Books for Children - Grants from The Libri Foundation

Here’s a reminder that the Libri Foundation donates new, quality, hardcover children’s books to small, rural public libraries through a recurring grant process.  Several libraries in South Carolina have won these grants. The Libri Foundation will match any amount of money raised by your local  sponsors from $50 to $350 on a 2-to-1 ratio.  Thus, a library can receive up to $1,050 worth of new children’s books.  After a library receives a grant, local sponsors contribute the matching funds.   Each participating library selects  books for children age 12 and under from a booklist provided by the Foundation.   County libraries should serve a population under 16,000, should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and an active children’s department.  “Rural” is usually considered to be at least 30 miles from a city with a population over 40,000.   A branch library may apply if the community it is in meets the definition of rural.    

Remaining deadlines to apply for funds in 2007 are:  (postmarked by) April 15th and August 15th.   Find application guidelines and forms on the Foundation’s website:  http://librifoundation.org/

 

What does YOUR community need?

The Community Needs Assessment workshop is coming soon!  Mark your calendar for April 11, and make sure to register by the deadline, April 1.    

If you have done a community needs analysis project in the past, you already know…it’s a lot of work!  But it’s a great way to understand library users (and non-users.)  We need to know all we can about our communities.  Up-to-date statistics – and the “people” stories that back up the numbers –  are our best advocacy tools. 

Here’s some good information on community assessment for small rural libraries, from the Arizona State Library: (http://www.lib.az.us/cdt/commneeds.htm)

        

Steven M. Cohen, on the Libraries Build Communities blog, suggests that we…       

          “Get out from behind that desk! How can one effectively ascertain what the community needs and what types of populations to serve if the librarian stays in the library all day. Get out into the community and take part in meetings, serve on civic boards, and be a community citizen and leader. Waiting for patrons to come into the library and ascertaining their needs is only half the picture. There may be an entire piece of the population that never uses the library. It’s easier to reach patrons that walk in the door, but they already know about the library, right? There’s probably a reason why non-library users are non-library users. Figure out why.”

 

Nothing Left to Cut

I received an email today from one of our rural library directors, asking if I’ve noticed a trend in public libraries cutting their materials budgets in order to meet the state regulation that requires their budgets be in balanced proportions.

The answer, sadly, is yes. Libraries simply cannot afford to cut staff, and there are many fixed costs in operations, so the materials budget seems the logical and easy place to trim.

The reality is that many of our counties have been hit hard by the loss of business, a migration of the population, rising fuel costs, etc. It’s hard to lay blame. Many struggle with supporting all their public services, not just the library. Still, when I see counties that don’t raise their support at all, over a period of years, it’s hard not to wonder where the money is going. I know of one county (a rural one) where one of its city managers makes a higher salary than the entire appropriation for the county library. That’s sad. It’s not that I think the salary is unjustified, but what was it that Spock said in one of the Star Trek movies: “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one.”

What’s the answer? I wish I knew. Advocacy? Grant writing? Leprachauns and their hidden gold? Let’s talk about it!