Q: Where is the funding tree, where the money grows?

A: It doesn't exist, actually.

When I asked our teen librarians about our funding, I got a short laugh before I got an explanation.  The department relies on an annual $5000 grant from the Wells County Foundation (the county we serve).  Luckily, our proposal wins out every year.  Due to the limited rules on who can apply, there isn't a lot of competition for it.  There are some suspicions that this grant is privately funded by certain higher-ups within our library, but no one knows for sure.

We must rely on grants because library funds can not be spent on food or prizes.  For the summer reading program, when we offer a multitude of prizes to teens for number of pages read, we have to rely on donations from local businesses.  "Without that grant, we would have to beg."

I looked up other grants available to teen departments.  The Dollar General Literacy Foundation rang up a few hits.  In September of this year, the DGLF provided $246,806 to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).  YALSA, the teen-focused branch of the ALA, can in turn use that money to fund their nation-wide programs like Teen Read Week and summer reading.

YALSA also offers "more than $150,000 in grants and awards" to its members.  (You can also use that link to find application information.)  They coordinate with companies like Dollar General (again), Baker & Taylor, and ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Publishing to provide this funding.  Typically $1,000 per grant/award, but some are more substantial, like the Margaret A. Edwards Collection Development Grant which awards $5,000 for a library to improve its collection.  YALSA also offers a year's worth of teen material to 3 libraries in need, and they estimate that collection to be at $48,000.

I'm sure this is just preaching to the choir, but I will end this post with by linking to a blog entry by Danyelle Barber, a teen librarian in Texas who passionately for more funding for teen services.