Catawba County News
Sign Up for a Card to an Award-Winning Library
Published: August 31, 2022
September is National Library Card Sign-up Month, a time for libraries to invite everyone to enjoy access to library resources and programs. If you have a Catawba County Library card, you're probably already aware of all of our wonderful resources, but did you know it also gives you bragging rights!?
Catawba County Library has continued to adapt and expand services to meet the evolving needs of the community, and this past year, the Catawba County Library has won several awards recognizing innovative and empowering services including:
National Association of Counties Awards:
● Hmong Keeb Kwm: The Hmong Heritage Project - awarded Best in Category, the Catawba County Library worked with the Hmong community, the Historical Association, and Digital Heritage NC to collect, curate, and preserve a digital collection of the twentieth-century history of Hmong migration and community-building within the region. The digital collection can be found here: www.digitalnc.org/exhibits/hmong-keeb-kwm
● Community Navigators - recognizing the Catawba County Library's development of a navigator role to assist residents one-on-one with identifying and locating resources for a variety of needs.
● Wi-Fi for All - recognizing the Catawba County Library's community Wi-Fi program, and the lending of Wi-Fi hot spots, tablets, and laptops that helps provide broadband access to residents.
NC Association of County Commissioners Award:
● WiFi for ALL - 2022 Civic Excellence in Innovation Award.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ODPHP Award:
● Healthy People 2030 Champion Program - recognizing the Catawba County Library’s commitment to eliminating health disparities and improving the health and well-being of the community.
These award-winning projects were made possible through grant funding, and this past year, the Catawba County Library has been awarded several new grants to continue expanding library services. Here is a list of current and upcoming grant-funded projects:
State Library of North Carolina Grants:
Federal funding provided through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and administered by the State Library of North Carolina.
● Spaces for Success: Adapting Technologies - to update conference and study room technology with video conferencing equipment to meet the community’s needs for virtual education, health care, and employment interactions.
● Laundry Literacy - to make high quality reading materials and interactive early literacy manipulatives more accessible in the community through laundromat partners.
● Library Locker - to expand library services to a previously underserved area by providing a self-service locker system allowing library patrons to browse, check out, or pick up materials placed on hold from the library’s online catalog without having to travel out of the community.
● Power of Play - to create an interactive, early literacy space at the Southwest Branch Library (coming soon).
Kenneth K. Millholland and Suzanne G. Millholland Endowment Fund Grant:
● Early Literacy Destination - to assist with creating an interactive, early literacy space at the St. Stephens Branch Library (coming soon).
We are proud to empower lives and build community as a part of this award-winning library system. We invite you to join us by getting your library card today.
To sign up for a library card or to learn more about your award-winning library’s resources and programs, please visit the library or www.catawbacountync.gov/library
