’s another story. You may not have to look any farther than your local high school to find this expertise. For example, Computers for Schools is an Industry Canada program that is beginning to make use of high school students to help provide recycled computer equipment to schools and libraries across Canada.

Diane McCargar
Editor, CONNECT