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| November/December 2006 Issue
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 “Gathering at the Waters: Embracing Our Spirits, Telling Our Stories” was the theme of the First Joint Conference of Librarians of Color held in Dallas, Texas October 12 through October 15. The sponsors of this conference were the five associations of librarians of color: American Indian Library Association, Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, Black Caucus of the ALA, Chinese American Librarians Association and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking.
The “gathering” was a fertile environment in which to speak about the successful bilingual and/or bicultural PRIME TIME programs that have been implemented in Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. A panel presentation on Thursday, October 12 included Faye Flanagan, Director of PRIME TIME from New Orleans, Karen McPheeters and Flo Trujillo from Farmington Public Library, NM, and Victor Schill from the Fairbanks Branch of the Harris County Library, Houston, TX. This panel drew on their diverse experiences in implementing PRIME TIME programs, focused on the replicable components of the model, and then reinforced the lessons learned from modifying an existing program to target diverse ethnic groups. At the end of the session the panel modeled a bilingual sample PRIME TIME session that evoked an extremely enthusiastic audience response. More than 45 visitors attended the PRIME TIME panel presentation.
After the presentation concluded, many of the librarians gathered around the panel and requested additional programming information and exchanged contact information. The scheduling at this historic conference provided this valuable time for attendees to follow up after presentations. Also, the exhibits showcased a variety of available materials from multi-cultural presses and provided attendees an opportunity to examine upcoming books, series, and various programs.
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|  A PRIME TIME Affiliate Site is one that follows methodology, sends staff to training, receives technical and directional support from PRIME TIME staff, but is self-funded and largely self-monitored. It can be seen as the eighteen-year-old child who has left the nest, but often drops in for advice, direction or just to say the grades are good. Kalamazoo Public Library has been an affiliate site since spring of 2001 and has independently conducted and funded the program twice yearly. Recently, Susan Warner, Head of Youth and Branch Services, sent the wonderful news…
“After we presented the PRIME TIME program for the first time in the spring of 2001, we knew that this was a program we wanted to sustain. Over the next several years, we funded the twice-yearly program from local grants, gifts from our Friends of the Library, and an LSTA grant. Eventually, the library’s Board of Trustees decided that the program should be “brought home” and that funding for the program would become part of the annual operating budget.”
Read the complete article by Susan Warner, Head of Youth and Branch Services, Kalamazoo Public Library, MI.
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“I like the library more because of Prime Time. We stop just to read.”
“It is more than a library; it’s a place that people really care about each family reading together.”
 85 people participated in the last session of PRIME TIME at the West Feliciana Parish Library on Tuesday, September 26. This was an expected number of participants for a site that recruited 43 families, issued 40 library cards to participants, and had a total attendance of 465 people over the six-week program period. Approximately $10,000 was spent, including many donations, to support this program. Area merchants donated door prizes, totaling $2605, and local restaurants supplied healthful snacks for the six sessions, totaling over one thousand dollars. “I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity and support of the people in the St. Francisville area. So many people helped so much to provide an exceptional Prime Time for the children in this parish. I deeply appreciate the support—what a wonderful community,” said Olivia Pass, Site Coordinator. The results of all the hard work, generosity and community involvement paid off as 43 families were given an opportunity to have a unique library experience through PRIME TIME.
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South Dakota is one of five states in 2006 (along with California, Georgia, Kansas and Ohio) conducting PRIME TIME on a statewide level with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Site visits by PRIME TIME staff to NEH funded sites often take them to remote places in the country and put them in contact with cultures far different from our own. Below is what project director, Faye Flanagan, describes as a trip that awarded her “cultural clarity.”
"Are you impressed with PRADA (worn by a devil or diva), intrigued by lifestyles of the rich and infamous, or immersed in the plethora of cable cooking shows? Truthfully, I’m rarely one of the above, but will confess to being a creature who appreciates style, comfort, and good food. Please allow me to share an experience that cleansed my cultural palette."
Read the complete article by project director Faye Flanagan titled, “Cultural Clarity.” |
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 PRIME TIME continues to be a presence and a relief to families living at an evacuation trailer park in Baker, LA. The extended eight-week program which has an added writing component is in full swing. PRIME TIME families are getting more out of the program than meets the eye. One evening’s observations reveal the gift and power of touch.
"The measure of success that evening seemed in my observation that PRIME TIME is presenting the opportunity and the atmosphere for our Renaissance Village families to exercise the power of touch, where the dismal world of sprawling trailers is left physically and mentally outside if only for the 90 minutes of the program. This provision can then transcend into the touch of a book, a stroke of a letter, and a new outlook on the future. Human beings are creatures of habit, and if PRIME TIME can help instill these habits, step by step, families will learn to share books, conversations and themselves."
Read the complete editorial by assistant director Miranda Restovic, titled, “Baby Steps.” |
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 If you haven’t checked out our redesigned homepage, www.leh.org, and PRIME TIME’s new webpage, you should. The new design is easier to navigate; in addition, our webpage is more comprehensive and contains updated downloadable information. The webpage will keep an updated lineup of upcoming sites, as well as articles and current publicity on the award-winning program. New versions of forms, including application forms, final reports forms, travel expense forms and publicity forms are also available. If you are a PRIME TIME team member (state project coordinator, site coordinator, scholar, storyteller, preschool coordinator etc.) with older versions of the forms, please replace them with the new ones provided on the webpage. Go to www.leh.org, click on Prime Time Family Reading Time to get to our webpage. You will see a table of new forms, which can be downloaded and printed.
Preview the NEW PRIME TIME webpage! http://www.leh.org/html/primetime.html
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As PRIME TIME continues to experience phenomenal growth and success statewide, as well as nationally, the program recently welcomed a seasoned PRIME TIME professional to the full time staff. Dr. Olivia Pass has been a PRIME TIME pioneer, training as a scholar in 1998, and recently retraining as a site coordinator in 2006. Over the eight years with the program, she has worn many hats and participated in more than a dozen programs. Dr. Pass received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette and later earned a second master’s degree in Journalism from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She joined the PRIME TIME staff as Associate Director on November 1, 2006. |
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