Programs and Partners
$7.7 million Gates Foundation grant supports PLA advocacy training
 The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the Public Library Association a $7.7 million grant in June to develop and provide an advocacy training program for public librarians.
Research shows that the public is often unaware of the contributions libraries and librarians make to their communities and that, as a result, libraries may be overlooked when state and local funds are being allocated. The Sustaining Libraries Symposium is designed to teach librarians how to seek funding, create partnerships, and build alliances with local decision-makers. The training will support libraries that are eligible to receive Gates Foundation Opportunity Online hardware grants, which require matching local dollars, and will also be available to non-grantees on a limited basis.
The training will be offered for grantees in sites around the country starting in 2008, as well as for non-grantees during the PLA National Conference, held March 25-29 in Minneapolis.
IMLS awards ALA and partner $407,111 to develop certification program
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded the ALA, in partnership with the Western Council of State Libraries, $407,111 to develop theLibrary Support Staff Certification Program. The ALA and the WCSL, led by project directors Nancy Bolt and Dr. Karen Strege, will develop a national voluntary certification program for support staff in public and academic libraries. The three-year project will result in a set of core competencies, an assessment methodology, and policies and procedures. The advisory council developing the project has representatives from a number of organizations; the ALA-APA serves as the chief liaison between the ALA and the WCSL. 
PPO wins $358,000 IMLS grant to develop Online Resource Center
The Public Programs Office received a $358,000 grant from the IMLS to fund development of an Online Resource Center (ORC) for Library Cultural Programming. The ORC is a Web-based professional development space that will help librarians in all types and sizes of libraries find authoritative resources for cultural programming, train librarians in cultural programming techniques using a variety of online methods, and involve library schools in examining the need for courses in cultural programming. Through the ORC, the PPO will make an array of online cultural programming information and training tools available; provide access to “turnkey” cultural programs developed by organizations and funding agencies that have already been successful on a national level; provide professional development tools by converting printed training materials to digital format; and offer free real-time online training sessions that are pedagogically sound. The ORC will also be a place for professional networking, collaboration, and mentoring.
95 more grants from PPO-Nextbook collaboration
 The PPO and Nextbook awarded 95 Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature grants to public and academic libraries in February. This was the fifth of six rounds of grants awarded in the project, a scholar-led reading-and-discussion series that explores themes in contemporary and classic Jewish literature. Nextbook is a nonprofit organization that commissions books on Jewish themes, sponsors public lectures, readings, and performances in cities around the country, and publishes an online magazine. Since the project began, in 2004, more than 250 grants have been awarded; a final round of awards will be made in spring 2008.
YALSA wins 2007 World Book-ALA Goal Award
 The Young Adult Library Services Association was named the recipient of the 2007 World Book-ALA Goal Award, with a grant totaling $10,000 to improve teen library services in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. YALSA trainers provided two workshops—A Beginner’s Guide to Teens in Libraries and Power Up with Print—in each state and gave free Teen Read Week resource kits to library workers in each state, including tips on collection development, programming, and marketing library services to teens. The grant funded increased professional development in the targeted states to boost teen library use and ultimately teen reading and literacy. Mirrorstone Books was the 2007 national corporate sponsor of Teen Read Week.
We the People Bookshelf theme: “Pursuit of Happiness”
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the ALA partnered to present the fourth We the People Bookshelf in 2007, providing sets of 15 classic children’s books on the theme “Pursuit of Happiness” to 2,000 public and school (K-12) libraries in all 50 states. Library programs will take place nationally through May 2008. We the People Bookshelf aims to encourage young people to read and understand great literature while exploring themes in American history. The 2008 theme will be “Created Equal.”
Día gets a boost from Target
 El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) 2007, celebrated April 30, was an unprecedented success. Its first official national sponsor, Target, enabled the program to offer $40,000 in mini-grants, signage, and giveaway materials to eight “Super-Site” libraries around the country, plus giveaway materials to 80 percent of the 460-plus libraries that registered their día events on the Association for Library Service to Children Web site. Another first in 2007: Día was celebrated in the U.S. Senate.
