Foundation receives $5,000 Donation from Strowd Roses Charitable Foundation
Donation will be used to add print and non-print materials for young readers in the Chapel Hill Public Library
July 9, 2009 — The Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation has received a renewal grant of $5,000 from the Strowd Roses Charitable Foundation. This grant will purchase new non-fiction for children and will help support the 2009 summer reading programs for children and teens at the Chapel Hill Public Library.
The Chapel Hill Public Library plays a vital role in providing reading resources to children and teens. Library loans to children have risen by nearly 10 percent in the first half of 2009. Attendance at children's programs is up by19 per cent.
The Strowd Roses grant will help purchase new titles from summer reading lists provided by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and add multiple copies of books for loan. These lists guide children in independent reading over the summer months when schools are out of session. The lists target children from kindergarten through 12th grade. Summer reading is essential for children so they will retain their level of reading skill while school is not in session.
The grant also will help update the non-fiction collection for children. The children's services staff estimate that nearly half of the non-fiction materials currently available were acquired before the year 2000. In 2005, the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation contributed $12,000 to help refurbish and update the collection. Approximately 600 new books were purchased. The Strowd Roses grant will continue this project. New books and non-print resources will be purchased in the subjects areas of plants and nature, animals, medicine and health, technology and sports.
Updating the non-fiction collection for children is especially important because such high interest areas receive a lot of attention and use by young readers; information on these topics is constantly changing, children to deserve to have content that reflects the world around them; and new materials stimulate interest and provide increased incentive to read.
Melissa Cain, Executive Director of the Foundation, underlined the significance of the grant. Cain said, "Children discover that their library card is a passport to knowledge, learning and even entertainment. This grant will broaden young readers understanding of people, places, and cultures and give them insight into a wide range of interesting topics. The generosity of the Strowd Roses Charitable Foundation will have a lasting impact on eager, young readers." A new book at the Chapel Hill Public Library circulates on average about five times per year and more often for children's books.
Since 2006, Strowd Roses Charitable Foundation has supported the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation in its work to expand and improve library collections. The Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation has donated over $400,000 to the Library for the purchase of new materials. This includes circulating books for adults and children, educational DVD's for children, DVD's for adults, books in Spanish and Chinese, audio books and electronic information resources.
For more information on the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation or to make a gift, please browse our site or call 929-1666.
