Library gets 10K grant from Odd Fellows
POTTSTOWN » The Pottstown Regional Public Library announced it has received a $10,000 grant from the Home for Orphans of Odd Fellows of Pennsylvania for the library’s Children’s Department.
The grant will be used to improve and expand technology programs for children, including adding virtual reality technology, according to a press release from the library.
Libraries across the country are adding virtual reality devices to improve the technology already in place for children for storytelling and educational programs.
Digital literacy and experience with technology tools have become as important to young people as traditional books and reading.
A goal of the Pottstown Regional Public Library is to ensure that all children in our area have equal access to these new tools.
According to Lisa Kraljevich, youth services coordinator, “it is critical that kids in our area do not fall behind their peers in digital literacy experience.”
She noted that grants such as from Odd Fellows are a welcome and necessary contribution to make this happen, in addition to the daily fundraising and appeals that the library conducts directly to individuals and businesses.
The library emphasizes storytelling to teach communication, whether to one person or to a group. It improves a child’s creative thinking, develops language skills, and helps to organize thought. Cameras and animation software allow children to take on the roles of writer, director, costume designer, art director, and animator as they produce their own film to tell their story.
Other modern tools already available to borrow from the Pottstown Library are Launchpad tablets and Wonderbooks, which the grant will help to expand.
The Playaway Launchpads are durable touchscreen tablets preloaded with educational apps for patrons aged 3 to 10 years of age. They are designed for little hands to pass around, with no need for WiFi or downloads.
Wonderbooks, which are audio books ready to play at the touch of a button, are now replacing CD audio books. Children can read along with the book, or switch to learning mode for more fun.
These tools may look like toys, but they are a powerful pathway to literacy and reading. Kraljevich said she is “proud to select them with the same professionalism and expertise we use for our entire library collection.”
The Pottstown Regional Public Library serves the borough of Pottstown and the townships of Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove and West Pottsgrove. The Library, located at 500 E. High Street in Pottstown is in a building that is more than 100 years old, and was originally built as the U.S. Post Office.
The library’s continued existence in the community is based on contributions both large and small, private and public. The library is dependent on funding and support from our area municipalities, the state, grants, and donations from residents and businesses. The Library is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
The library provides books and e-books and other digital material, videos, WiFi sessions, public computers, assistance with on-line job applications, reference questions, passport services, copying, faxes, and more.
More than 12,000 residents hold library cards, and in 2018 there were 128,000 visits to the library from patrons in Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties.
Odd Fellowship is one of the oldest fraternities in the world. This non-political and non-sectarian order was founded on the basis of universal brotherhood. The order stresses the importance of the principles of Friendship, Love and Truth. Odd Fellowship aims to impress upon its members a real sense of their need, as well as an obligation to impress upon its members a sense of obligation to others. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a worldwide organization with more than 600,000 members in over 10,000 local lodges.
The Home for Orphans of Odd Fellows of Pennsylvania is an independent non-profit corporation composed of members who are Odd Fellows.
The original Orphanage was incorporated in 1884 to provide care and education of children. The present mission of the home is to continue the legacy of the orphanage by promoting children’s literacy and care programs in underserved communities.