Congressman Kicks Off Library Fundraiser
for Chicago Schools
U.S. Rep. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) unofficially kicked off a book fundraiser for Chicago Public School libraries September 8 by donating his share of this year's congressional pay raise. That amounts to $2,140.09 toward a two-year goal of $20 million, or $35,000 for every public school library in the city.
Ann Carlson Weeks, director of the CPS Department of Libraries and Information Services, estimates that 75% of the library books in Chicago schools are out of date. The schools are undergoing $1.7 billion in capital improvements and budgetary increases in textbook spending, she observed, but library book purchases clearly have not yet benefited.
"We are truly trying to change the mind sets of what libraries are and change the way that libraries are used," Weeks told American Libraries. "For us to have the collaboration between teachers and librarians we need, we have to have the resources; that's the piece that has to go into place first."
Posted September 14, 1998.
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