$192,500 Received for Focused Collections

By Tana Elias
Web Resources Coordinator – Madison Public Library

The Madison Community Foundation recently granted Madison Public Library $192,500 to build focused collections at seven Madison library locations, to be created over the next three years.
 
The libraries and collections are: Central Library (Small Business & Entrepreneurship); Hawthorne Branch (Pop Culture); Meadowridge Branch (Strong Families); Monroe Street Branch (Audio Books); Pinney Branch (Sustainable Living); Sequoya Branch (Art of the Picture Book); and South Madison Branch (Success U: Education, Employment & Housing).
 
“This is a generous and significant contribution to our libraries, and we are grateful to the Madison Community Foundation for their ongoing support of Dane County libraries.  The grants will allow us to offer specialty collections on topics of interest to Madison residents, and will provide much-needed funds to help combat shrinking book budgets and rising prices,” said Carla DiIorio, Collection Development Coordinator for the Madison Public Library.
 
The grants come with a challenge to use the gifts to help build more community support and to raise additional funds for the collection.  As the collection grows, the library and community partners will hold events and offer outreach opportunities around each distinctive collection.

The Madison Community Foundation has supported Dane County’s public library system with over $5 million in donations for collections, programs and capital campaigns since 2000, including 27 collection grants awarded to Madison and 18 other Dane County Libraries. The Madison Community Foundation has also supported the Madison Public Library Foundation by granting funds toward several library building or remodeling campaigns, most recently benefitting the new Sequoya Branch.