ByWater Solutions Announces August 2023 Community Giveback Winner

by Elise Aiello on Aug 22, 2023

Each month, ByWater Solutions selects one library to be awarded $500. These funds are meant to support libraries and their communities and fill gaps in funding to further library goals.

We are excited to announce our August 2023 winner of the ByWater Community Giveback, the Independence Area Public Library in Kansas!

The funds will be used to support the purchase of a Seed Library and accompanying educational program.

Brandon West, Development Coordinator at the Independence Area Public Library, commented:

The ByWater Community Givesback grant will allow the Independence Public Library to start a Seed Library and provide education to our mostly low-income, rural community. Through this grant, IPL will be able to provide 1,372 packets of seeds, provide the resources for families to grow their food, work to turn the health of Montgomery County in a positive direction, and plant over a thousand native flowers for pollinators."

About Independence Area Public Library

In 1882 the population of Independence Kansas had reached a whopping 2300, so a local government began to form, a school board was organized, and The Ladies Library Association was founded.

The main objective of The Ladies Library Association was to obtain books to open a library. The Association dues were $1.20 per year, which was not enough to begin building a book collection, so they organized numerous fund-raising events such as musical programs, socials, lectures, carnivals, and plays. An interesting side note was that they were criticized terribly when the dresses in the production of ‘Milk Maids Convention’ were a disgraceful twelve inches off the floor! How times have changed!

The Ladies Library Association purchased their first 94 books for $94.25 and opened the collection to the public from the City Council room in City Hall on Dec. 1, 1882. This was a humble beginning with a bookcase and four dozen chairs. Additional books were added as supportive Independence citizens made book and cash donations.

Learn more here: https://iplks.org/library-hist...

About the ByWater Community Giveback

We will select one library a month to donate $500 to their Non-profit 501c3 organization such as Friends of the Library, Library Foundation, or other funding entity. These funds are meant to support libraries and their communities and fill gaps in funding to further library goals. We LOVE libraries. Our team is made up of librarians and library fanatics. We're always looking for ways to give back and create opportunities where we can to support libraries. This is a small token of thanks for all the hard work libraries do in their communities every day.

Learn More About the Program and How to Apply.

If you have more questions, please contact: Outreach@bywatersolutions.com

About ByWater Solutions

ByWater Solutions is a full service, high-quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in the first-rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit https://bywatersolutions.com.

For More Information

Elise Aiello
Partner Engagement Specialist
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944