ALA and Fetzer Institute award 50 program grants for “Let’s Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness”

Angela Thullen


Program Officer, Communications


ALA Public Programs Office


(312) 280-5286


athullen@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release


September 23, 2008

CHICAGO – The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in collaboration with the Fetzer Institute’s Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, announced that 50 libraries will receive $2,500 grants to support Let’s Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness reading and discussion programs. Though program funding was originally intended to support 30 libraries, due to an abundance of exceptional applications, the Fetzer Institute will generously fund a total of 50 libraries.

To view the list of Let’s Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness recipients, visit
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ppo/programming/ltai/ltailflibraries.cfm. The selected libraries will receive:

• A grant of $2,500, to be used to support program costs and scholar honoraria.
• Program materials, which include introductory literature and essays on each of the themes, selections for additional reading and template promotional materials.
• Training for the library project director at a national workshop, where they will hear from the project scholar, expert librarians and program organizers and receive a program planning guide, materials and ideas.

Let’s Talk About It: Love and Forgiveness
will follow the well-established ALA reading and discussion series format “Let’s Talk About It,” using classic and contemporary literature to explore stimulating and relevant themes. Project themes and books were chosen by national project scholar Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D., director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum and former Kelleher professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. For more information on Let’s Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness, visit
www.ala.org/letstalk.

The Fetzer Institute’s mission, to foster awareness of the power of love and forgiveness in the emerging global community, rests on its conviction that efforts to address the critical issues facing the world must go beyond political, social and economic strategies to their psychological and spiritual roots. The Institute works with global leaders, organizations and individuals to bring the power of love and forgiveness to the center of individual, community and organizational life. For information on the Fetzer Institute and its Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, visit
www.fetzer.org.

Established in 1992, the ALA Public Programs Office has an exemplary track record of developing library programming initiatives, including the acclaimed reading and discussion series "Let's Talk About It," film discussion programs on humanities themes, traveling exhibitions, LIVE! @ your library® and other programs. Recently, it has established the Cultural Communities Fund, an endowment created to help all types of libraries across the country bring communities together through cultural programming (
www.ala.org/ccf). More than 10,000 libraries and at least 10 million individuals have participated in library programming initiatives supported by the Public Programs Office. For more information about the ALA Public Programs Office, visit
www.ala.org/publicprograms.