MARFA — Marfa Public Library is proud to announce that it was a recipient of a $2,500 Collections Enhancement Grant from the Texas Book Festival. The library was one of 42 libraries selected, with $101,000 given to libraries across the state of Texas.
The grant focused on increasing Spanish language and bilingual books, Latinx writers, and stories about the Latinx experience to better reflect Marfa’s population. Even though approximately 51% of Marfa citizens speak Spanish, and 59% of the population is Hispanic, Spanish and bilingual materials accounted for only 2% of the library’s 19,000 titles.
“We are so thrilled with this grant and hope that our library can become a better resource for Spanish speakers,” says Library Director Nicki Ittner. “Once people see that we’re invested in providing Spanish and bilingual titles, we hope they’ll share their interests and preferences so that we can further tailor the collection to our community.”
Ittner and Librarian Jasmin Pineda spent six months researching the new books, ultimately purchasing current best-sellers, romances, self-help, astrology guides, cookbooks and more. For children and tweens, they focused on popular titles, story time reads and graphic novels. All of the books are now available for checkout.
Since the Texas Book Festival’s founding in 1995, it has been a part of the organization’s mission to promote literacy and support Texas libraries. Each year, funds raised at the annual Texas Book Festival support grants that are distributed to libraries across Texas the following year.