As Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan quipped to a small audience at Camp Verde Community Library Wednesday, Aug. 3, “$20,350 is nothing to sneeze at.”
The amount represents a Library Service and Technology Act grant given to the library to grow its early literacy programs for the Spanish-speaking community. With the funds, CVCL plans to expand library services by incorporating music, movement, culture and technology into programming, as well as update the library’s Spanish and bilingual collection of materials for children up to 5 years of age.
“What I was most excited about was the interactive learning stations,” Reagan said. “You’re really kind of on the cutting edge here, and you don’t always see that in rural libraries …. It really feels good to get this money out of the hands of Maricopa County. We know you’ll use it wisely.”
Reagan added that one of her favorite parts of the Secretary of State office — most commonly thought of as the home of the Elections Division — is the Arizona Library, Archives and Public Records Division. She joked that it is, in fact, a larger and more complex division than that handling elections. According to Reagan, the AZLAPR has fully embraced an increasingly “electronics driven, community based” library structure.
“In 2016, the Arizona State Library received about $3.2 million under the Library Service and Technology Act, which is administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services,” CVCL Director Kathy Hellman stated via press release prior to the event. “More than $800,000 were awarded on a competitive basis to libraries in Arizona. We appreciate the State Library’s willingness to pass grant funds to local communities like Camp Verde through a competitive application process.”
“Libraries are community centers that address diverse needs, including employment and economic development, civic engagement and human services,” Reagan added. “We all know early literacy is a major part of the infrastructure of learning …. It is an honor to assist libraries to transform to meet the needs of the community.”
Hellman and Reagan joined together in praising former CVCL Programs and Outreach Coordinator Sebra Choe, who wrote the LSTA grant proposal. Choe, who recently moved on to become Camp Verde’s economic development specialist, worked on a variety of projects intended to expand the library’s offerings.
Youth Services Librarian Nadia Torabi will be in charge of effecting the program.
“We want to encourage Spanish-speaking families to use the library as a resource,” she said.
For information on this or any library program — all of which will be continued at the library’s new facility, set to open Nov. 5 — call 554-8380.
