I have had to sit on my hands for a day and a half. This was difficult. As you may guess, I'm not reluctant to open my mouth and express an opinion, share an idea, or talk about something that excites me. I don't think I've been this excited by anything for a very long time. 



The ten libraries to be funded by the ALA/Verizon grant have been selected, and they have now all been notified. I heard who they were early yesterday morning, and got to read a synopsis of what each winning library proposed. I had seen only a few, personally.

As I said in an earlier post, I saw only 10 of the finalists, as four different teams looked at the 40 or so most promising applications. There were so many of those who deserved funding, it was incredibly difficult to sit down and try to decide which one edged out which other one, where to recommend funding, what to recommend for further consideration. I pored over specifications we'd created in adherence to the original principles of the grant -- each proposal had to factor in a strong literacy component, each library had to tell us their budget plans in detail so we knew how they intended to spend the money they received. We needed to know who they were going to partner with to make their project sustainable once our grant money was gone. Team members assessed the proposals individually and then held conference calls to discuss and defend our opinions. Those choices went up the line to a smaller team, and those chosen were reviewed by still others. The entire process was competitive and rigorous. And it was a very tough call.

ALA and Verizon Foundation will be making a formal public announcement of the winners in the next week. I still have to sit on my hands a little longer about those details. What I can say here, today, is that of the ten libraries funded, seven were public libraries, two were school libraries, and one is an academic library. They come from every part of the country, literally coast to coast. There were many, many strong applications and I sincerely hope that the unfunded libraries will still be able to find a way to develop some of those amazing programs. I only wish the well of money were endless, or at least deeper, to see more done.

For now, I doff my cap to all those who applied, and offer a hearty round of applause to those libraries that will receive $5000 to launch their proposed gaming programs. It's exciting. I can't wait to see how things develop over the next year. Be assured I'll keep you apprised of what's going on here, in the print pages of LJ, and you can bet that ALA is going to have a lot more information to offer. You can take part in the discussion, let me say, by participating in ALAConnect, the new social and informational hub of ALA just recently launched. Thank Jenny Levine for that, the next time you see her at a conference or speaking engagement. Until then, once again I say --

Game on!