Recipients

Andrews County Library — Out of the Box Thinkers and Tinkers (Andrews), $25,000.00
The Andrews County Library will create a maker space to allow out of the box thinking and tinkering for teens.  In creating this Makerspace area, it will meet a need for cultural enrichment and technological opportunities that are not provided currently in town.  Staff will work with the local middle school and high school librarians to market and promote this new program to the teen population

Canyon Area Library — 55 By 5 (Canyon), $24,950.00
The Canyon Area Library will implement a program to support early brain development and promote reading success in school. The library will provide families with children ages birth to 5 years old access to 50 books, which parents will circulate through 10 books at a time, and through 5 brain development activities – all before the age of 5.

Centennial Memorial Library — Empowering Kids Through Creativity (Eastland), $24,999.00
The Eastland Centennial Memorial staff will provide an after-school robotics class and a digital art manipulation class for youth. The outcome of these classes will be to improve the children’s attitude about learning, their comfort levels with technology related activities and their willingness to interact with their peers. Being involved in this program will give them a place to learn, be productive and connected in a positive way to their peers.

Cleburne Public Library — Making @ The Library, $25,000.00
The Cleburne Public Library (CPL) will implement a maker initiative, Making @ The Library, with three components: The Maker Corner, Maker Classes, and Maker Kits. CPL will develop a library-supported, sustainable makerspace called The Maker Corner where community members can explore, develop, build, and stimulate their creativity in a dedicated makerspace. Through Maker Classes, the library will provide community instruction and free and equal access to tools and equipment for independent use. Additionally, circulating Maker Kits will be made available for home use to extend, enrich, or add to making opportunities available in The Maker Corner and the Maker Classes.

Elgin Public Library — Read to Me, $24,724.00
Elgin Public Library proposes reaching out to parents of pre-kindergarten children whose first language is not English and mentoring them  in how to read with their youngster on a frequent basis. Programming will include a bilingual speaker series for parents which will be videod and made available online, brain engagement activities, and books for children to read at home. The end goal is to provide children with the necessary skills to start school and be successful.

McCulloch County Library — Teach STEM Well and Let Them Lead the Way (Brady), $25,000.00
The McCulloch County Library will build on its success with STEM programs to guide graduating youth to postsecondary education through a countywide STEM 2.0 program. This module-based STEM program will last one year and will include the assistance of local technology-based employers to bridge the gap between knowledge learned in classrooms and skills used in the workforce. This will increase job readiness for the remaining technology-driven industries – healthcare, wind energy, and agriculture – and decrease the need for government assistance due to low paying jobs.

New Waverly Public Library — Technology is Your Friend, $24,766.00
The New Waverly Public Library in partnership with the local school district will institute an afterschool program where youth are able to access and complete schoolwork via the internet, access TexShare databases for college preparation, and be exposed to robotics and other activities in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

Van Alstyne Public Library — Computer Skills Academy for Adults, $21,154.00
The Van Alstyne Public Library proposes The Adult Computer Skills Academy, a program to address the problem of poor computer literacy rates in certain secotrs of the adult population of Van Alstyne and surrounding communities.  The Skills Academy will offer two six-week modules, the first for beginning level computer users and the second for intermediate level users, which will repeat twice,  The Skills Academy will target seniors, job seekers, and adult Spanish speakers and cover computer basics, email, search engines, and social miedia.

Arlington Public Library System — El Día de los Niños and El Día de los Muertos, $10,000.00
The Arlington Public Library System will sponsor an author and/or illustrator for two multicultural events hosted at the Library. El Día de los Niños is a free annual celebration that promotes literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Throughout the event, children are introduced to different cultures through a variety of crafts, bilingual storytimes, and performances, including folklorico and lion dancers.  El Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Latin America and the Arlington Public Library where the community celebrates and promotes literacy and multicultural art. Grant funding would be used to bring a diverse author to these events to present on writing and empower children to become writers/illustrators.

Balch Springs Library - Learning Center — Summer Reading Kickoff: Fairy Tale & Fantasy Comic Con @ the Library, $6,725.00
The Balch Springs Library would like to hold a Comic Con at the start of our summer reading program that will focus on fairy tales and fantasy throughout the summer. The target audience is teens and tweens, but we want our Comic Con to be a family friendly event and will invite the whole community to participate. The theme for the 2020 Collaborative Summer Library program is Fairy Tales/Mythology/Fantasy, so we want to incorporate this theme into the whole summer, with a kickoff Comic Con that will get teens to the library.

