If you visited our new URL, literacyworldwide.org, recently, you may have noticed the beginning stages of the new ILA website. When we changed our name to the International Literacy Association on January 26, our new logo and colors graced the pages and we began the process of transitioning the thousands—yes, thousands—of website pages, PDFs, and files over in phases. Today, our new website officially launches on literacyworldwide.org and, although there are more exciting changes ahead, we wanted to take a moment to tell you about the improvements you’ll experience now.
What to expect
At the top of each page on the new website, you’ll find quick links to what you need, including signing in to your member account (“Sign In”), joining ILA (“Join”), renewing your ILA membership (“Renew”), the ILA 2015 Conference (“Conference”), and the Literacy Daily blog (“Blog”).
The new website has five top navigation choices: “Why Literacy?,” “Get Involved,” “Our Community,” “Get Resources,” and “About Us.”
“Why Literacy?” explains the illiteracy problem throughout the world and what ILA is doing to solve it.
“Get Involved” offers you ways to become an ILA Member (“Membership,” “Join”), donate to our cause (“Donate”), talk about literacy (“Join the Conversation”), and find out about councils, affiliates, Special Interest Groups, and the Alpha Upsilon Alpha Honor Society (“ILA Network”). Some of these links will send you to forms and information on the “old” / site; we’re working on transitioning all of the webpages to the new site in the next few months.
The “Our Community” section reaches out to you, our audience, in four areas: “Champions,” “Educators,” “Donors & Sponsors,” and “Partners.” On these pages, you will find stories from people like you, resources tailored to your needs, and what you can do to help fight illiteracy alongside ILA.
The “Get Resources” section has a page that details our offerings and publications: reading lists from Choices and Literacy Daily; the Literacy Daily blog; position papers, statements, and advocacy briefs; books, ILA E-ssentials articles, ILA Bridges curricular units, and ReadWriteThink.org lesson plans; journals; and Reading Today magazine. The links in this section go to the old / site for now. If you browse our hundreds of resources, you’ll see why! We’re still in the process of bringing them over to the new site, and when that happens, we promise you an even fuller, richer experience.
“About Us” is self-explanatory: It tells you all about ILA! The “About Us” page has our new mission, and the “Our Story” page talks about what we’ve done during the past 60 years. See press releases and conference news on the “News & Events” page, and check out our financial reports on the “Financials” page. As always, feel free to click on “Contact Us” to see how to mail, call, or e-mail us.
What’s next
One website! Improved search! And much, much more. Stay tuned for more changes and improvements this summer.