Funds help refresh Ronan Middle School library
Taylor Davison
The grant funds will help librarian Amy Miller, pictured above, update the nonfiction section and improve coverage of modern technology.
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RONAN — The Ronan Middle School Library recently announced they have been awarded a $5,000 grant from the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.
“It was pretty exciting,” said RMS librarian Amy Miller.
The library grant was awarded to 300 schools throughout the country with the goal of encouraging all students to develop a love of reading and learning. According to the Laura Bush Foundation website, since its inception in 2002, it has awarded more than $19.5 million to over 3,300 schools throughout the U.S.
“Students across the country turn to books to discover the world around them and we know that opening a new book opens the door to new opportunities and learning,” Laura Bush stated on the website.
Miller learned about the application period for the grant through a librarian Facebook group she belongs to and decided to take a chance and apply. While she’s done a lot of work keeping the middle school library up-to-date through the years, she said there are certain sections that need more work than others. When the letter came through that they had won, it opened up the possibility for a lot of improvement.
The nonfiction section, Miller said, is the primary focus for the grant funds. Apparently much of the out-of-date book weeding has impacted that section, with many volumes about science, engineering, natural sciences, and other STEM-related topics, no longer accurate.
Another difficulty the library has faced is their lack of books about modern technology. Miller said they have several books about vehicles, but lack information about things like drones, clean energy and computer science.
“This grant money will go a long way towards helping us refresh that section and bring in newer books that are appealing to the kids to get them excited about STEM-related topics, but also to cover STEM from diverse perspectives,” Miller explained.
Some of the funds have also been earmarked to put together a good collection of culture and language resources for all of Montana’s federally recognized tribes, Miller said. While the school’s budget does have some funds allocated specifically for Native American education, Miller said there are a lot of quality tribal publications they could use that are a little more costly. These funds will help her purchase those resources.
Overall, Miller said there is always some section in the library in need of help. “The budget is never quite enough to do everything you could do in the library. There’s always going to be a section that’ll get neglected while you focus on developing something else,” Miller explained. While this infusion of grant funds will be a great help, the library is also always open to accepting donations of books from the community.
Miller, for her part, already has a list of titles ready for purchase with the grant money, which has to be spent by December of this year. “I’m really excited to get started,” she laughed.
Anyone interested in donating to the school library and help expand student education can reach out to Ronan Middle School at 406-676-3390.