Corpus Christi Public Libraries — Tiny Libraries for Tiny Tots, $10,000.00
In support of the State Library's goal to provide access to early childhood and family literacy resources and school readiness initiatives of the United Way Success By Six Coalition (SB6), Corpus Christi Public Libraries (CCPL) has been developing, for the past four years, the Tiny Libraries for Tiny Tots (TLTT) satellite program.  TLTT consists of two types of collections that are checked out and rotated amongst nine day-care centers located in at-risk neighborhoods. One collection is for use by the educators, the other by families. The one for families allows them to borrow onsite. This one-stop access eliminates issues related to transportation, often cited as reasons for not visiting the library.

Dallas Public Library — Reader's Advisory Expansion, $10,000.00
Through this program, Dallas Public Library (DPL) will encourage customers to read more and foster a love of reading in the community. The library will use new digital media to reach readers through podcasts and video. With TSLAC support, DPL will enhance its new Story Center, a place for customers to share, read, and write stories, and to engage in workshops and book discussions. Through bi-weekly podcasts and videos, customers will learn about titles from a variety of genres and how to request book recommendations tailored to their interest by a literary expert- DPL’s personal librarians. Customers will participate in Facebook Live book discussions with personal librarians and other library staff.

Hondo Public Library — Hondo RAD - Read and Discuss Texas, $1,950.00
Hondo Public Library started an evening reading and discussion group called RAD (Read and Discuss) Texas in 2018 for adult and senior patrons. HPL would like to develop a Texas authors’ themed program to add to our existing program sets for this group to increase male participation and fulfill patron requests. HPL seeks to develop a five-book Texas mystery series.  Ten copies of each title would be purchased for the participants’ use and kept as a kit to check-out to other libraries after HPL’s program is complete.  HPL would hold monthly programs from January through May 2020 with a 30-minute speaker presentation on the book, author, book’s relationship to the overall theme, location or setting, etc. followed by a book discussion.

Honey Grove Library & Learning Center — Read With Me, $7,500.00
Honey Grove Library & Learning Center will work with the schools to implement a new afterschool literacy program to identify and enroll students reading at or below grade level.  Students will come to the library — after school — for a fun, but educational reading experience. Volunteer and paid staff will serve as tutors to lead readers through programs designed to improve their reading but to learn to read for pleasure.

Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library — Bluebonnet Book Bunch, $5,530.00
The Bluebonnet Book Bunch is a program designed to accompany the Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library (LVML) summer reading club in June and July. The program mission aligns with the Texas Bluebonnet Award’s (TBA) in that the library wants to encourage Lancaster children, specifically children in grades 3-6, to read more. Each week the library will host the Bluebonnet Book Bunch program which will consist of a book discussion, a reader’s theater, book trailers, activities, crafts, and a special visitor that accompanies the theme for that week. The library will promote the TBA’s “Read 5, then decide” where children in grades 3-6 will finish 5 of the 20 TBA books and then vote on their favorite.

Laredo Public Library — Laredo Book Festival, $10,000.00
The Laredo Book Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary in December 2019.  The annual event promotes reading and instills enthusiasm for literature, authors, and the arts. Through puppet shows, author readings, literary mascots, workshops, and crafts, the community comes together to enjoy what is best about literature and books.  For the past two years, we have also showcased a popular author.  In 2017 and 2018 respectively, Matt de la Peña and Adam Gidwitz were the headliners.  For the 10th anniversary of Laredo Book Festival, the Laredo Public Library seeks funding for a high-profile children’s author to conduct a presentation and workshop for the participants.

McAllen Public Library — FY 2020 Texas Reads, $6,000.00
McAllen Public Library (MPL) will invite a professional Author-Illustrator-Cartoonist to the 2019 South Texas Book Festival, an event designed expressly to promote literacy and the love of reading among children and teens. The invited presenter will help children and young adults discover the importance of trying and taking creative risks, learning from mistakes, finding a creative voice, and how decisions made today impact the future.

Midland County Public Library — Library Lunches 2020 (Midland), $10,000.00
Midland County Public Libraries request funds to support the Library Lunches program from May through August 2020. In collaboration with the West Texas Food Bank, the Library will host the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program. The Library Lunches program will address both the immediate and long-term needs of the thousands of Midland County families living in food insecure households by providing complete meals for children while offering concurrent programming to promote literacy and library usage. Library and community resources and daily activities will complement weekly adult and youth programs presented by library staff and community partners.