NEH, PPO partner on Picturing America grants
In January 2007, the NEH and the PPO partnered to offer a pilot grant initiative to schools and school libraries. Part of the NEH’s We the People program, Picturing America(SM) offers grants that consist of a collection of large-scale laminated reproductions depicting works of American art, as well as educational resources on American art and history. In May, more than 1,500 schools and school libraries were selected to receive the collection. One of the goals of Picturing America is to facilitate interdisciplinary partnerships between school library media specialists, art teachers, classroom instructors, and other educators. Programs are taking place during the 2007-2008 school year, and a new round of grants, for public libraries as well as schools, is anticipated for the 2008-2009 school year.
Coughlan Publishing sponsors AASL Grant
The American Association of School Librarians’ $2,500 Innovative Reading Grant, sponsored by Coughlan Publishing, supports the planning and implementation of a unique and innovative program for students that motivates and encourages reading, especially with struggling readers. The grant is designed to fund innovative literacy projects for grades K–9 that promote the importance of reading and facilitate literacy development by supporting current reading research, practice, and policy. The 2007 grant was awarded to Nancy Baumann, librarian at the Barnett Shoals Elementary School, Athens, Ga.
RUSA manages Smart Investing @ your library program
 The Reference and User Services Association continued to take a leadership role in investor education programming with Smart Investing @ your library, a program funded by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, formerly known as the NASD Investor Education Foundation. The program will help public libraries provide effective, unbiased investor education. During the two-year pilot, a select group of libraries will compete for up to 12 grants ranging in size from $5,000 to $100,000; the grants will encourage innovation by helping libraries serve patrons not only at the libraries but also on line and in a variety of community settings. Projects in which libraries work in partnership with civic groups, educational institutions, and government agencies will receive priority. The program will also provide objective investor education materials to the participating libraries, as well as professional development for librarians. For more information about the grants see the RUSA FINRA Web page.
Dollar General grant supports literacy services
The Office for Literacy and Outreach Services received a two year-grant in December 2006 from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. “The American Dream Starts @ your library”supports the collection and distribution of tools and best practices developed by libraries that provide adult literacy services to immigrants from around the globe. ALA will use this unique field-based collection of resources to publish a toolkit, organize conference sessions, and build a Web site. In addition, ALA will fund 25 libraries to provide or expand literacy services to adult English language learners.
Other Campaign notes
Continuing the Public Library Association’s “Smartest Card” campaign, the ALA Public Information office promoted new radio public service announcements from George Lopez, and more than 80 Spanish-language news sources talked about Lopez’s five favorite things about his library card.
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Bill Harley and friends at Boston Public Library. |
 Grammy-nominated children’s singer/storyteller Bill Harley took to the stage to help launch the Association for Library Services to Children’s Kids! @ your library Campaign at Boston Public Library in November, and it was no ordinary concert. His message: “There’s so much to see, so much to do @ your library.” The campaign is a national effort to raise awareness of all the free library resources available for children and families and to encourage parents to bring their school-age children to their public libraries. To help libraries get the word out, Harley created an original song for the campaign called “@ your library” that includes the “so much to see, so much to do @ your library” refrain. The song was made available in the online Kids! @ your library toolkit; other tools added throughout the year include a list of the “Top Ten Things for Kids to Do @ your library” and “so much to see, so much to do” logos in Spanish. The ALSC also launched a new Web page of resources for families that includes a list of award-winning children’s books, kid-friendly Web sites, downloadable games and activities, and resources for parents to help support reading at home.
The Campaign for America’s Libraries
Partnerships
The Campaign for America’s Libraries continued to work with partners to generate public awareness about the value of libraries and librarians, to reach new audiences and to amplify the messages that libraries are places of opportunity, that they’re changing and dynamic and can bring people the world.
Step Up to the Plate @ your library
 The Step Up to the Plate @ your library program, developed by ALA and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, wrapped up its first season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis in September. Minnesota Twins mascot TC Bear chose Joseph Kuykendall, age 12, of Andover, Mass., as the grand-prize winner, netting him a trip to the Hall of Fame for a behind-the-scenes tour of the library and archives.
Step Up to the Plate @ your library celebrates two of America’s oldest institutions—baseball and libraries—while heightening awareness of 21st century literacy skills. It featured a nationwide, online baseball trivia competition that challenged participants to answer four questions—one for each base on a baseball diamond—by utilizing the resources available at their library.
