The Jacksonville Public Library is holding a special event this month thanks to proceeds from a national grant.
The Jacksonville Public Library has been selected as one of 300 libraries to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries, which is an American Library Association initiative to help library workers better serve their small and rural communities.
The library has been awarded a $3,000.00 grant that will help the library offer a community book discussion on June 29th via Zoom, even for those who may not have the ability to log on to a Zoom meeting.
Assistant Director of the Jacksonville Public Library, Sarah Snyder says the book that will be discussed will be a great opportunity to discuss the issue of homelessness in the community on a deeper level.
“The title of the book is “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” and it mostly concerns people who have been evicted from their homes. This book in particular looks at Milwaukee which is obviously a much larger city so we will kind of be drawing some different comparisons there.
But it talks both about homelessness and people facing poverty. I thought it was kind of an interesting time given COVID and everything. People are experiencing poverty that may not have in the past.”
Snyder says Due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 and the recent closure of the community’s homeless shelter, this book discussion seeks to increase the understanding of poverty and draw parallels between the 2008 financial crisis and today’s world.
Snyder says the grant is also providing means for those who don’t have the technology to connect to Zoom, to attend the virtual discussion at the library. “The grant gave us a small collection of tablets that people can use here at the library if they don’t have the technology at home. So they could use that to Zoom into the conversation.
We are going to be inviting Allan Braddish who is the Chaplain of the Jacksonville Police Department, and Dr. Tabor from Illinois College. They are going to help lead the discussion. It will be a chance to talk about some of the issues that our community is facing, as well as take it out a bit and look at it on a national level as well. We are also giving away copies of the book to keep for anyone who signs up. ”
The Community Book Discussion will be held at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, June 29th. For more details or to register for zoom info or to reserve a tablet for use in the library during the event, contact Sarah Snyder at 217-243-5435, or by email at ssnyder@jaxpl.org