Pine Street receives $5,000 to purchase library books

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – More than 129,800 students will benefit from new books in their school libraries from this year’s Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries grants including the 355 pupils at Pine Street Elementary School.
    According to Jane Foster, first-grade reading teacher and librarian at Pine Street, the school received $5,000 to expand, update and diversify their library book collections.
“That’s the most they award … grants up to $5,000,” said Foster, “so that was really exciting. We were the only school in Maine to receive a grant, which feels really good.”
Foster was on the Internet one day last fall visiting a Web site of a book company she places orders through when she saw a link to the Laura Bush Foundation.
“I thought that was interesting because I had applied and received four MBNA grants in the past,” she said, “and now that MBNA is no longer here, I was looking for other sources to supplement our library budget.
“I clicked on the link, read about it, filled out an online application and sent it in,” said Foster. “I received an e-mail May 31 saying we had been awarded a grant, but it didn’t say how much. I e-mailed the Foundation back and was told June 4 it was for $5,000. I also got a confirmation letter in the mail that day with the check, so it came very fast.”
Foster said she knows how she’ll spend the money.
“When we implemented grade leveling here and became solely a kindergarten through grade 2 school,” she said, “I sent a lot of our books over to Zippel where our third- through fifth-graders went. That cut down our inventory, so I wanted to supplement that with more age appropriate books for K to 2 students.”
The librarian sent a list to teachers asking what they’d like to see ordered for new books.
“Some of them made some suggestions,” said Foster, “plus I had a wish list of my own, so I have a good idea what we’d like to get. We have a new reading series this year, and some of the teachers wanted books by the authors of the stories that are in the reading series, so they can read more of those authors’ books.”
Foster estimated the school will receive over 300 hardcover reference, chapter and picture books.
“If I order the books now, they’ll come in over the summer when nobody’s here,” she said, “so I’ll probably send in the order in September … as soon as I can after we get back to school.”
The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries was founded in 2002 as a fund of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $4.3 million to 897 schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The grants are funded through generous donations to the endowment from individuals, corporations and foundations.
“These grants will help stock libraries with new and exciting books that will challenge and inspire young people,” said Laura Bush in a press release.
The 2007 awardees include 234 public schools, 11 charter schools, 14 private schools, and four alternative schools. Grants were made in 48 states plus the District of Columbia. In addition, an award was made to Spangdahlem Elementary School, a school serving 463 children of military personnel at Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany, for current books for their school library.
Schools range in size from the Bethel Youth Facility with 19 students in rural Bethel, Ark., to large inner city schools with over 2,200 students such as Molina High School in Dallas and Clemente Community Academy High School in Chicago.
“I feel very honored that we were awarded this grant because I honestly didn’t expect to get it,” said Foster. “It was a pleasant surprise.
“Younger children love to choose new books,” she said, “and the more of a variety that we can offer them to help them develop the love of reading, the better. They’re going to have a lot of new books to choose from.”
Foster said she’ll eventually go through the existing books and discard the ones that are in “really bad shape.”
“That would create a little more room, plus I have some existing shelf room to put them on,” she said, “although I may have to add one bookcase. Other than that, the library will be set to accommodate the new books in the fall. It will be exciting when we get our new books. The kids will love it.”