It’s Time to Fill School Libraries: BBF Launches 2022 Shelf Help
Submission for 2022 proposals is now open.
With the crisis that has hit our world in the past years, we are more motivated than ever to ensure every child has access to well-stocked book shelves.
That’s why Boston Book Festival is once again calling on the Greater Boston community to help implement our annual Shelf Help book drive, which will reach two schools in need again this year.
Many area schools lack the resources to fully stock their school libraries with contemporary, high-quality books. Our Shelp Help partnership aims to expand the library book collections at two local schools, and then work with Wondermore, a local organization dedicated to inspiring young readers, to coordinate a children’s or YA author or illustrator school visit to share the wonders of book creation with young readers! If in-person visits are not possible this fall, we will connect students with authors virtually.
Applications are open for 2022!
In 2022, Shelf Help will partner again with two school libraries! We will choose one K–8 school library and one 9–12 school library, providing a donation of new books near the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. We will be collecting donations at the fourteenth annual Boston Book Festival in October.
If you know a library professional at a school that needs some Shelf Help, please forward them this Request for Proposals, which has links to a short online application. All proposals are due by April 29th, 2022.
Everyone can help put books on school shelves
You can also lend direct Shelf Help to the Boston community! If you would like to help us curate contemporary collections for selected schools, please bring book donations to our information booth at the Boston Book Festival in October, or you can donate through our online book wish list.
If you would like to donate directly, please visit our donate page. Upon checking out, select “Make this a gift” and designate “Shelf Help” as the gift recipient in the appropriate box.
Inspiring young readers for life
With Shelf Help, we aim to support students’ discovery and expression of their voices through access to an increased selection of books within their school environment. Words have power to motivate and provoke all readers to discover themselves and their place in the world, and we hope that Shelf Help will encourage students to view themselves as literary explorers!
