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The American Library Association (ALA) has opened the application period for grants to develop public library programming that promotes computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) among youth. The grant opportunity is the latest phase of the Libraries Ready to Code (RtC) initiative, sponsored by Google. Libraries will be selected to receive grants of up to $25,000 to design and implement youth coding programs that incorporate Ready to Code concepts. Learn more at: http://www.ala.org/tools/readytocode

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This year, the New York State Legislature has passed a bill (A.1094-A Galef / S.3023-A Ritchie) that would permit every taxpayer to directly and conveniently support the Summer Reading Program when preparing tax forms. This bill will soon be sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who will consider the fate of the program’s future funding.

Send Governor Cuomo a letter of support today through the New York Library Association’s Online Advocacy Center

The MHLS van has found a new purpose as the Olive Free Library’s bookmobile! Congratulations to the Olive Free Library for being the first library in the system to implement an official bookmobile. Chrissy Lawlor, director of the Olive Free Library is pictured above.

Congratulations to…

• Beekman Library
• Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library
• Clinton Community Library
• Hudson Area Library
• Marlboro Library
• Mountain Top Library
• NorthEast-Millerton Library
• Patterson Library
• Plattekill Public Library
• Poughkeepsie Public Library District

Each of these libraries will receive $800 from MHLS thanks to funds from the New York State Library’s Family Literacy Library Services grant program. Funds will be used to purchase early literacy materials to support the provision of early literacy programs in their library as part of their participation in the 2016-2017 MHLS Early Literacy Cohort Project. In addition, these libraries each received over $500 of professional materials as well as training in all of the elements of the Ready to Read at New York Libraries: Early Childhood Public Library Staff Development Program.

MHLS Early Literacy efforts focus on training for member library staff in support of making their library a vital community partner and early learning hub in their community.

The end of the New York State legislative session brought good news for MHLS member libraries. The Senate passed a bill authorizing Special Legislative Grants (also known as Bullet Aid) to member libraries totaling $390,000! For a listing of each library’s grant amount check out this week’s MHLS Bulletin.