CHATHAM AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY RECEIVES NATIONAL GRANT FOR SMALL AND RURAL LIBRARIES
$3,000 Grant Will Help the Library Connect Residents to Resources and Discussion of Race and Equity
Editor: Please do not edit out ALA credit in the last paragraph.
Chatham, IL — The Chatham Area Public Library has been selected as one of 300 libraries across the United States to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries, an American Library Association (ALA) initiative that helps library workers better serve their small and rural communities. The award comes with a $3,000 grant that will help the Library develop, promote, and encourage discussion around the topics of race and social equity grounded in books and film.“We are so proud to be chosen for this amazing opportunity,” said Library Director, Amy Byers. “This grant will allow the Library to open the door and provide access for our community to explore and discuss these important topics.”
As part of the grant, Chatham Area Public Library staff has taken an online course in how to lead conversations, a skill vital to library work today. Staff will host a conversation in the fall of 2021 with residents about the documentary Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility In America and use the grant funds to purchase film viewing rights, create promotional materials, and acquire other resources and giveaway materials.
Library staff has already facilitated discussions of the film with their colleagues and at a partnering event with Glenwood High School’s Social Justice Club. Feedback received from those events, as well as from a community survey put out by the Library, expressed that interest for such discussions in the Chatham community exist. If you are interested in getting involved or taking part in the film discussion, keep an eye out on the Library’s website, www.chathamlib.org, and Facebook page, @CAPLD, this fall for more information.
Since 2014, ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative has re-imagined the role libraries play in supporting communities. Libraries of all types have utilized free dialogue and deliberation training and resources to lead community and campus forums; take part in anti-violence activities; provide a space for residents to come together and discuss challenging topics; and have productive conversations with civic leaders, library trustees and staff.
“Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL).”