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Published on 07/21/1997 All articles from this issue

Egan, Springer schools to receive grants for improving libraries

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos School District has been awarded two grants from the state for school improvements.

Egan Intermediate School and Springer School, both in Los Altos, were among the 100 schools in Santa Clara County to have been awarded library grants last month.

"We are proud of the fact that our schools were able to get the grants," said Dick Liewer, assistant superintendent of curriculum.

Egan and Springer will each receive $4,792 from the California School Library Protection Fund for library improvements. The 1996-97 grants, funded by taxpayer donations, were competitive grants that the schools had to contend for through written requests, Liewer said.

The funds will be used this upcoming year to purchase new science books and CD-ROMs, that are specifically developed for elementary-aged students and that will enhance the schools' science programs, Liewer said.

Springer has been working on upgrading its science and technology materials for the past five years since discovering some of the library's books were "older than we were," said Barbara Gerrish, who has worked at Springer's library for 13 years.

District librarian Barbara Waight said the school libraries needed to have strong library programs in place in order to qualify for the grants. She said all eight of the district's school library programs have been intact since the first parcel tax measure passed in 1989. Each library has 10,000 volumes, two computers and is staffed during school hours by two aids.

"It's exciting to bring libraries from neglected places to useful information centers that are heavily used," she said. "Our aim is to make the school libraries the first and best source for students."

Gerrish said the schools are always looking for more money for the libraries. The library budget varies from as little as $1,000 up to $6,000 a year depending on the amount of money raised by fund-raisers, the Parent-Teacher Association and funds from the district's budget.

"In the last couple of years we've really tried to update because there has been a lot of emphasis in the district on technology, and we don't want people to forget about books," Gerrish said.