In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released a grim report on the state of literary reading in America. "Reading at Risk" (www.nea.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf) detailed a dramatic decline in recreational reading across all segments of the American population--young and old, black, brown, and white. It also included the projected…

This volume is intended as a starting point for grantseekers looking for foundation, corporate and other charitable support for libraries and information services. It contains a total of 880 entries including 815 grantmaking foundations, 7 direct corporate giving programs and 58 public charities (including 53 community foundations) that have shown…

Used selectively and imaginatively, corporate sponsorship can be a powerful tool to help libraries achieve their mission of getting more children reading and visiting the library. Focuses on development of the summer reading program by the Oregon Library Association. Discusses planning and fundraising; publicity; distributing funds; obstacles; and…

The Office of Education has long been interested in the development of public libraries as agencies to further the educational progress of the nation. Beginning with 1870, it has issued at intervals statistical compilations on the status of the various types of libraries. Marking a change in that program, the comprehensive collection covering…

A description of the privately supported, American public subscription library in Paris. (JB)

As part of its function of providing information about all kinds of educational activities, the Bureau of Education, beginning with its report for 1870, has periodically collected and published statistics of public, society, and school libraries, recently at intervals of about five years. This bulletin is comprised of statistics gathered from the…

Traces the role of public libraries in American democracy and free enterprise and their contributions to the careers of such men as Carnegie, Radtke, Goddard, and Land. Library services to industry are described, and a new federal-state-local pattern of funding is advocated for the maintenance of public libraries. (RBF)

As budgets decrease and demands for services increase, private fund raising could be the answer for public libraries. Identifies fund-raising strategies: campaigns to raise taxes, educational partnerships, planned gifts, bequests, tax-free foundations, and capital campaigns. (PEN)

The Viburnum Foundation, a family foundation based in New York, is currently in the fifth year of giving grants to rural library-sponsored family literacy programs in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The libraries involved in the Viburnum Family Literacy Project are in areas with high levels of poverty and illiteracy. The…