American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Library Program 2021-2022: American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Library Program 2021-2022

CDLC has been allocated $325,975 for Component 1, Digital Inclusion.

CDLC administers these funds to provide digital equity/inclusion training to member libraries and is working with the three public library systems in our region: Mohawk Valley Library System, Southern Adirondack Library System and Upper Hudson Library System

These funds are being used to:

• Develop ADA-compliant websites for the public libraries in our region (working with Unity Web Agency)
• Provide professional development opportunities to CDLC members including:
  • Webinars presented by AMIGOS
  • Training the Accidental Trainer workshops presented by Community Tech Network
  • Online workshops presented by AKEA
  • A presentation by Jessamyn West, It's Computers All The Way Down: Navigating the Digital Divide in the COVID Era
• Launch a marketing campaign that highlights what public libraries are doing in our region to address the digital divide (working with Rueckert Advertising) 
  • Visit yourlibrary.org for more information
  • Listen to an interview with Erica Freudenberger, SALS: Local Libraries Develop Creative Solutions for Sharing Internet Access
  • Read an article in the Daily Gazette: Saratoga libraries look to connect the unconnected
  • Read an article in Saratoga Today (page 16): Bridging the "Digital Divide"
  • Watch Libraries find new niche: Bridging the digital divide on Spectrum News

CDLC has been allocated $55,248 for Component 2, Library/Museum Partnerships. 

CDLC administers these funds and provided them to museum libraries that are CDLC members. 

• The Paul O'Dwyer Library at the Irish American Heritage Museum is developing an online exhibit that will cover the contributions of Irish immigrants and Irish Americans to the entertainment industry. While the permanent display will feature many fascinating individuals, including some with whom visitors may already be familiar (such as George M. Cohan, Bing Crosby, Maureen O’Hara, Gene Kelly, and F. Scott Fitzgerald), the online exhibit will include lesser-known stories and introduce audiences to new figures. Vaudeville performers will feature heavily, including Maggie Cline, Chauncey Olcott, Harrigan and Hart, and The McNulty Family. There will also be a section on local performers, including the music group The Flanagan Brothers and Oscar-winning actress Maureen Stapleton.
   
• The Grems-Doolittle Library at the Schenectady County Historical Society (SCHS) and Schenectady County Public Library (SCPL) are working on a project where SCHS will develop a series of pop-up exhibits which will rotate through the SCPL branches. The exhibits will explore topics within Schenectady County’s history, such as immigration, food and culinary traditions, women’s history, and health and wellness innovations. The SCPL will develop programming to complement the exhibits and engage the underserved populations specific to each branch.
   
• Historic Cherry Hill, Albany Public Library, Howe Branch; and a public school library will develop an online exhibit that will focus on the residents of Cherry Hill during the 2nd half of the 19th century and that will explore the many nationally significant themes embedded in the 19th-century Cherry Hill household—race, child labor, intersecting identities, the legacy of slavery, household makeup, and the meaning of “family”—through the voices and perspectives of each of the Cherry Hill children—Kitty, Minnie, Mary, and James.
   
• Museum of Innovation and Science will create eight new lesson plans with free digital access through the Museums for Digital Learning portal.
   
• Albany County Historical Association (ACHA) and Albany Public Library - Arbor Hill Branch will develop a project with three phases:

1. research and development of an online exhibit at the ACHA regarding the lives of servants, enslaved persons, artisans, and workers in Arbor Hill.
2. expansion into the community with three free community scanning and family archives workshops to expand community knowledge of the importance of family records, and to teach skills in preserving these important documents and artifacts. 
3. workshop for community repositories: historical society/church archivists on scanning and preservation techniques to promote local commitment to the preservation and digitization of archival and manuscript materials.

CDLC has been allocated $45,311 for Component 3, Digital Resources for Students.

These funds were allocated to the four School Library Systems in our region:

• Capital Region BOCES School Library System
• Hamilton Fulton Montgomery BOCES School Library System
• Questar III School Library System
• Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex (WSWHE)  School Library System

The School Library Systems will use these funds to provide digital resources to K-12 students in their region.