For Immediate Release
Contact: Katie Glass, Executive Director of Marketing/Public Information Officer
Phone: 608.822.2411
Mail: 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, WI 53809
Date of Release: April 20, 2017
Southwest Tech Little Free Libraries to Cover 50 District Communities
Fennimore -In an effort to combine education, lifetime learning, and giving back to the community, all priorities of Southwest Tech’s 50th Anniversary celebration, a total of 50 Little Free Libraries will be placed throughout Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, Crawford, and Richland counties.
The idea of a physical presence and long-term benefit to communities started in Fall of 2015 during discussions about the upcoming 50th anniversary of Southwest Tech in 2017. Designs produced by the Director of Facilities, Dan Imhoff, to resemble the main entrance to campus were reviewed and critiqued by a committee of 14 staff and faculty members led by Amy Loy, Evaluation Facilitator and Little Free Library Committee Chair. Scott Industries of Muscoda, WI donated 50 steel posts, and Southwest Tech Welding students secured them to steel plates used for mounting the Little Free Libraries during installation. Construction began in the summer of 2016, and by July 19th of that year, the first Southwest Tech Little Free Library was installed at the Stitzer Post Office. Over the next few months, 24 more libraries found homes in Southwest Wisconsin. All Little Free Libraries are charted through the Official Little Free Library world-wide map by searching by Steward’s Name Southwest Tech at https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/.
This upcoming spring and summer the second 25 libraries will be built by Southwest Tech staff and ready to be installed by mid-June. Each library has a sponsor, whose donation covers the cost of materials, and steward to care for the little free library–ensuring it’s neat and fully-stocked. If you’d like to help promote education and life-long learning in collaboration with Southwest Tech by becoming a sponsor or steward for a Little Free Library near you, please visit https://www.swtc.edu/lfl or email LittleFreeLibrary@swtc.edu.
