CityofSantaBarbara
The Santa Barbara Public Library is pleased to announce that they were selected for a $5,500 award for public programming in the 2024 round of Library Innovation Lab awards given by California Humanities, an independent non-profit organization.
The Library Innovation Lab program supports the design and delivery of responsive and relevant public humanities programming in California’s public libraries by providing a nine-month practice-based professional development experience and cash grants of up to $5,500 to participating library programmers. The creative and innovative programs that library staff develop will respond to the needs and circumstances of today’s immigrants and immigrant communities and foster more inclusive communities within our state.
Each member of the Grant’s 2024 cohort will research, design, implement, and assess a small scale, short-term public humanities project at their library between March and December. Recognizing the significant Spanish-speaking population in Santa Barbara, SBPL staff will make efforts to engage this community through cultural celebrations and events. Working in a collaborative learning environment, participants will acquire new skills and knowledge through programming and project management as well as build confidence and develop capacity in working with immigrants and other target audiences.
SBPL’s goal is to embrace cultural diversity by hosting multicultural events and celebrating the arts through exhibitions and performances.
“We strongly believe in a Library that serves every member of our community, and we thank California Humanities for recognizing our talented and diverse Library staff.” said Lisa Gonzalez, Supervising Librarian for Outreach.
“We are proud to welcome this cohort to be part of the Library Innovation Lab,” said Rick Noguchi, President & CEO of California Humanities. “The libraries in this group follow the dozens of participants that have contributed to the success of the program to date and represent a wide swath of California’s geographic and cultural diversity. We are looking forward to seeing how they will continue building capacity in their communities in order to serve both newly arrived immigrants to longtime residents.”
For a complete list of all Library Innovation Lab grantees visit calhum.org.
About Santa Barbara Public Library Access and Diversity
SBPL is dedicated to supporting education for all ages through classes and events, building a community of readers, empowering individuals with free access to information, and connecting people to community resources. SBPL works to serve all community members, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, and the most vulnerable in our communities, by offering services and educational resources to help transform communities, open minds, and promote inclusion, diversity, equity, and justice.
$5500 is an almost trivial amount considering what the SBPL spends on on-going remodeling and restructuring and renovating and other remarkably wasteful efforts that have dramatically interfered with the ability of the library to do the things this “award” encourages.