Dane County Library Collections Grant in Collaboration with the Madison Community Foundation

Rosemary Garfoot Public Library, Cross Plains

Deep in the shelves: Revel in distinct topic at each Dane County library. (The Capital Times, 1/28/2011)

Monona Public Library

Excerpt: As a condition of the foundation's grants, each library chose a specific subject area, like ecology, music, sustainable living or small business. Then each library expanded its collection in a focused way, investing in multi-episode film collections or large, costly books that were unaffordable before.

Monroe Street Branch of the Madison Public Library

"It was a phenomenal project," says Tom Linfield, a grantmaker at Madison Community Foundation. "The libraries loved it. We really encouraged them not only to keep fundraising, but think about programming."

Mount Horeb Public Library

The Dane County Library Collections grant began with 12 libraries in 2008, extending to all 27, including the county bookmobile, in 2009. Libraries received $742,500 in total, drawn from the foundation's $1.3 million in unrestricted funds.

Cambridge Community Library

Individual grants were at first $25,000 each, but the foundation added an extra $2,500 to cover the costs of culling other materials and adding each item to the catalog. Materials purchased, from large print books to DVDs, games, novels and nonfiction, are in circulation now across the seven-county South Central Library System.