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January 12, 2007
By Sue Accapezzato
Since the FCDSN first started in 1991, members of the group have used our funds to purchase books relevant to Down syndrome, disability awareness, and education strategies as well as novels and children’s books with disability themes. These books have been made available to members to borrow. For the last few years however, the books haven’t had much use. Since this was such a waste of the asset, former Officer Sandi Tunningley suggested putting the books in the Public Library where they could be easily obtained by anyone who wanted to learn more about Down syndrome or any of the other topics contained in the books we had. This idea was embraced by the FCDSN Board.
I broached the idea to Rhonda Miga, the coordinator of the Building Bridges project (Building Bridges is an initiative to encourage people with disabilities to become lifelong library users. Visit their site at www.libraryweb.org/buildingbridges.html. Rhonda was also supportive of the idea. So, Jayne Fleming and I went to work to review all the materials we had to weed out all the outdated books prior to donation. The books were also all cataloged and a sticker was placed inside each book identifying it as a gift from the FCDSN.
On January 12, 2007, at the invitation of Rhonda, I attended a meeting with the Librarians of the Building Bridges project. I brought all the books and each Librarian chose a stack of books to take back to their respective libraries, where they will be cataloged into the Central library computer system.
This is so exciting for our group and the community. By mid-March, all our materials should be available via the Library catalog system at www.mcpl.monroe.lib.in.us The FCDSN will keep up this relationship each year. Board member and Officer, Lori Miller, has offered to be responsible for finding new books and updating current materials when new editions become available. I have also offered to be a resource to the Librarians if any of them have questions about materials they currently have. We all want to make sure that information is as current as possible.
Visit the FCDSN website at www.fcdsn.com to view the list of books that were donated. Then click on the link to the Public Library catalog to find the book. You can then pick up and return the book to your local library. This is a Win for the FCDSN, a Win for the Public Library system, and Win for Building Bridges and a Win for the Community.
Here is a partial Listing of what you can find within the Central Library System.
Stay tuned as this list will grow annually with new aquisitions.
Click Here for Updated 2008 FCDSN Library Collection’s Index.
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