Nueces County Keach Family Library — Sensory Backpacks: Young Learners of the Heart, $10,000.00
Nueces County Keach Family Library plans to initiate sensory backpacks (Young Learners of the Heart) in Pop Pop’s Place at Robstown, Texas, to provide an all-in-one, take home kit designed for families to help children build life skills and social skills and improve reading comprehension. The Backpacks will help children on the autism spectrum or sensitive to sensory overload by providing books, writing activities, tips for caregivers and sensory items. The program targets area youth up to 19 years of age, lower income, at-risk teens and the intellectual disabled with the goal of providing them access and instruction in using current book subjects on mindfulness, sensitivity and anxiety.

Sachse Public Library — Early Literacy Support Kit Collection, $4,500.00
The Sachse Public Library will create a new collection of Early Literacy Support Kits and lead a series of "open house" programs to introduce parents to the new collection.  The goal for this project is to teach the importance of early literacy and give parents of children from birth through age six additional tools and resources to help their children develop early literacy skills.

The Library at Cedar Creek Lake — Cedar Creek Lake E-Reader Book Club Initiative (Seven Points), $4,978.00
The Library at Cedar Creek Lake proposes to implement two E-Reader based book clubs, a bi-weekly teen book club and a weekly adult book club, through the purchase of e-reader devices and three (3) sets of 48 e-books. In the interest of expanding to a broader audience and reaching reluctant readers, the library will host two films each month, based upon the current books being read by the book clubs. Through this program, the library will serve as a venue for people to meet, interact, learn, exchange ideas and information, and grow.

Tom Green County Library System — Read, Write, and Roll (San Angelo), $9,543.00
Read, Write, and Roll will explore literature through games and games through literature, developing literacy skills for emerging new readers, reluctant juvenile readers, and lapsed adult readers. Literacy through games creates opportunities for disparate community members to interact socially, improving the library’s role as a community hub. Engaging the community with this non-traditional format will draw new users to the library and help patrons rediscover the joy of reading and imagination. Additionally, the library seeks to build more diverse community collaborations and partnerships through these literary game programs.

Austin Film Festival — Austin Film Festival Archive, $35,000.00
Austin Film Festival (AFF) seeks support for the continued preservation of its On Story Archive. Housed at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, the Archive collects, preserves, and shares oral histories from film, television, and media creators that detail the process of bringing their stories to the screen. Compiled from 25 years of recorded panels and master classes captured during AFF’s renowned Writers Conference and year-round events, this unique curation provides intimate access to the process behind the finished product. Funding would go toward digitizing video from 2007-2010 Festivals, marketing pieces and trailers, year-round event recordings, photographs, script reading tapings, and other ancillary materials.

Burleson Public Library — Burleson Public Library Historic Newspaper Project, $24,820.00
Burleson Public Library seeks to digitize approximately 24,000 newspaper pages in partnership with the University of North Texas and their Texas Digital Newspaper Program.  Once digitized, these pages will be made available to the public free of charge on the Portal to Texas History.  The Library seeks to complete digitization efforts that began in 2016.

Denton Public Library — Denton Record-Chronicle Digitization Project, $24,820.00
The Denton Public Library is requesting funds to digitize the Denton Record-Chronicle (DRC), beginning with issues published in 1908 through the end of 1938. The digitized images will be added to the collection of Denton County Newspapers accessible through the University of North Texas Libraries' Portal to Texas History. This is a multiphase project that will result in the digitization and free accessibility of all issues of the DRC, one of the oldest surviving newspapers in Denton County.

Fort Worth Public Library — Jubilee Theatre Collection, $25,000.00
Fort Worth Public Library seeks funding to support the arrangement, description, and preservation of the records of Jubilee Theatre.  Jubilee Theatre creates and presents works that give voice to the African American experience, while attracting a diverse and multicultural audience. A finding aid to the collection will be created and made available online to facilitate access to the records. The project will culminate with a public exhibit and slide presentation at Fort Worth Public Library to increase awareness of the collection and the history of Jubilee Theatre.

Harlingen Public Library — Valley Morning Star Digital Archives Project, $24,990.00
As the only designated repository for the Valley Morning Star, the library endeavors to ensure accessibility of the newspaper for people researching their family history, for policy makers and researchers seeking to understand the historical context of border issues, and for long-range preservation of an important piece of Cameron County history. The library will digitize the newspapers from August 1981-September 1995. The library will also coordinate efforts to promote the service and educate people on how to use the Digital Archives.

