FY 2001 LIBRARY SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY ACT
APPLICATION COVER SHEET
APPLICANT NAME AND LEGAL
ADDRESS
Johnsburg Public Library District
3000
Maria Zawacki
PHONE NUMBER 815-344-0077
FAX NUMBER 815-344-3524
E-MAIL ADDRESS
Model Or Innovative Grant Offering
“Establishing a
LSTA GOALS - CHECK WHICH ONE GOAL YOUR APPLICATION ADDRESSES
__________Goal 1 - Ensure access to information by citizens
by enabling all
____X_____Goal 2 - Ensure
that
__________Goal 3 - Enrich the quality of life for citizens
of
_____ ____Goal 4 - Develop training methods and
activities that will allow library personnel and
__________Goal 5 - Continue expanding the role of networks, consortia, and partnerships in library development.
County McHenry
Congressional District 16
Library System Northern
Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) 36-3307129
Do not complete the information below. To be
completed by the
Contract Dates: ________________________________________________________________
LSTA Amount: _________________________________________________________________
Contract Number: ______________________________________________________________
Obligation Number: _____________________________________________________________
ISL 4/19/00
Johnsburg
Public Library is located in northern
With limited
funding available, it became clear that LSTA funds might be the perfect
solution for finding monies to equip a
Survey results show that 84% of the respondents plan on homeschooling through high school. This figure indicates that there is a significant long-term interest in homeschooling. When asked what subject area(s) concern them most about homeschooling, a large majority stated science. The next most frequently mentioned subjects, in order, were math, English, foreign language, history, reading, writing, computer science, music, social studies, and art. This illustrates that while there is a clear need in most homeschool families for science information, there is concern and interest in all curricular areas. When asked regarding their interest in basic homeschooling information, response choices were “very interested”, “interested”, and “not interested”. There were 61% of the respondents who were “very interested” in being able to preview curriculum materials from a variety of publishers, with 56% being “very interested” in having access to catalogs from a wide variety of homeschool suppliers. Other requests for basic homeschooling information were for books and magazines supporting homeschooling, information on learning disabilities, homeschool convention videotapes, teacher materials from area museums, local field trip information, and lists of mentors and tutors. Regarding having access to manipulatives, 66% were “very interested” in math manipulatives such as fraction circles, tanagrams, algebra blocks, etc. There were 76% who were very interested in science equipment such as glassware, scales, and other non-consumables. 86% were “very interested” in having access to both microscopes and telescopes, with 90% being “very interested” in science kits on topics such as light, magnetism, rocks and minerals, anatomy, etc. Educational board games such as Fraction Action or Elemento were rated as “very interested” in having access to by 76%. Other manipulatives that respondents requested were geography puzzles.
In rating their interest for having quality software available, 56% were “very interested” in foreign languages. Only 36% were “very interested” in language arts software, with 49% being “interested”. Regarding math software, 41% were “very interested” and 50% were “interested”. Science software rated 54% as “very interested” and history software rated 51% “very interested”. Other quality software requested by the respondents in order of frequency were geography, fine arts, music and anything at the high school level. The results of this survey clearly point to the fact that homeschoolers in our area do indeed have a real desire to have access to a variety of materials. The local public library is the ideal place to provide these resources for the many homeschool families that exist.
B. PROJECT PLAN
As demonstrated by the Homeschoolers survey
we conducted, there is a definite need in this segment of the population for a
variety of information and material that is desirable to successfully educate
their children at home. Homeschooler
needs and requests differ from other library patrons whose children do attend
local schools, and thus have access to a variety of instructional formats and
materials. More than likely, expense
prevents many homeschool families from providing their children with a large
variety of quality supplemental learning materials traditionally found in a
school setting. If our library were able
to establish a
With statistics that are
available showing that the homeschool movement is becoming more and more
popular, there are probably few libraries that currently exist that do not
serve this segment of the population.
Other libraries could contact their area homeschooling groups and
conduct a survey similar to ours to find out what their particular needs and
wants are and then work towards meeting those needs and wants. Just as other library materials are shared by
all in the community, these homeschool resource materials can be cataloged and
processed in a similar manner, housed in an area together, and made available
to the homeschool population in their community.
C. PROJECT
FEASIBILITY
In looking at where the library could set up
a
With funds requested
from this grant we hope to supply the
Of the survey respondents, 66% were “very
interested” in having math manipulatives available
for checkout at the public library. We
plan on purchasing 33 math games and hands-on activities that are recommended
in “The Complete Home Learning Source Book” and suitable for repeated use in a
library setting, as well as 40 science games and kits. In addition, as a former science teacher, Ms.
