The foundation received more than 6,000 applications, which, Bush said, “shows how desperate school libraries are around the country,” the Associated Press reported May 21. Applicants were asked to describe their libraries’ needs and their importance to the life of the school and to their communities. The foundation reports that most of the selected schools did not have the funds to meet a one-book-per-student-per-year ratio and had collections that were, on average, more than 15 years old.
Vernon Principal Hilda Almada-Higgins said their money would be used to buy 250 to 400 books to boost the 4,000-book collection, some of which are personal copies belonging to librarian Diane Rivera.
Bush also presented the predominantly Hispanic school with a new copy of Pat Mora’s book Tomás and the Library Lady (Random House, 1997) based on the life of the late Tomás Rivera, chancellor of the University of California at Riverside from 1979 until his death in 1984.
Posted May 26, 2003.