Schuylkill Valley Community Library Receives National Grant

Schuylkill Valley Community Library has been selected as one of 300 libraries 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 competitive award comes with a $3,000 grant that will help the library facilitate a discussion within our community.

“We are so proud to be chosen for this amazing opportunity,” said Library Director Christie Brown. “This grant will allow our library to get to know our residents better and help us build a happier and healthier community for our families.”

As part of the grant, Schuylkill Valley Community Library staff will take an online course in how to lead conversations, a skill vital to library work today. A number of events and political issues in our country over the past several years have made it quite obvious that our area is divided, as is much of our country. We hope to use this project to begin conversations among family, friends, and neighbors so that we may all understand each other’s perspectives. We will use current topics relating to literature as a centerpiece for these discussions.

If you are interested in getting involved or taking part in the conversation, please contact Christie Brownat [email protected] or visit www.berkslibraries.org/svcl 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.