Wentz has recommended that we purchase three different kinds of
microscopes. These include a dissection
microscope, a children’s microscope, and one appropriate for high school
age. In addition, she recommended
purchasing a children’s telescope and one appropriate for older children and
adults. Other science equipment to be
purchased includes 3 scales and other measuring devices. 76% of the survey respondents were “very
interested” in educational board games.
Again based on recommended lists in “The Complete Home Learning Source
Book”, we plan on purchasing 17 language arts games, 3 music games, 5 art
games, and 8 history games suitable for repeated use. Grant funds would then allow us to purchase a
total of 106 educational manipulatives, games, kits,
and hands-on activities in all subject areas totaling $2,822. The recommended telescopes, microscopes and
other science equipment total an additional $8, 438.
Specific software purchases will be selected
again based on recommended lists in “The Complete Home Learning Source Book”
and a foreign language set specifically recommended by Ms. Wentz based on
homeschool family recommendations. These
include 31 foreign language titles, 5 math titles, 15 science titles, 10
reading titles, 11 history titles, 7 geography titles, 3 music titles, and 5
art titles, for a total of 87 software titles at a cost of $7, 117.
Existing library staff would be responsible for cataloging and
processing all of the
The library will absorb any costs for
establishing a pamphlet file with materials of special interest to families who
home school. This would include state
regulations regarding homeschooling, homeschoolers
support groups and local field trip information, as well as pamphlets of local
area points of interest. The library
would also absorb any costs associated with maintaining a collection of
catalogs from homeschool suppliers, lists of which are available in many
homeschool resource books. The Children’s Librarian would be responsible for
assembling and maintaining these files on a permanent basis. Regarding maintaining the resource center on
a permanent basis, we will maintain it as we do any other collection in the
library. New items on homeschooling that
are reviewed in library journals will be added to the collection, based on the
reviews. Recommendations from homeschool
patrons regarding new acquisition requests will be taken into consideration for
purchase. Worn or damaged items will be
withdrawn as other library materials currently are.
Following grant notification, all items
already selected for purchase from the recommended lists will be ordered. They will be cataloged and processed when
they arrive. The library will assume all
costs for publicizing the resource center after all items are received and in
place. Information then will be sent to
all ten of the
The
library’s partners in this grant are the ten McHenry County homeschooling
groups and their members. They have
already contributed significantly by responding to our interest survey. It was their responses that formed the basis
for what the
The
Johnsburg Public Library is providing services to the homeschool population by
establishing a
LSTA GRANT BUDGET SHEET
|
BUDGET CATEGORY |
EXPLANATION |
AMOUNT (in dollars only) |
|
Library Materials |
Books, non-print, software |
$ 45,703 |
|
Capital Outlay * |
Equipment valued over $500 |
$ 8,138 |
|
Professional Contracts * |
Hiring an individual on contract |
$ |
|
Contractual Services * |
Hiring an agency on contract |
$ |
|
Personnel |
Salaries and benefits for additional agency staff |
$ |
|
Travel and CE for Staff |
Agency staff travel and meeting registrations |
$ |
|
CE and Meetings for Others |
Travel, registrations and honorariums for others |
$ |
|
Public Relations |
Advertising done by outside firm |
$ |
|
Supplies, Postage and Printing |
Equipment/supplies valued under $500 |
$ 1,300 |
|
Telephones and Telecommunications |
Phone charges and rental |
$ |
|
Equipment Rental, Repair, and Maintenance |
Rental, repair, insurance and maintenance of equipment |
$ |
|
|
TOTAL |
$ 55,141 |
LSTA GRANT BUDGET SHEET
Capital
Outlay:
Zoom
Stereo Dissection Microscope: $1,
070
Video
Zoom Microscope System $3,
750
Phase-Contrast
Trinocular Microscope $1,575
Astroscan telescope and accessories $ 750
Meade
ETX Telescope $
993
LIBRARY’S LOCAL CONTRIBUTION BUDGET SHEET
|
BUDGET CATEGORY |
EXPLANATION |
AMOUNT (in dollars only) |
|
Library Materials |
Books, non-print, software |
$ |
|
Capital Outlay |
Equipment valued over $500 |
$ |
|
Professional Contracts |
Hiring an individual on contract |
$ |
|
Contractual Services |
Hiring an agency on contract |
$ |
|
Personnel |
Salaries and benefits for additional agency staff |
$ |
|
Travel and CE for Staff |
Agency staff travel and meeting registrations |
$ |
|
CE and Meetings for Others |
Travel, registrations and honorariums for others |
$ |
|
Public Relations |
Advertising done by outside firm |
$ |
|
Supplies, Postage and Printing |
Equipment/supplies valued under $500 |
$ 1,000 |
|
Telephones and Telecommunications |
Phone charges and rental |
$ |
|
Equipment Rental, Repair, and Maintenance |
Rental, repair, insurance and maintenance of equipment |
$ |
|
|
TOTAL |
$ 1,000 |
Our partners in the grant are the ten McHenry County Homeschooling Groups. They are Apple Tree North, Apple Tree South, Cheer, Good Shepard Catholic Homeschooling Group, H.O.U.S.E. (Home Oriented Unique Schooling Experience) McHenry Co., ICHEA (Illinois Christian Home Educators Association) Chain of Lake Chapter, Pillar Tillers, Society of St. Scholastica Homeschoolers, Wonder Kids, and Northern Illinois Christian Home Educators Assoc.
