State Department of Public Instruction Awarding Grant Funds to Local Libraries

Tuesday, September 28th, 2021 -- 10:01 AM

(Raymond Neupert, WRN) The state department of public instruction will be awarding over 3 million dollars in grants to local libraries to help them rebuild after the pandemic.

State Library Services Director Ben Miller says libraries that were able to weather the storm served as solid bases for communities to rally around. "People remember their librarians and they look at them as a person they can turn to and trust, and we know that and so we want to get these funds into the hands of the librarians that people trust in their communities."

Miller says that funding will go towards making libraries safer to visit in person, among other improvements."The place where you can find community resilience, where the public service centers are. We want to get patrons back into Library buildings and make it safe as possible." Miller says those grants will help local libraries maintain their role as a socially stable place to learn among communities.

"Scale that out so that everyone in the state, no matter where you live, no matter what your income, no matter what life has dealt you so far, that you can get access to the resources of the public libraries provide because that is critically important for our successes of state and as a society."

Miller says that they're hoping to see libraries become as safe as possible to visit in person so that librarians and staff can help people thrive.

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