The Camden County Library System is proud to announce Adult Education/Literacy Coordinator Shyamoli De is being awarded the 2015 “Celebrate Literacy Award” by the West Jersey Reading Council, an Honor Council Affiliate of the International Literacy Association.
The award recognizes individuals that have made significant contributions in the local or state community to promote literacy. In its award letter the WJRC noted De’s efforts and achievements as Director of the Literacy Volunteers of Camden County that operates in part out of the Voorhees branch library.
“We are pleased to see Shyamoli’s work in leading Literacy Volunteers of Camden County is being recognized by others in the literacy field. This past year over 160 tutors have been working with 200 students, which is having a profoundly positive impact on the communities we serve,” says Camden County Library Director Linda Devlin.
Devlin points out that De supervises programs such as free reading classes, free math tutoring and the Career Online High School in addition to overseeing Literacy Volunteers of Camden County.
“I applaud the work that Shyamoli and the entire staff of the library is doing to combat illiteracy,” says Freeholder Carmen Rodriguez, liaison to the Camden County Library System. “As an educator, I feel that it is imperative that anyone who wants to learn how to read be given the opportunity and help to do so. The service that the Camden County Library System provides is invaluable and can be a matter of raising the standard of living for residents while giving them access to a world of opportunities.”
De has been actively involved in providing education programs for the customers of Camden County Library since becoming a librarian in 2007. She initiated a number of successful adult programs including a series of best-selling author visits, writing workshops, large-scale outreach services to assisted-living communities and ESL conversation classes that meet weekly. She’s developed and conducted a variety of creative writing classes, a US Citizenship prep course (in partnership with the NJ Dept. of Immigration) and an oral biography project at some of the local senior citizen centers in South Jersey.