LETTERS OF ENDORSEMENT
This is
the text of an e-mail received from
From:
Sent:
Monday, August 28, 2000 12:23 AM
To:
Maria Zawacki
Subject:
survey comments + mine
Here
are some of the comments that were attached to the surveys when I
got
them back. Some of the comments have had
individual names removed,
but
otherwise remain largely unedited. Yes,
mine is the last - and you
may
attach my name to it if you feel that is appropriate. :-)
Kathy
1)
This is
a wonderful idea! I've passed out
several surveys in hopes
you'll
get them back. Please let me know if I
can help you in any way.
I know
Maria Zawacki, she is wonderful and helpful, so this type of
program
should work very nicely. Thanks for all
your hard work on this
project!
2)
hope
this helps!
we use
our library so much that i'm happy to help any chance
this may
be able
to be used for other areas?
i
miss the library we had in Cleveland, that had software and magazines!
but i'm just happy we have one that has videos! ;)
3) (on an out of state reply)
Hey,
you forgot a comments section!<g>
When this paradise exists, let
me
know. My dear husband is a librarian and
I have found relatively
little
help locally for homeschooling. This
particular library is under
financial
stress and the collection is way out of date.
I keep sending
in
purchase requests and I
hear
nothing back. My guess is they view
homeschoolers as too small a
group
to be concerned about their needs. They
do have a toy lending
library
at the main branch, but otherwise that's it.
4)
(In
response to the final line on the survey: "Thank you for your time!
I know
how valuable it is!"
Yes,
but well worth it, doing things like this (filling out surveys
about
homeschooling and library usage) will probably not help me, but be
of
enormous help to those who follow in our steps.
5)
Thank
you for giving me the opportunity to participate in this survey.
We love
our library but has so little to offer
homeschoolers. Wouldn't
it be
nice if we could reroute the tax dollars we pay to schools to the
public
library to be used for these resources.
Have a wonderful day
6)
I would
like to add a comment. I am very
fortunate in that I belong to
a
group
that supplies classes. Therefore I am less
interested in the
library
supplying that need. It would be a
different story if I did not
have
that
group. Having the availability of
scientific materials would be
wonderful,
however! I hope this helps.
7)
Let us
know the outcome. Hope they get the
grant!!!!
8)
Generally
speaking I think all of these are great ideas and would be
great
resources for homeschoolers. The
items/areas about which I am
less
enthusiastic in the survey have to do more with my personal
needs
and the materials we already have available to us (i.e., the kids
and I
can already program, so no need for computer classes, and we
have a
microscope and telescope, so while I'd be vaguely interested I
am not
enthusiastic about these items).
Good
luck with the survey.
9)
All of
the above would be great! Items like
what I mentioned above -
learning
kits, audio books, CD's, board games, teacher resource guides,
videos. Make it very much like a lending library,
only specialized for
homeschoolers. You could even include items like posters,
instruments
and
music books - anything that people might like to try out for a
period
of time to determine whether it would be a worthwhile investment
for
them to purchase it personally.
10)
What a
wonderful resource for homeschoolers (and schoolers
interested in
more or
different materials!) a resource center such as this could be!
What a
great idea! It is so very difficult for
homeschoolers, who are
generally
one income families, to provide more than a few of the vast
wealth
of educational materials available.
I have
spoken to many homeschooling families who have shared the same
set
of experiences. We have all found ourselves buying an
expensive
set of
materials only to find they are not appropriate for the
curriculum
or are not useful to the child they were bought for. It is
so
frustrating to have spent all that money just to have the materials
sitting
on a shelf - and then try to resell them for a tenth of what you
paid
for them! This type of loan program
would eliminate most if not
all of
those purchasing mistakes, saving homeschoolers thousands of
dollars
each and helping them truly get the best programs and materials
to meet
each of their children's individual needs.
All
parents want the best educational resources and materials for their
children's
needs. With the wonderful inter-library
loan system in this
area, I
can only envision these materials being used so much they will
never
be on the shelf for me! (Hey, can you
buy two of everything???
<g>)
Thanks
for your hard work!