LBSS Endowment Fund
The Illinois School Library Media Association or ISLMA (now known as The Association of Illinois School Library Educators or AISLE) has established the Library Book Selection Service (LBSS) Endowment Fund after accepting the LBSS assets.
Trustees of the LBSS Endowment Fund have set up grant opportunities for both public and private schools as well as public libraries participating in at least one of the Illinois Readers' Choice Award programs - the Monarch, Bluestem, Rebecca Caudill, or Abraham Lincoln Award. Those libraries interested may apply for a complete set of titles in one appropriate level.
In August of 2012 the LBSS Endowment Fund Board established a second grant to provide non-fiction materials to assist in meeting Common Core expectations for school libraries. These Read for Information grants had been awarded each fall. After careful consideration in 2020 with schools in such varied forms of attendance, the LBSS Endowment Fund decided to discontinue the Read for Information grant and replace it with a new grant called Feed Your Need, which is designed to update sections of collections that are outdated or inadequate. To see a list of all of the recipients of the Read for Information grants, click here.
We are so excited about the chance to reach the children of Illinois and continue to promote reading in Illinois!
ANNOUNCING!
Congratulations to the recipients of the first Feed Your Need grants. To see a list of recipients click here.
Readers' Choice Grant Application
Offered in Spring
To make your grant application more successful please visit each of the following pages for helpful guidelines in writing your grant.
- Readers' Choice Awards
- Grant application Form (offered in spring)
- Grant Rubric
- FAQs
- Grant Recipients
- Vendor Request for Proposal
All application forms must be submitted online by 11:59 pm (CST) on April 30.
Calendar
- Register for the appropriate award between March 16 and April 30.
- Submit application by the April 30 deadline.
- Expect to be notified by August 1.
- Watch for delivery of books after August 1.
Feed Your Need Grant Application
Offered in Fall
To make your grant application more successful please visit each of the following pages for helpful guidelines in writing your grant.
Calendar
- Apply between August 1 and September 30.
- Submit the application by 11:59 pm on September 30.
- Expect to be notified no later than November 15. If you are a recipient, you will receive a check shortly after that.
- File a final report by May 30 which includes invoices for the books purchased.