I just finished reading a lovely case study called “Ripples of Impact,” written by Maria Souden and Sarah Wooden, from How Libraries and Librarians Help (2005). The focus of this case study was on the Washtenaw Literacy Program supported by the Ypsilanti District Public Library in Michigan.

Souden and Wooden illustrate the many impacts the program has on the people involved: the adult learners and the tutors. All of the impacts are so touching and so important. I suppose the impacts that are most striking to me are the ones that go beyond the direct and personal changes, the “extended impacts.” Literacy tutelage gives learners the confidence to become voters, to participate in government, in unions, in the library. It not only helps everyday aspects of their lives, but helps them feel empowered enough to become citizens with a voice.

I love that idea: that we, as librarians, can help make such an amazing impact on other peoples’ lives. I love that librarians can and do achieve such things.