Two East Baton Rouge Parish School System librarians recently received a total of $7,500 in grant funding for their schools from the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.  Out of more than $1 million in grants awarded to 241 school libraries this year, $5,000 went to librarian Terry Thibodeaux at Mayfair Middle School (pictured, right) and $2,500 was given to librarian Sheila Brock at The Dufrocq School (left).  Funds from both awards will be used to update, extend and diversify the libraries’ book and print collections.

Since its inception in 2002, the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries has awarded more than $8.4 million to 1,624 schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.  In addition to these annual grants, the Foundation also has awarded more than $5.7 million to school libraries in the Gulf Coast region to rebuild their library book collections that were lost or destroyed by hurricanes or storms.