The second season of Step Up to the Plate kicked off in April in Peoria, Ill., with Hall of Famers and former on-field rivals Ryne Sandberg and Ozzie Smith serving as program spokespeople. Both appeared on field with the Peoria Chiefs, the minor league team Sandberg now manages. Sandberg also spoke to students at a local junior high library to promote the program.
Year two focused on encouraging children and young adults to visit their library, check out a baseball book and write about how their favorite character inspired them. The grand prize was a trip to the Hall of Fame.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a Founding Partner in the Campaign. Step Up to the Plate @ your library was supported by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Public Library Association (PLA), divisions of ALA, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA).
Woman’s Day magazine publishes “The Library Changed My Life”
 Continuing a six-year partnership with The Campaign for America’s Libraries, Woman’s Day magazine featured the four winners of the "how the library changed my life" initiative in its March issue. The stories included a mother who turned to the library during a bout of post-partum depression, an Indonesian immigrant who used books from her childhood public library to learn English, a mother who used the library to help find her place in a new community, and a blind writer and teacher who uses the free books-on-tape service from the Library of Congress as an everyday escape.
Woman’s Day received nearly 2,000 essays in response to the call for entries, the most it has ever received in response to an initiative of this type.
Also in the March issue, the magazine announced its next initiative, asking its readers to submit stories of how they used the library to start businesses. Four of the submissions will be featured the March 2008 issue of Woman’s Day.
The American Dream Starts @ your library®
 Dollar General, a Fortune 500® discount retailer, came on board as the newest Founding Partner in the Campaign to develop The American Dream Starts @ your library,a two-year program that focuses on adult literacy services.
As part of the program, libraries will receive grants to expand their literacy collections, services, and programs for adult immigrants and English language learners and to provide examples of best practices to inspire and inform other libraries.
In year two, ALA will develop an American Dream Starts @ your library training module. Training will focus on assessing the library’s literacy/ESL programs, services, and resources, formulating plans for developing or expanding services and programs, and more.
The program is administered by the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS).
On the road with PPO traveling exhibitions
The Public Programs Office toured three exhibitions nationwide in 2006–2007—“Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians,” “Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America,” and “Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation”—and announced two new traveling exhibitions, which will tour public and academic libraries through 2011.
 “Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country,” which is based on the Newberry Library’s major exhibition of the same title. will visit 23 libraries The traveling exhibition presents a new set of ideas about the encounters of native Americans with the United States Corps of Discovery in 1804-1806 and will trace the dramatic impact of those encounters during the subsequent two centuries. The Lewis and Clark traveling exhibition received major funding from the NEH and additional support from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Forty libraries will host  “Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World,” which is based on a major exhibition of the same title shown at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The exhibit gives library visitors a chance to explore and talk about Franklin’s life, his contributions to the founding of this country, and his high standards for work, citizenship, and contribution to community. It examines his background, his self-education, and his philosophical and religious beliefs and their effect on his work and life. The NEH also provided major funding for this exhibition, which is presented by the ALA in collaboration with the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary in Philadelphia. Both exhibitions’ itineraries are available here.
South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago Join the Campaign for the World’s Libraries
 South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago joined the Campaign for the World’s Libraries at the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) conference in Durban, South Africa, in August. The Norwegian Library Association also announced that it would be developing a new campaign targeting school libraries.
In addition, a new toolkit to help counties participating in the Campaign for the World’s Libraries get the most out of the campaign debuted at the conference.
The Campaign for the World’s Libraries was developed by ALA and IFLA to showcase the unique and vital roles played by public, school, academic and special libraries worldwide. To date, 33 countries have joined the campaign, and the @ your library brand has been translated into each country’s language.
Development of first-ever ad campaign to reach Spanish-speakers planned
 The Campaign for America’s Libraries began planning for a first-ever national advertising campaign exclusively designed for – and targeting the specific needs of – Latino/ Hispanic communities.
Working with the Metropolitan Group, a leading national strategic communication firm that specializes in work with libraries and socially responsible businesses, ALA will target Spanish-speaking populations in the top 20 media markets through radio, outdoor and transit advertising. Corporate partners would underwrite the cost of producing and placing the advertising. ALA will also partner with libraries in the 20 markets to provide a local base for the campaign.
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