Community Library Network receives Cd'A Rotary grant

Coeur d’Alene Rotary awarded a grant for $1,000 to the Community Library Network Youth Services Department.

“With over 65 applications received this year, your selection by the grant committee speaks well of your organization’s project and commitment to the community,” Mike Grabenstein, club coordinator, wrote in the award letter. The grant money will be used to help refresh the Kootenai County Juvenile Detention Center library. The goal is to replace the few tattered paperbacks available to children, ages 10 to 17, with a collection of books appropriate to the reading and interest level of the residents. Children stay in the high-security facility anywhere from 10 days to many months and are allowed out of their cells four hours a day for school, therapy or to visit the library.

Developing the library collection is only one component of the initiative to engage children in literacy. Working in partnership with the detention center staff, Library Network staff will offer two programs a month. One program will demonstrate online library services, such as downloading books and music, using reference tools to research jobs or get started on a GED. The second visit will be a hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) related program.