• New Mexico State Library, NM
• Appoquinimink Community Library, DE
• City of Las Cruces, NM
• City of Crane, TX
• Carousel Park, DE
• Rock Creek Forest Elementary School, MD
• City of San Luis, AZ
• Rockwood Park, DE
• Wareham Elementary School, MA
• Buttonwood Zoo Park, MA
• Glasgow Park, DE

Here is what their Bilingual Book Walk service entails

• They offer three different kinds of displays:
  • Metal – permanent & fixed to the ground
  • Wood – movable and standalone displays
  • Wood – designed to be attached to a wire fence
• The Stories they offer are printed in 2 different materials:
  • 6 mm outdoor-ready boards, printed with UV and fade-resistant ink.
  • 1 mm flexible outdoor-ready sheets, also printed UV and fade-resistant ink.
• Their stories can be purchased or rented.  On our rental plan they offer annual, semiannual and quarterly agreements. Clients can opt to receive 1 new story every month, every 2 months or every quarter.

An upcoming event on safe walking and bicycling routes to libraries

Are you ready to connect, engage, & innovate in terms of what you can do to ensure that there are safe routes to walk, bicycle, and use a wheelchair to get to and from your library? Now is the time to register for the virtual three-day Safe Routes to School Summit 2022, taking place November 15-17. Whether you’re a librarian, an active transportation professional, community advocate, parent volunteer, or school champion, the summit offers sessions for all areas. Topics include: keeping Safe Routes to School relevant,  partnerships between Safe Routes to School and public libraries, and sustaining the movement and building the future – just to name a few. Register today.

As part of the Summit, we’re thrilled to be joining public librarians from Arkansas, Oregon, and Michigan for “From Bikes to Books: Exploring Partnerships Between Safe Routes to School & Public Libraries.” This session focuses on the following: “Students have busy schedules that extend beyond the school day. They need safe routes to after school programs, libraries, recreation centers, parks, and other community destinations. Learn how Safe Routes to School practitioners can partner with librarians on active transportation initiatives.”

This event is organized by the Safe Routes Partnership, which is in the early stages of developing a Safe Routes to Libraries program. More information to come in a future newsletter!

News you can use on food security and public librarianship

Earlier this Fall, the Association for Rural and Small Libraries Conference featured a session on Fresh Approaches: Food Security and Public Libraries. It was an amazing conversation on this important topic. We shared some inspiring examples from our Institute of Museum & Library Services funded project HEAL (Healthy Eating and Active Living) at the Library.

With support from the Walmart Foundation, the Urban Libraries Council is working with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) to explore strategies public libraries might employ to address food insecurity in communities across the United States. You are invited to please take two to five minutes to complete this short survey (or forward to a colleague) to help inform us about current library practices supporting food security.

Take the Survey

Additional resources from the session:

• Session Slides
• ULC’s Libraries and Food Deserts Map

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions about any of these resources or would otherwise like to connect. We would love to hear from you and learn about your food security efforts!

Funding opportunities for U.S. librarians

On October 18, the Safe Routes Partnership hosted a webinar on “Building Connections: How Communities Can Use Federal Funds to Connect People to Place, Opportunity, and Each Other.” The webinar featured a number of funding sources U.S. public librarians can use for creative outdoor programs, including StoryWalks, renovations of library greenspaces, and much, much more.

Here are a few highlights:

National Endowment for the Arts Grant programs 

Grants for Arts Projects: Awards range from $10,000 – $100,000. Grant period: 1-2 years

Our Town Grants:  Awards range from $25,000 – $150,000. Grant period: 1-2 years

National Park Service

The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program is a nationally competitive federal grant program that provides new or significantly improved recreation opportunities in economically disadvantaged communities located in park deserts.

Learn more at Grants.gov or in the Trust for Public Land’s toolkit.

The LWCF State and Local Assistance Program (often referred to as “LWCF Stateside”) is administered by the National Park Service, and provides matching grants to state, local and tribal governments to create and expand parks, develop recreation facilities, and further local recreation plans.

A number of public libraries have received this grant – as can be found in the Trust for Public Land’s interactive database of grant recipients.

Transportation Alternatives Program and Recreational Trails Program

What it funds: The major federal source of transportation funding for bicycling, walking, and creating safe routes in communities.  In Little Rock, Arkansas, “One year after a pop-up demonstration project to connect the Arkansas Children’s Library, Little Rock Zoo, and War Memorial Park, the City of Little Rock received $1 million in TAP funding to install permanent walking and biking lanes at that site. This project connects these essential community assets to nearby neighborhoods that live close to the park and library but are separated from them by Interstate 630.”

Every state receives funding, and there is funding setaside for communities of all sizes. The TAP program is administered by state departments of transportation and
in urbanized areas, metropolitan planning organizations. Learn more and get started with these helpful links:

Infographic on how money gets from federal government to communities

State-specific fact sheets with how much funding your state has and when competitions are next held

State profiles and database of projects funded by Recreational Trails Program

Information from Federal Highway Administration on this program.

What funding sources do you utilize in your library to try new things? Let us know!