 Cisco, Ill., has a population of 282 people. It has a small library with an annual budget of only $4,000 for adult materials. A commuter town, most people work in nearby Decatur or Champaign-Urbana. Even the school kids commute. A survey showed the average working resident of Cisco spends an hour a day commuting to and from work. Therefore, there was a high demand for ‘Books on Tape’ for people to listen to an audio book while commuting.
The second group of resident’s in Cisco is comprised of an elderly population over the age of 60, many of whom have less than optimal visual abilities. There was a large demand for audio books on tape for this group as well. However, most of both groups do not qualify for services offered by the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center. The Talking Book Center offers services only to those with disabilities.
To create a substantial base collection of adult audio books and the ability to add to the core collection each year was a luxury the current budget could not support. Even taking a substantial portion of the proceeds from the library’s annual book sale was not enough to bolster the collection to any great degree. Following discussion at a board meeting, librarian Cheryl Benjamin put together a survey for the library newsletter asking patrons and others what they would like to see in audio book titles. Combined with input from patrons visiting the library, a list of titles was put together containing mystery, novels, western, light reading, classics and non-fiction.
Plans were drawn to purchase a display case. It would be placed in a prominent location in the building featuring the suggested new audio titles with monthly additions. As plans proceeded it became more and more evident that if the library could somehow find a means to finance the project, current patron use would increase and even new patrons would be found as word traveled throughout the area. Tools would be in place for the public to enjoy bestsellers, classics and other popular material. As society’s schedule gets busier and busier and as the overall population ages, this type of project would be a valuable model.
There was only one solution to the funding dilemma, hone up on grant writing and apply for a Library Services Technology Act (LSTA) grant, wait and hope for the best. The news that was hoped for arrived in a letter from the Director of the Illinois State Library dated November 12, 1998, that stated, in part, the library was being awarded a grant drawn on LSTA funds in the amount of $1,950.
The application was so well composed and presented that one of four reviewers gave the application a perfect score of 100 and said in her review, "do they need more money? The word more was underlined. A perfect score is unprecedented! The other three reviewers were not as generous in scoring but all agreed the amount requested was very modest.
The project is now a little more than a year-old and Library Director Cheryl Benjamin said,"
(For further information regarding this grant contact Cheryl Benjamin, Director, Willow Branch Township Library, Eldon St., PO Box 39, Cisco, IL., 61830-0039, telephone 217-669-2312 e-mail cbenja@itnet.ltls.org
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