Hill College — The Light Crust Doughboys Are Still on the Air (Hillsboro), $13,236.00
The Hill College Library will create access to, catalog and preserve the papers of long-time Light Crust Doughboy’s band leader, Marvin “Smokey” Montgomery, and other members of the 88-year-old band. This growing, unique hidden collection includes music, photos, correspondence, ephemera and artifacts, including items and correspondence once belonging to historical figures like W. Lee O’Daniel, former governor of Texas. This is a multi-year project to digitize, catalog, and create a finding aid for researchers to use this rare collection and a permanent home for the traveling exhibit now in storage.

Rosenberg Library — Galveston Tribune Newspaper Project (Galveston), $24,896.00
The Rosenberg Library proposes a project to digitize early issues of the Galveston Tribune, comprising at least 23,000 pages beginning in 1887. The Galveston and Texas History Center at the Rosenberg Library owns a nearly complete run of the Galveston Tribune (Evening Tribune) newspaper, spanning the years 1885 to 1965. Digitized newspapers will be made freely available on The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu) for use by students, scholars, genealogists, and anyone interested in Galveston and Texas history. Digitization and metadata activities will take place at the University of North Texas Libraries in the Digital Newspaper Unit.

Southern Methodist University — Historic Texas Photographs and Imprints Project: Documenting the Lone Star State, ca. 1830-1923 (Dallas), $25,000.00
The DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University (SMU) holds a substantial body of historic photographs and imprints, primarily ca. 1830-1923, that illustrate and document developments throughout the state of Texas. The DeGolyer Library and Norwick Center for Digital Solutions (nCDS), both units of SMU Libraries, are requesting a funds to digitize and make available online 350 of these photographs and 9,375 pages of imprints under the “Historic Texas Photographs and Imprints Project.”

Texas A&M University Kingsville (TAMUK) — George O. Coalson Annotated Bibliography of South Texas Historical Resources Year 2, $25,000.00
South Texas Archives is requesting funding to continue creating catalog records for the George O. Coalson Annotated Bibliography of South Texas Historical Resources for researchers and classes at TAMUK.   The Archives will employ 3 graduate students to continue creating catalog records for Coalson’s Bibliography in ArchivesSpace. A Finding Aid linked to records will be loaded to 3 portals and will link to a Libguide web tool for ease of use.

University of Houston — Texas Art Project Microfilm Digitization: Women and Underrepresented Communities in Texas Visual Arts, $34,925.00
The University of Houston Libraries (UHL) and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston Library (MFAH) and Archives request funding for a collaborative project to digitize and make accessible online over 100 reels of microfilmed archives documenting women and underrepresented communities in the Texas Art Project. UHL and MFAH will get the microfilm digitized by a qualified digitization service provider, and will hire graduate student assistants to work with archivists and librarians to process and describe the new digital archives with finding aids and metadata. The digitized archives will become openly accessible online through the UHL Digital Library, and files will be preserved in UHL’s Archivematica digital preservation system.

University of North Texas — Byrd Williams Family Photography Collection Digitization Project (Denton), $24,914.00
This project will provide funding for UNT Special Collections and Digital Projects Unit staff to select, digitize, and describe 3,000 items from the Byrd Williams Family Photography Collection. Items selected for digitization will include work of the first three generations of William’s family photographers, and will include digitization of sensitive nitrate film negatives which are especially prone to physical degradation. Once digitized and described, these resources will be loaded into The Portal to Texas History for public access.

University of Texas at Arlington — Ettatorials: Digitizing the Etta Hulme Papers, $24,909.00
UTA Libraries requests funding to support the digitization of 10,000 original artworks and associated materials from the Etta Hulme Papers. Hulme, editorial cartoonist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from 1972-2008, was a trailblazer for women in the field of cartooning. She was one of the first female cartoonists to have her work syndicated and the first woman to win the Best Editorial Cartoonist Award. The items to be digitized document her career as an artist and an advocate for women, and show the evolution of her artistic process. The items will be made available to the public through a dedicated website and the UTA Libraries Digital Gallery.

Abilene Library Consortium — Abilene Library Consortium Regional Shared Integrated Library System, $74,664.00
The Abilene Library Consortium (ALC), a 501(c)3 nonprofit, desires to increase multi-type and multi-size library collaboration across the region through an expansion of its current shared integrated library system (ILS).  The primary goal of the project is to improve service, lower costs, and allow for the cost-effective inclusion of libraries of all types across the region.  This multi-year cooperative project seeks funding for the planning phase in year 1 to develop a functional pricing and service model that would allow the current ALC member libraries to migrate to a high-functioning, lower cost ILS when the current vendor contract ends, and include additional libraries across the region to participate cost-effectively.  A secondary goal of the project is to share the developed service and support model with the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) for use in other regions across Texas.

