2008 Lifelong Access Libraries Leadership Fellows Announced

NEW YORK – June 20, 2008 – Libraries for the Future (LFF) this week announced the selection of 20 Lifelong Access Fellows, who will join a national network of librarians committed to transforming library services for active older adults. A record number of librarians applied for limited fellowships to the third annual Lifelong Access Libraries Leadership Institute, marking the growing recognition of this critical growth area for today’s libraries.

The Lifelong Access Libraries Leadership Institute is part of a multi-year national Lifelong Access Libraries Initiative that is aimed at transforming library services for older adults with opportunities for active learning, creative exploration, and meaningful civic engagement. The Initiative is led by Libraries for the Future, a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing innovation and investment in the nation's libraries, and supported by generous funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies.

“Lifelong Fellows are pioneers in their profession,” said Diantha Dow Schull, director of the national Lifelong Access Libraries Initiative. “Just as it took dedicated professionals to institutionalize library services for children, and to build partnerships between libraries and health educators, so we now need professionals dedicated to bringing about change in the ways that librarians work with mid-life adults,” said Schull.

The 2008 Lifelong Fellows will participate in the third annual Institute in North Carolina July 27–July 30, 2008. The Institute will be co-hosted by the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science and the Institute on Aging. It will assemble leading experts in diverse areas of creative aging – from anthropology to neuroscience – to spark creative thinking on the most effective ways for libraries to connect older adults to opportunities for personal and community renewal.

LFF selected the 2008 Fellows through a competitive proposal review. They hail from 15 states, representing public libraries providing services to communities as small as St. Helena (CA) and as large as New York City. All leaders in their libraries, the Fellows were selected for their commitment to furthering their libraries’ work with active older adults. Many have already pioneered projects expanding library outreach to this population.

A complete list of Lifelong Access Libraries Leadership Fellows from 2006-2008 can be found at http://www.lff.org/lifelong/innov_inven_filler.php.

About Lifelong Access Libraries™ and Libraries for the Future

Lifelong Access Libraries™ is an initiative developed by Libraries for the Future and supported by the Atlantic Philanthropies to transform library services for boomers and other active older adults. Find out more at the the Lifelong Access Libraries website: www.lifelonglibraries.org.

Libraries for the Future (LFF) is a national nonprofit that supports innovation and investment in America's libraries. To learn more about our array of programs and resources, please visit www.lff.org.