We all perk up when the White House gets involved with libraries! Have you heard of the ConnectED Library Challenge? Apparently, this is old news, but I just heard about it in two places! According to the Initiative page, this is a way for communities throughout the country to create or strengthen partnerships so that every child enrolled in school can receive a library card. Sounds good, right? The initiative calls upon library directors to work with their mayors, school leaders, and school librarians, to provide wider access to the learning resources and books of America’s libraries. OK so far. Here in Minnesota, Hennepin County Public Libraries and Hopkins Public Schools were chosen to partner up with the goal of increased learning in the classroom. Go to the Hopkins site for more background, and a short video too about Power Up: Libraries.
In addition, the White House website provides details of all of the partners and contributions toward this effort. Major publishers are announcing they will make over $250 million in free eBooks available to low-income students. This is the tip of the iceberg….all Initiative contributions total $10 billion dollars. I wonder if funds could ever be used to get public libraries “over the hump” of undertaking this serious task of getting cards in the hands of each student. The struggle is real! This all seems like a big deal; it will be curious to see how it all plays out, stay tuned….
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