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Contact: Lainie Castle
Public Programs Office
312-280-5055
lcastle@ala.org

For Immediate Release
October 28, 2005

ALA receives Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award for $50,000 to help bring books to underserved teens

CHICAGO - The American Library Association (ALA) received an Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award for $50,000 to support the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest growing division of ALA. The award was announced on the October 26, 2005 episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

The ALA Public Programs Office (PPO) will work together with YALSA to implement a national book club program to reach at-risk teens. Libraries that agree to conduct outreach programs by partnering with alternative high schools or juvenile detention centers will be eligible to apply. “We are pleased and honored to be a recipient of this grant,” said YALSA President Pam Spencer Holley. “With the help of this Oprah's Angel Network Book Club Award, YALSA and PPO will be able to put books in the hands of the teens who need them most.”

The funds will go toward providing books and instructional resources to the selected libraries. Libraries may apply online beginning January 25, 2006. Those libraries that meet the application criteria will be awarded the book sets on a first come, first served basis. These libraries must implement a book discussion program for teens based on three theme-related titles. They will be given copies of the books to share with each of the teen participants. YALSA and PPO also will create an online toolkit to support the program, including sample discussion questions, recommended titles for further reading, downloadable bookmark art and other resources.

YALSA is the world leader in evaluating and selecting reading, listening and viewing for teens through its three literary awards, seven selected lists and other publications. For more information about YALSA, go to www.ala.org/yalsa.

Established in 1992, the ALA Public Programs Office has a strong track record of developing library programming initiatives, including the acclaimed reading and discussion series “Let's Talk About It!,” film discussion programs on humanities themes, traveling exhibitions, LIVE! @ your library^®, and other programs. More than 8,000 libraries and at least 10 million individuals have participated in library programming initiatives supported by the Public Programs Office. For more information, go to www.ala.org/publicprograms.

Over the years, the ALA has developed a long-standing partnership with Oprah's Book Club to help ensure that all readers have access to her latest picks. Through a coordinated effort, Oprah's Book Club publishers have distributed thousands of free books to ALA member school, public , and community college libraries nationwide.