Public libraries across the Republic will be able to expand their large-print collections under a federal matching-grant program opened this month by the Civic Consul’s administration.
The program, funded through an appropriation approved by the Legislature, will meet half the cost of eligible book purchases. States and Territories can submit orders covering several library systems together, matching the federal contribution with their own funds or participating libraries’ acquisition budgets. Awards are limited to the money appropriated for the program.
Libraries will select their own titles. Eligible purchases include fiction, biography, practical guides, and other books published in large-print editions, including editions in languages used by local readers. The program does not prescribe a common reading list.
The application guidance encourages shared orders where small branches cannot meet suppliers’ minimum quantities individually. Books bought through a joint order can circulate between participating branches through their existing lending arrangements.
A librarian at a Verentum branch said the grant would help fill gaps in a collection whose large-print editions were often several years behind its ordinary shelves. “Someone asks for the new book everyone is reading, and we can offer them an older one by the same author. It will be useful to say yes more often.”
Participating libraries will list the new books in their usual catalogues as deliveries arrive. Readers will borrow them with their existing library cards, under the same rules as the rest of the collection.