PPL At-a-Glance
107 youth were engaged in year-round Library Teen Squads, while the new Teen Loft welcomed nearly 2,000 drop-in visitors, including 30 school visits.
PPL’s Adult Education Chromebook distribution team delivered and set up 1200
devices for participants in Rhode Island adult education programs.
330 adult learners from 43 countries took part in ESOL, Citizenship, GED, and Transition-to-College classes.
Grace Maffucci
I wanted to volunteer to work within the Spanish-speaking community in Providence. I saw an ad for free ESL classes through the Library and that helped me find my way into the Citizenship class.
I became a lot more comfortable with speaking Spanish and helping students practice English. In the Citizenship class, I learned so much about the naturalization process and about the lengths people will go to become U.S. citizens. I have also had the opportunity to lead lessons on my own and to gain teaching experience.
While the students in the Citizenship class at PPL come to learn and to be taught, as a class volunteer, I truly feel that the students taught me something new every week. I've learned a great deal about the immigrant experience and the various countries from which our students come; and I've seen resilience and strength in action, as students start out in the class with little English and knowledge of U.S. history and leave the class as citizens more American than I will ever be!
353 individuals registered for virtual or in-person
digital literacy and computer classes, with 69 % achieving measurable skills gain.
569 individuals in a total of 1,085 one-on-one sessions received
virtual and in-person Digital Navigation and Career Services services.
11,857 books and kits were distributed to 4,230participants through the Passport to Summer Learning initiative's library and community partners.
Melanie Anaya
From the back seat of the car, I heard a gravelly voice from the radio detailing the Civil War. My mom, in the driver’s seat, listened intently in preparation for her citizenship exam. I hung onto every word too because, at eight years old, it was I who taught her. Every night, after completing my homework, I rushed over to read to her about the history of the United States and quiz her on tricky questions while she cooked dinner. Before, my teaching revolved around helping her with English in the doctor’s office or official documents. Now, we were accomplishing a tangible goal together while I learned about my own country.
It was these moments that formed my love for teaching. Ever since this moment of my childhood, I had been drawn to teaching and I yearned to make a difference in others' lives as well. That's why, when I applied to the Bonner Community Program at Brown, my first choice was Providence Public Library. I was especially drawn to the Library’s Citizenship
program and, as a future physician, I knew I had to teach my patients and find new methods to learn and teach. Therefore, I was lucky enough to get matched with PPL and meet Chris, who was the best mentor, friend, and boss.
I learned an incredible amount about teaching, but also about people, their lives, and dreams that went well beyond the bubble that was Brown University. As a medical student, I hold these values as very dear to me because physicians often don't have the time to let patients speak their stories. However, I want to practice medicine the same way PPL and Chris taught me to teach, with the person in the center.
Another 25,000 pages of Rhode Island newspapers becamepublicly available through the Chronicling America national archive website as part of PPL’s participation in the Library of Congress’ National Digital Newspaper Program.
We served 225,935patrons with in-person services and programmingin tandem with ongoing virtual options, takeaway materials, and loanable technology offerings.
AskRI.org collections and databases were accessed almost 5 million times.
Cem Eskinazi
I am a practicing type designer. I have visited PPL numerous times in order to support my research on type design through attending many wonderful design lectures and most importantly through many visits to the Updike Collection. I was able to utilize the Updike Collection not only for inspiration for my own designs but to support my research about Eastern European and Central Asian scripts, as well as various historical printing and type drawing techniques.
PPL has been a central hub for practicing and student type designers in Providence. When I was a student, I participated in the Updike Prize competition, which was a great motivator to push my design further. Thanks to the collection and events at PPL, I also had the chance to meet up and spend some time with many visiting designers.
My discoveries during visits directly impacted my professional work as a practicing designer. I am thankful to be living in a city where I have easy and free access to such an amazing resource!