Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System representatives Tanci Mishler (left) and Michelle Michaud (right) accepted the 2012 Betty Davis Miller Youth Services Award from the Florida Library Association for the libraries’ outstanding children’s programs for homeschooling families.
As the number of homeschooled children in the county grows, so does the demand for the necessary resources.
Recognizing this need, libraries became a source of information and research, leading to the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System’s recognition by the Florida Library Association (FLA).
Last month, the FLA presented the county with the 2012 Betty Davis Miller Youth Services Award for the libraries’ outstanding children’s programs.
According to Hillsborough County spokesperson Jennifer Hall, the award was part of the FLA’s annual conference in Orlando, and said that the FLA were impressed provided to local homeschooled students.
“Our libraries are major resources for students especially for the homeschooling families, so it is great to be recognized and hear that our programs help making a difference in our student’s lives,” Hall said.
The variety of homeschool programs included science topics for children ages 5-11, including observation, hypothesis and theory, moon and stars, gravity, properties of matter, plate tectonics, magnets, electrical circuits, robotics and tornadoes.
Consumer science programs for children ages 12 and up covered the topics of money and budgeting, banking and loans, career planning, leadership and nutrition and wellness.
The programs held at the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library, Riverview Branch Library, Seffner-Mango Branch Library, SouthShore Regional Library and Thonotosassa Branch Library are open to anyone who wanted to participate and included a short presentation on a learning topic, followed by hands-on experiments and activities.
Books on the topics were available for checkout at the end of each program, and handouts were available for follow-up at home.
Honored to receive the Betty Davis Miller Award, Hillsborough County’s Manager of Library Programming, Linda Gillon, said, “We are pleased to serve all local kids with educational and fun programs, and hope that these serve as inspiration for other library systems.”
For more information, call 273-3652.
