Over 800 million adults worldwide do not have basic literacy skills, according to the UNESCO.
A Way with Words : Literacy Then and Now by Ruth J. Colvin, available in the library's Adult New Reader Collection, describes how she started the largest network of adult literacy providers in the world called Literacy Volunteers of America. Now known as ProLiteracy Worldwide , the organization runs adult literacy programs in 65 countries in the world. She was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom in 2006 for her tireless work for adult literacy.
