About Us
Literacy/Education Programs and Special Services
- Reading Tutoring for K-5 Students
- Free one-on-one tutoring in reading is available through a partnership with Tucson OASIS. Tutoring services are available in metro Tucson libraries weekdays, weekends and throughout the summer. A commitment to meeting once a week for 9 weeks is required. Read more about the OASIS Intergenerational Tutoring Program here or contact Carlinda Dirks at Tucson OASIS at 322-5627 for more information or to volunteer.
- Books While You Wait
- Collections of discarded and donated books for children and teens are placed in waiting rooms of social service and government agencies. The goal is to encourage reading as a recreational activity. Agency staff reports that the atmosphere in their waiting rooms is quieter, calmer and happier. Parents and children are reading together; older siblings are reading to younger siblings.
- Newborn Book Program
- Newborns are connecting with Pima County Public Library! Every newborn at University Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center, St. Josephs Hospital and Northwest Hospital receives a library card application, a library information sheet, and a Storytime bookmark (listing the dates, times and locations of all library Storytimes) upon discharge. Approximately 1,000 newborns each month are introduced to the library by this program.
- Read to Me, Arizona!
- This literacy campaign stresses the importance of reading aloud to children often and early in life. A coalition of organizations, including Make Way for Books, the Pima County Public Library, United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, and Reach Out and Read Southern Arizona, provide resources to help families read aloud to young children, birth to age 5. Services include community Family Read Aloud Nights, where families in low-income areas of Tucson and Southern Arizona learn effective read aloud practices; Blue Book Houses, which are located at various social service agencies and provide gently-used books; and ReadToMeArizona, which contains a wealth of early literacy information and read aloud resources for families with young children.
- Ready to Read
- We teach parents and caregivers about early brain development and stress the importance of exposing babies and young children to language, reading and books. The program provides information on child development, how to read with babies and young children and ready to read skills. Promotes the development of the language and reading skills that are the foundation for success in school and a lifetime of learning.
- Public Health Nurse at the Library
- Pima County Public Library has a public health nurse on staff. The role of the public health nurse it to help make the library a welcoming and safe place for all of our visitors. The public health nurse improves the physical and mental health of our customers through education, referral, crisis prevention, nursing intervention and disease management.
- GLBT Services Committee
- The GLBT Services Committee was established in 1997 to better serve southern Arizona's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender library users. It seeks to fulfill this mission by creating exciting programs such as GLBT author visits, and through participation at various outreach events such as Pride in the Desert.
- On a daily basis we review, order and make GLBT materials available for all PCPL users, regardless of age, location or sexual orientation. The Pima County Public Library's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Services Committee is dedicated to upholding the library's Mission Statement as well as the Library Users Bill of Rights for all of our customers.
- PCPL is one of the few public libraries in the country to have an established Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Services Committee. In fact, Tucson was the first municipality in Arizona to adopt a non-discrimination ordinance (PDF) regarding sexual orientation.