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Muskogee Public Library Offers Free Literacy, Media Classes

The autumnal equinox is finally behind us, hinting the start of autumn. This sudden burst of cooler weather signals the end of summer, but here at Muskogee Public Library the fun continues for people of all ages.

Most people know about our massive Summer Reading Program (and if you don’t, please consider this an invitation for you and your family to join us next year for Touch-a-Truck, reading challenges, prizes, daily crafts, programs, and events), but as we start focusing on learning again, now is the perfect time to highlight the way our literacy department saves our community money.

Our literacy department offers classes for adult 18+ learners on a variety of topics. Why spend hundreds of dollars to learn English on a small phone screen, when someone can take one of our ESL (English as a Second Language) classes in-person for free?

Instead of buying practice GED tests from a website that may or may not be accurate, consider signing up for one of our three student-led GED prep classes.

A future nontraditional college student could buy expensive college-prep or work-prep classes…or they could take an Adult Basic Ed class, catered to meet whatever goal they set.

We also offer a program where adults ages 24+ can earn an accredited online high school diploma, which has been very popular (all seats are currently full but please contact us to be put on a waitlist).

Media literacy is another important course that is offered to all of our adult patrons free of charge. In the age of fake news, online scams, and misleading ads, media literacy attempts to sort through the “noise” of today’s media world, giving learners the skills they need to analyze all types of media and make informed media decisions for themselves.

As we near the holiday season, we also plan on offering a new round of basic computer classes for adults 55+.

All of these classes are offered thanks in part to the generous volunteer hours of our tutors. If you are able to trade some time and effort to better our community through tutoring, we would love to hear from you.

If you, or someone you know could benefit from any of these offerings, please contact Penny Chastain or the Muskogee Public Library Literacy department for more details. And yes, we still have books!

Richard Holland is the adult services librarian at Muskogee Public Library, a branch of the Eastern Oklahoma Library System.