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Matching Grant Deadline Fast Approaching: |
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All donations made now until September 15th will be included in our Matching Grant
The RACHEL Project: Can You Help?
$3,000 will fund replacing the library’s aging desktop computers and expand the reach of RACHEL resources to many more students, teachers, and learners in the SJDS community. Please consider donating to this project so we can open up this valuable technology to everyone who uses the library. All donations made now until September 15th will be included in our matching grant. |
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The RACHEL Project: Bringing a Digital Library to San Juan del Sur
The RACHEL Project in Escuela Adelante
On August 6, Jane and HJH Libraries for All board members Janet Lee, Patricia Herron, Will Hudgins, and Rosemary Green traveled to San Juan del Sur on a 12-day trip, carrying 7 suitcases full of children’s books, 5 Chromebooks (laptops), and 2 servers containing digital library collections. The focus of the trip was to install a digital library in Escuela Adelante, a local school.
A little background: In 2020, we began investigating the RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning) system from World Possible as a means of delivering digital collections of full-text books, information databases, and curriculum materials to schools and the library in SJDS. RACHEL offers rich collections of full-text children’s books and videos in Spanish, English, and other languages, as well as instructional materials for teachers and parents, and other wide-ranging informational, educational, and research resources. The RACHEL server is self-contained and creates its own hotspot to local devices. Internet access is not required!
In 2021, Opportunity Tree, a Colorado-based organization that funds our satellite libraries in local schools provided generous support, ultimately making the RACHEL project in SJDS possible. We launched RACHEL at Escuela Adelante, an elementary, bilingual charter school on the outskirts of town. Jaime Hunter, school director, has a long-standing relationship with Jane and with the SJDS biblioteca, and Jaime and her staff readily accepted our proposal to initiate our pilot RACHEL project at the school.
Janet Lee, who recently established a RACHEL system in a Chromebook lab at an Axum, Ethiopia university, led the pre-trip preparation and on-the-ground training. Board members Victor Zuniga and Janet collaborated to configure the system and prepare the installation process. We specified that the Nicaraguan school curriculum be included in the RACHEL menu because Escuela Adelante teachers were especially eager to use these textbooks. In August, Janet Lee, Rosemary Green, and Patricia Herron provided two days of training for Escuela Adelante teachers and staff. Then we turned the kids loose on the Chromebooks to try out brand new stories, videos, and activities.
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RACHEL Training Session at Escuela Adelante |
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The RACHEL server. |
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Children at Escuela Adelante exploring the RACHEL collection |
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Escuela Adelante Director, Jaime Hunter, and Children exploring the RACHEL collection |
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Children at Escuela Adelante Exploring the RACHEL Collection |
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The RACHEL Project in San Juan del Sur Biblioteca
A new board member generously provided a second RACHEL server, initially intended as back up for the first server. But we wanted more from the second server and decided to install it in the library. Janet first gave staff member Heidy Herrera basic administrative training, and Patricia and Rosemary followed up with RACHEL resource training. Patricia and Rosemary also met with local ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher Karla Sanchez, who began using RACHEL resources immediately in her Saturday classes. We hope now to make RACHEL resources available to all library users, to students, teachers, and the community.
Currently, the ESL teacher and students are using Chromebooks that are designated for the library’s 3D Printing classes. The 3D Chromebooks must be secured after every class, so general library users cannot access RACHEL. Ideally, RACHEL resources would be available to anyone who comes to SJDS Biblioteca, and that is not possible now because the Chromebooks must be kept secure for their designated classes. Updated 5G desktop computers would make using the RACHEL system a reality for many more who come to the library.
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Pat and Rosie Introduce RACHEL to Karla, the Saturday ESL Teacher |
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Rosie Goes over RACHEL Content with Karla |
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Saturday English Class in the Library Using RACHEL |
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The RACHEL Project: What is Next?
SJDS library programs are growing! With the RACHEL system, we can offer reference and research resources for high school and university students that were not possible before. The desktop computers in the library lab show considerable wear and tear, but updated 5G desktop computers would provide not only more current computer programs and applications but also access to the RACHEL system. New 5G desktop computers would be compatible with the RACHEL server and be physically secure.
We are excited and encouraged by the early successes of the RACHEL digital library at Escuela Adelante and ESL library classes. We are collecting usage statistics from both locations that will support our future funding proposals. We know that expanding this project can help change the educational outlook of a community that we love. |
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A Note from Jane:
Having just come back from Nicaragua everything seems more intense! All the awesome things you’ve read about here combined with the potential for what’s to come. We will be celebrating the library’s 21st anniversary on November 12th with our memorable day in the park that many of you have attended in the past. Preparations have begun, permits are being requested, and we hope a group of librarians and library minded people will join us for an adventure volunteer trip November 10th – 18th.
Can you believe we’re turning 21? We talked about being grown up at 18 but on my past two trips, in June and again in August, I have really seen maturity. One delightful event this visit was sharing in the baptism and festivities for Wiston’s 8 month old son. Wiston was one of our library kids for years whose mother Katia has worked in the library for many years. Now, he is an integral part of our staff family, and we get to celebrate the next generation. The staff are mature, dedicated, and so in charge of the destiny there.
We enjoyed another intensive meeting with the Executive Board during which the staff shared their individual visions and experiences. I was struck with the leadership, forward thinking and deep appreciation for what we all provide and how our staff feel empowered. Their role in leading the community has honor and prestige. The staff all saw the upcoming needs: new computers (ours reach back to 2014 and our move to the building we are in now); new or reworked trucks (both of the library trucks are old enough to have whiskers as they are both Toyota HiLux Diesel trucks and while they are well maintained they also are “mature.”) The staff especially reminisced about all they have been able to provide for the community throughout these many years. Being part of such innovative projects like the 3D Printer courses and the RACHEL Project have helped us all see our maturity and our ability to step into providing cutting edge programing in our small developing world spot!
We are coming to the end of our matching grant for this year, and we are not fully funded. The possibilities with groups coming this fall and next spring will help us financially, but right now we are calling on all of you to help us circle the wagons on this need. Please consider becoming a major part of this program with your financial support and also actively as fundraisers and promoters of employer matching programs in your own companies and those of friends for us.
In gratitude for all we share, Jane |
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Jane with Wiston’s son, the next generation of library kids! |
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It takes a village, as we well know! |
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We are registered as Hester J. Hodgdon Libraries for All.
Please donate today with the PayPal or JustGiving buttons above OR by check made payable to:
HJH Programs
1716 Del Norte Ave.
Loveland, CO 80538
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