Austin, TX – The Texas Center for the Book at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission has announced its Texas Great Read titles for 2023. The Center has chosen Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter, illustrated by Daniel Miyares, as the 2023 Texas Great Read Youth Selection and West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge as the 2023 Texas Great Read Adult Selection.

Every year, the Library of Congress asks each state Center for the Book to select titles that represent the state’s literary landscape to highlight at the National Book Festival, an event showcasing the importance of books and readin

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Starting this fall, 24 Texas libraries will begin or continue exciting projects with funding from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). Technology development, bookmobiles and courier services, career support, tools for promoting tech literacy and a wide range of other community programs are among the successful grant proposals recently approved by TSLAC. Agency commissioners awarded statewide library grants totaling $1,133,135.

The Commission awards funding through several library grant programs focusing on special projects, technology, interlibrary resourc

Austin, TX – The Talking Book Program (TBP), a division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has announced a milestone achievement by its Volunteer Recording Studio. TBP has contributed 2,000 Texas-related titles to the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) audio download collection.

These titles, including books and magazines on Texas topics and/or by Texas authors, are available to NLS patrons nationwide via the BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) service, which provides materials free of charge via BARD machines or d

Austin, TX – The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has received a $7.8 million Library Infrastructure and Facility Access Improvement Grant (IFAIG) from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to support statewide high-quality modern infrastructure at Texas libraries. The project will assist public libraries across the state in gaining access to critical broadband infrastructure and services. TSLAC worked with the Texas Broadband Development Office, a program of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, throughout the development of the funding proposal.

TSLAC’s IFAIG program wi

Austin, TX – The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is pleased to announce a new partnership with the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries. The TSLAC Newspaper Collection is now live and available for free online.

More than 4,500 issues of historical Texas newspapers from TSLAC’s collection, published from 1855 to 1930, are available online through UNT’s Portal to Texas History. The Portal provides free and open access to hundreds public domain newspapers held by repositories statewide.

“This partnership represents an exciting endeavor in both preservation and collabora

Austin, TX – The Texas Talking Book Program and Austin Public Library (APL) have partnered to create an accessible, braille-enhanced StoryWalk® at APL’s Windsor Park branch. Now open to the public, the StoryWalk® is located at 5833 Westminster Dr. in Austin. A StoryWalk® is a permanent installation incorporating a children’s story that has been deconstructed, with each page displayed separately along a path for participants to read and enjoy. The APL Windsor Park StoryWalk® tells The Three Billy Goats Buenos story by Susan Middleton Elya. The Texas Talking Book Program, a division of the Tex

Austin, TX – The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has today announced the opening of its latest exhibit, Beyond the Badge: The Work and Records of Texas Rangers, in the lobby gallery of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building in Austin. A virtual companion exhibit is also accessible on the TSLAC website at www.tsl.texas.gov/beyondthebadge.

Beyond the Badge highlights the official records and other resources about the Texas Rangers available in the State Archives. The exhibit features items dating back to the 1800s, when rangers were citizens hired on a tem

Austin, TX - The Texas Historical Records Advisory Board (THRAB) invites nominations for its 2023 archival awards. THRAB grants awards in the categories of excellence, advocacy and distinguished service.

The Archival Award of Excellence honors archival institutions and individuals in Texas who have made significant achievements in preserving and improving access to historical records in any format.

The Advocacy for Archives Award acknowledges an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to ensure the preservation and availability of Texas’s historical record.

Final

Austin, TX – April 17, 2023, marks the start of National Volunteer Week in the United States. The Talking Book Program (TBP) Volunteer Recording Studio at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) this week honors its volunteers, who have been resilient and steadfast by continuing to provide thousands of Texans and those across the country with reading materials in digital audio format.

“Volunteers are the heart and spirit of our 45-year running recording studio. They are the voice and the muscle that enable us to produce the thousands of titles to Texas patrons and beyond. We c

Austin, TX – The Texas Center for the Book has announced the winners of the 2022-2023 Letters About Literature Texas contest, a statewide event sponsored by the Texas Library and Archives Foundation. This annual competition invites 4th through 12th grade students to write letters to authors—living or dead—about how that writer’s words affected them or changed their worldview.

Hundreds of Texas students selected a book, book series, essay, play, poem, short story or speech that touched their lives and submitted their letters to the program. First place winners will be honored at the 2023 Texas