Arlington Public Library System — Outreach Team, Year 2, $53,293.00
Year 2 of this outreach project will focus on encouraging early learning in Arlington. The library outreach team formed in Year 1 will provide programs and continue surveying families of young children to assess needs. Program options will include parent education, early literacy, and regular bookmobile visits. The team will partner with Arlington Independent School District (AISD) and other organizations to reach families not currently utilizing library resources. The outreach team will make routine visits with the bookmobile to sites that were successful during the year 1 to assess impact of regular visits over a 9-month period. The team will continue providing early learning programs at Arlington ISD Family Engagement rooms for parents of young children and will also research and identify new locations outside the AISD partnership that would benefit from early literacy programs. The focus of year 2 is to disseminate early learning programs to new partners and reach caregivers who do not currently use the library.

Dallas Public Library — Applied ELL, Year 3, $75,000.00
Dallas Public Library (DPL) requests a third year of funds to support Applied English Language instructors. The classes these instructors develop and teach enhance the Library’s existing suite of Adult Education & Literacy Programming. As the demand for quality English language learning (ELL) opportunities in Dallas grows, DPL provides this critical user population with access to language learning classes. The classes go beyond what was previously offered by the Library or other literacy service providers. Classes scaffold from the previously established ELL program model, with the addition of customized curriculum that addresses language-learning for specific domains of community life and the workplace.

Dickinson Public Library — Savvy STREAMers 2.0, $4,000.00
Dickinson Public Library seeks to improve the Savvy STREAMer program that was founded as a 2019 Special project grant and further develop the STREAM services offered at the library by supplementing original programming with additional supplies, allowing them to distribute the program’s impact to a larger audience and offer more intensive outreach to nearby organizations and schools.

El Paso Public Library — Work PLACE (Public Literacy Access for Careers & Entrepreneurship), Year 2, $74,496.00
During the first year of this TSLAC grant-funded innovative entrepreneurial program, the El Paso Public Library has offered numerous workshops, training opportunities, one-to-one sessions, outreach opportunities, and webinars.  The Library Work PLACE (Public Literacy Access for Careers & Entrepreneurship) program has also provided access to dedicated workspaces, access to technology (computers, printers, fax services, scanning services), access to online materials and reference services. During year two of the Work PLACE project, the El Paso Public Library will continue to expand the program to all twelve (12) library facilities located throughout the city and offer a speaker series on related topics (10 presentations).

Frisco Public Library — Frisco Public Library Community Engagement Van, $75,000.00
Frisco Public Library will expand on the InstaSTEM mobile activity stations that offer hands-on, self-paced STEM learning for elementary-aged students and promote awareness of STEM career fields. The Library will design and customize a Community Engagement Van to provide community digital literacy, STEM learning opportunities, library card registration, and promote library digital collections at community events, FISD schools, senior communities, new immigrant population gathering places, low-income housing communities, childcares, and afterschool programs. The Library will further expand its visibility and services into the community with the new van.

Texas Wesleyan University — TXWES Makers Lab, Year 2 (Fort Worth), $54,793.00
The FY2019 Special Project grant gave us an amazing opportunity to bring new technology to our students and community. The interest in the lab has sky rocketed since its installation. To ensure that the lab continues to adapt to its students, is frequently staffed, and provides access to items students can use off campus, Texas Wesleyan is requesting funds to: continue the growth and maintenance of the lab; hire a qualified student worker; and purchase equipment that is easily transportable. This will help not only the lab but will also help facilitate the lab’s outreach in the community.

University of Texas at Arlington — Preparing School And Public Librarians To Engage Children With Learning Differences In Making Activities, $74,508.00
UTA Libraries request funding to support a four-stage project focused on preparing school librarians to create and facilitate maker-based curricula in their schools to support the needs of students with learning differences. The funding will:  1. support the creation of maker curricula with targeted learning outcomes that integrates motor skill development strategies; 2. Provide professional development opportunities for triads of public school personnel to practice authoring maker curricula and administering such programming in their institutions; 3. Support half-day Saturday camps for students with learning differences focused on making and motor skill development; and 4. Create an open repository of maker curricula appropriate for children with learning differences.