Program areas at NPLF
Bringing books to life (bbtl) is an award-winning early-literacy program that helps teachers and parents foster a love of reading in children through teacher trainings, family literacy programs, and story-related classroom activities. Founded in 2003 and developed in partnership with educators and experts in early childhood development, bbtl is centered on npl's literature-based puppet performances. Bbtl promotes early childhood literacy through interactive story time, puppet performances, parent workshops in english & spanish, and trainings for educators. Bbtl improves outcomes for children from low-income families by increasing access to the skills and resources that foster reading readiness, critical thinking, and other cognitive and social skills. Bbtl partners with schools, childcare providers, head start programs, and nonprofits to reach thousands of children and adults each year. Each year bbtl, in conjunction with the Library's puppet truck, provides early literacy training and resources to more than 41,000 individuals at over 200 partner organizations throughout Nashville and davidson county. Bringing books to life served 14,610 children, teachers, and parents through 921 programs at 139 locations and 387 virtual programs in fy24. Bbtl continues to grow as a program with the begin bright campaign, offering these essential services to children, educators, and parents.
In fye24 nplf contributed nearly $60,000 towards the votes for women exhibit at the main Library, which tells the pivotal and dramatic story of Nashville's role in winning women the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment. Courtyard concerts entertained attendees with free music by diverse local performers. The Foundation also supports a diverse array of programming at each of the 21 branch locations including studio npl, a makerspace focused on steam initiatives, be well at npl that offers free fitness, nutrition and other health programs at the Library, adult literacy initiatives, and naza's summer and afterschool learning that challenged over 2,500 young people with innovative out-of-school programming. Art exhibits, special collection staffing and civil rights programming programs for all ages throughout the system round out support from nplf to the Library in fye24.
Limitless libraries started in 2009 as a pilot project led by former mayor karl dean to provide metro Nashville Public (mnps) high schools with access to Nashville Public Library books and materials. Today, limitless libraries (ll) ensures students and educators have access to the best educational resources and Library connections. Ll provides 81,000+ students and 4,600+ educators with access to over 1.8 million items at npl through automatic account creation, digital resources, collection development, and outreach support. The access provided eliminates transportation barriers by delivering materials to schools and makes education and literacy equitable for all. In fiscal year 24, limitless libraries supported 86,761 students, educators, and librarians across 159 schools between july 2023-june 2024 and facilitated the circulation of 67,654 materials between august 2023 and may 2024, showing an increase from the previous year. In addition to materials, limitless libraries provided classroom visits, professional development, and community event attendance. Limitless libraries is dedicated to enriching the lives of mnps students, librarians, and educators by providing accessibility through collection development, materials delivery, outreach, advocacy, and digital resources.