While brick and mortar bookstores have gone virtually extinct overnight, public libraries have evolved into important cultural hubs. This year, the Miami-Dade Public Library System celebrates 40 years of Literary Excellence, and now more than ever, it needs your support.
Here’s why you should help.
From its humble origins in two independent community libraries, the Miami-Dade Public Library System has grown to include 48 branches and four “bookmobiles” serving a population of 1,939,775. Its community programs and services are nationally recognized, earning it the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2008.
In addition, weekly arts and crafts workshops, storytelling sessions, and dance showcases at every branch, the MDPLS also provides services to the blind and deaf, including delivery of audiobooks or books in braille. They’ve even entered the 21st Century with Get Books, an application that lets you download e-books to your Kindle or iPad for free.
Friends of the Miami-Dade Public Library
Like many public organizations these days, the Miami-Dade Public Library System lacks sufficient government funding to sustain the quality of programming without outside support. Friends of the Miami-Dade Public Library was incorporated in 1974 as a non-profit organization with the goal of raising support for the then-emerging county library system. Today, the organization generates much-needed revenue for the libraries through programs such as the 10 x 10 Challenge, which is currently in its second year.
10 x 10 aims to get 10,000 people to each donate $10 dollars by October 10th. To celebrate their 40th Anniversary, we humbly encourage you to help ensure the quality of public library programming and services by making a donation here.