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The Fresno County Free Library is the most recent of three Urban Libraries Council member libraries to be awarded a grant of $50,000 from the Book-of-the-Month Club, a division of Time Warner, Inc. Fresno joins Kansas City Public Library and the Free Library of Philadelphia as recipients of grants from the BOMC Community Library Fund, an effort in partnership with the Urban Libraries Council.
The Community Library Fund seeks to give back to communities across America by expanding the collections of innovative urban libraries. Each grant awards $25,000 in cash and books with a total value of $25,000 selected from the inventory of the nine book clubs operated by the Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc.
The Fresno County Public Library will use its award for its project entitled Books Offer More to Our Community at the Central Library and the Leo Politi Library. The project will target customers who are underserved by the lack of popular and useful books available and will add approximately 2,600 books to the collection. A series of special programs will be offered by the Library at each location to highlight particular books from the collection.
Earlier this year, Kansas City Public Library received the grant for a Books Better Our Lives browsing collection of approximately 2,500 books at its downtown library. Nearly one-half of those who live within walking distance of that location live below the poverty line. The browsing collection targets popular and useful titles.
The first recipient of a Community Library Fund grant was the Free Library of Philadelphia, whose Reading Changes Lives program targeted the Northwest Regional Library in the Germantown area. Focusing on attracting families to this recently renovated library, the program utilized the cash award for children’s books and added the Book-of-the-Month Club books to the adult collection.
“We are delighted to be able to facilitate the strengthening of our member libraries’ book collections through the generosity of the Book-of-the-Month Club,” said Joey Rodger, ULC President. “Engaging our communities with books is a core part of the public library’s mission.”
The Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc. will award one additional Community Library Fund grant in the fall of 1998 from among those ULC member libraries’ proposals previously submitted.
The Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc. is made up of the flagship Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Book Club, History Book Club, The Good Cook, Money Book Club, Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club, Crafter’s Choice, Country Homes & Gardens, and One Spirit. Last year, the company’s nine book clubs distributed more than 40 million books to members in the U.S. and more than 60 countries.
Founded in 1971, the Urban Libraries Council offers research, advocacy, consulting, training and support to its over 125 members. Membership is open to libraries serving populations of 50,000 or more in U.S. Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area and to the library vendors who serve them. |
