The Lillie M. Evans Library District was one of 29 public libraries statewide awarded a FY20 Project Next Generation (PNG) grants by Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White. Project Next Generation (PNG) offers grant funding to public libraries for establishing educational, after-school programs that not only provide access to computers, software and various technology devices, but also hire mentors who are crucial to helping students develop self-confidence and pride in their newly acquired skills. The goal of PNG is to bridge the digital divide by making recent technologies accessible to students who have limited access to computers.
The LME Library will be starting a Technology Ambassador program in fall 2019. We plan to:
recruit and train junior high and high school participants to use some of our community’s most requested maker technology—audio/video production, Cricut machines, Silhouette machines, and 3-D printing.
assemble and create written, video, and linked resources to provide documentation of targeted technology.
create a technology ambassador program with participants team teaching adult learners who want to utilize these technologies.
Learners will cycle through training, documentation and teaching before moving on to the next technology. The goal is to increase access to maker technology in our rural community and allow students and community members to develop knowledge and skills. It will also provide inter-generational interactions and reinforce the library as a community anchor.
The Lillie
M. Evans Library District recently received a Back to Books grant for $4,500
from the Illinois State Library. The
Back to Books grant is a collection development grant offered to libraries for
the acquisition of books and other materials. Grant funds have been used to
purchase books, audios, and DVDs in the non-fiction areas of library &
information science, education, languages, sciences, applied sciences, and
geography & travel. Materials are appropriate for the adult and young adult
age groups.
To introduce these resources, we will have a series of 3 programs
focusing on the materials purchased with this grant. The first program will be an open house
highlighting the collection. Please
visit the library on Wednesday, July 31 during our regular hours of 9am-8pm. Materials selected for this grant will be
displayed and available for checkout.
The second program on Wednesday, August 28th will target homeschoolers
and resources available from the library through our newly created homeschool
resource web page. As part of the grant,
we will be developing a section of our website for our homeschooling parents
and students. This will include links to
online resources as well as tips on using the library catalog. The page will also have information about any
local groups that focus on homeschooling activities.
The final program will be a travel program at 6pm on Wednesday, September
25th. It will start with a
showing of one of our new travel DVDs (we will choose one that meets our public
performance license) and will include a book talk of some of our new materials
in this area. Visit our website at http://lmelibrary.org for more information
about this grant and these programs.
The funds from this grant will make it possible for us to better meet the needs of our
local community. Materials were
purchased through a Library Services and Technology Act grant administered by
the Illinois State Library using funds provided by the U.S Institute of Museum
and Library Services.
The Illinois State Library is encouraging Illinois war veterans of any conflict to join Secretary of State Jesse White’s Illinois Veterans History Project. The project is designed to create a permanent record of the names and remembrances of war veterans and civilians who served. More than a decade ago, the federal government passed a law authorizing the Library of Congress to collect and preserve the war histories of American veterans and civilians. Secretary White remains strongly committed to furthering the effort to ensure that the contributions of Illinois veterans will not be forgotten.
