COMMUNITY PROFILES IS A WEEKLY SERIES THAT APPEARS EACH MONDAY AND DELVES INTO THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY IN SANTA MONICA. Sylvia Anderle: Enabling education
Local librarian Sylvia Anderle was recognized recently for her dedication to leading youngsters to brighter educational futures.
Noted for her commitment to her profession, her peers, and the children and families of the Santa Monica community, Anderle, a children’s and Latino outreach librarian at the Fairview branch of the Santa Monica Public Library, received the 2005 New York Times Librarian Award.
Anderle, 61, has worked for 16 years at the Fairview branch at 2101 Ocean Park Blvd., where she is charged with familiarizing Spanish-speaking students and families with library resources.
“When I was hired, I wanted to create parallel services for Spanish speakers,” Anderle said. “So I started out in my position having story times for children that were both in Spanish and English.”
Anderle’s purview has since expanded. Now she not only organizes and presents the daily and evening story times for children, but her job also entails a wide range of advocacy to help youth — many of whom come from struggling families — feel more comfortable with the educational resources the library has available.
“I see that families come here and feel safe and learn that this is a good place to bring your child,” Anderle said. “Most of them find Recently, Anderle helped push for the library to secure several laptops so young students, many of whom do not have a computer at home, can learn the basic research and typing skills essential in today’s world.
She serves on several local boards that help distribute literature in the schools, and her ongoing commitment to promoting education among youth gained the recognition of her colleagues, who nominated her for the Times’ prestigious award.
This year’s 27 winners were chosen from more than 1,200 nominations from 48 states. A selection committee composed of leading library professionals and a representative from the Times chose the winners.
The Times held a reception in honor of the winners on Nov. 16 in New York, during which Anderle was given $2,500 and a commemorative plaque.
“It was a fantastic event,” Anderle said. “My husband and I used the money to make a trip of it.
“We spent several days enjoying the city.”
Here the Daily Press caught up with Anderle to discuss her recent honor and her ongoing work in Santa Monica.
What does your position entail? “It’s really my own thing. I’m the only Spanish-speaking librarian at this branch. There’s one at the main branch. She will be doing Spanish story times when the new branch opens. It will be the first time at the main branch.
“I do a toddler reading on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. and Thursday nights at 7 p.m. It’s not my only task. I help develop the collection and ensure we’re obtaining materials that have the Spanish that is more or less universally spoken for the people who use this collection. The quality of the printing has increased dramatically over the past seven years. It’s spectacular. When I first started, the quality of the paper was just not at that level. There are some wonderful resources now, and it’s friendlier for readers than it used to be.
“I have joined up with Reading is Fundamental, so I visit the schools and do story times.”
Tell me about your background. “People look at me and wonder how I can be so enthusiastic about my job. I’m 61, so they figure I’ve been doing this a long time. But I like when I went into it, at that stage in life when my kids were grown.
“I have two children. I was fortunate to give them lots of reading. My husband, Donald, is a librarian, like I am, so my children grew up in a home where books are cherished.
“I was born in this country, and my parents are from Cuba. They came here in 1939, and I was the only child. My parents lived the American dream, but they did it at a price. They worked very hard and were assimilated. My father served in World War II, and in the process, they had no tradition of taking your child to story time or getting a library card or anything like that. My parents gave me books, because that is what you do, but it’s not the same kind of environment that you find here.
“I live in Santa Monica in a house four blocks from the branch. We moved here in 1989. I came from New York and finished my master’s degree in library science at UCLA. I did my undergraduate at Syracuse, a background in art history.”
What else do you do in the community? “Family literacy is very important. It’s always exciting to see children select the book they want and take it home. I make them take the Reading is Fundamental pledge, raise their hand and make them promise to bring their book home, read it and share it with someone.
“During the summer, families were coming up to me and saying, ‘Do you have any way to help my child, he or she is having trouble with reading, and now we have this summer vacation.’
“We had a program in place that was an enrichment program that was fee-based. There were a few scholarships available, but it wasn’t a remedial program (which was needed). So I started a summer reading tutorial where I recruited volunteers, training them and setting up a six-week tutorial. We placed the readers one on one with a tutor, and it’s a program that has continued over the years. This last summer was the 11th year we’ve been doing it.
“What’s happened is that a lot of the volunteers continue (tutoring) during the school year, and word gets out, and so these mothers hear, ‘If you go visit Sylvia, she’ll help you.’
“I wish I had more volunteers. I have my ears open and am always trying to find good people. It’s not about just being bright in school. It really takes a gifted middle school student to be able to tutor children and inspire them to come back week after week and enjoy their time with you. It’s great to come here during summer and hear this buzz going, all of this tutoring in the library.
“It’s an atmosphere I’ve worked very hard to create here, and I’m kind of tough on the after-school crowd. We had a situation last year where I had to show the kids that we are here to help and that the library is not an arcade.
“Parents get very energized by the possibility of their children advancing, and that’s why these parents want to bring their children to our programs.
“We also have these laptops now which come out in the afternoons. They’re a big help. We have a lot of kids in the community who don’t have computers at home and they are not computer literate. The computers are just for homework and research, not for rock n’ roll.
“It’s really heart-breaking to see a high schooler in here at quarter to nine in the evening trying to type a paper with their finger. We had this typing tutorial over the summer in which kids had to perform at a certain level in order to qualify for a pizza party. It was exciting to see the number of kids who came by and tried their hands at keyboarding.
“Parents have faith computers are the future, so they lined their kids up for this keyboarding program over the summer. It’s great to see them so energized. It’s hard for a lot of them, and they want to do what they can to give their children the most opportunity possible.”
Why did you get this award? “I was nominated by people in the library who think I’ve been doing something that deserves credit. The award is about public service. I couldn’t do the work I do if it wasn’t for the staff that supports me. The work that’s done at this branch is done by the commitment of everyone who works here. We’re here for information, and that’s our role. It’s good people feel comfortable and safe here.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 28, 2005. Read the original PDF.