22 February 2022
The Alfred Box of Books Library is thrilled to share that we have been selected as one of 200 libraries nationwide for the American Library Association’s American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grant for Libraries opportunity, an emergency relief program to assist libraries that have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
With funding from the National Endowment from the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Box of Books Library will use funds to provide humanities programs to the community. The competitive award comes with a $10,000 grant that will help the library deliver programs and services related to culture, history, literature, and other humanities subjects.
The Box of Books Library will use the grant funds in several different ways. In September 2021, we held a series of community focus groups in preparation for our strategic planning process. In response to things we heard directly from community members we planned programs to address some of these issues. Common issues we heard were related to feelings of community connection, opportunities for engagement, and ways for families to meet one another. To that end, we have received support from Alfred University Libraries, Alfred State’s Hinkle Memorial Library and Center for Inclusion, Equity, and Title IX. Programs we have planned include a Human Library event, One Book One Community reading events, and a kids book club with hands on activities based on children’s classics. In addition, this grant will support a summer program assistant staff position, and a web based software technology to help bring easier access to virtual or asynchronous programs.
This grant will allow our library to better serve our patrons and plan strong, enriching humanities programming as we come out of the pandemic.
Read the press release from ALA here: https://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2022/02/ala-announces-200-us-libraries-receive-american-rescue-plan-humanities-funding
