Win $10K for Family Programming at Your Library
RSSBy SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 08/10/2009
If your library has outstanding family programming and you’d like to do more of it, here’s your chance to win $10,000.
Better World Books (BWB) and the nonprofit National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) has created a Libraries and Families Award, which recognizes exceptional family programming in libraries around the country—and three winning libraries will each be awarded $10,000 in grants.
“Local libraries serve a critical role in promoting lifelong learning and literacy in their communities,” says David Murphy, president and CEO of the online bookseller, Better World Books. “We are proud to partner with the NCFL to specifically promote the new and innovative ways libraries are working to bring families together over books and learning.”
The competition will be conducted through an online request-for-proposals process, and NCFL will manage the grant competition, assess applicants, and award the winning programs.
NCFL will award $10,000 grants in each of the following three categories: local friends of the library programs, public/academic libraries, and urban libraries. In addition, award recipients will receive scholarships to attend the NCFL Annual National Conference on Family Literacy.
Funding for the program comes from Better World Books’ Libraries Discards and Donations program, a free service that helps libraries manage their unwanted books. Better World Books sells those books online, sharing the revenues with the libraries and one of its nonprofit literacy programs.
Since the inception of the BWB/NCFL library fund, 747 libraries across the country have shipped 1.7 million books to be sold online to generate funding for libraries and their literacy partner, NCFL.
Specific award criteria and an application will be available online by Oct. 1, 2009. In the meantime, applicants can visit www.famlit.org to submit their contact information and sign up for a notification when applications are available.
“Libraries provide important access for families to read together, explore technology, and take other critical steps that lead to success,” says Sharon Darling, NCFL’s president and founder. This new award program will spur the innovative programming that is fundamental to that success.”
