The library at P.S. 106.

Sixty percent of New York City's students in grades three through eight cannot read on grade level. That's why Robin Hood, in partnership with the Department of Education, founded the L!brary Initiative to build vibrant centers of reading and learning in elementary schools throughout the city. To date, 31 libraries are open and 25 more are slated to open in fall of 2006.

The New York Times featured the initiative in the Metro Section on February 23, 2005. Excerpts from the article are included below. If you are interested in reading the full article, contact us and we will mail you a copy, or visit The New York Times website and search their archives.

New Libraries Make the City's Schools Come Alive
By Michael Winerip

The library at P.S. 105.

...It is a very big deal, the new library at P.S. 105. A new library feeds a boy's dreams. "When this library first opened," said Isaiah Ross, a fifth grader, "I promised myself I'd read every dinosaur book here."

...The new library at P.S. 105 has a full-time certified librarian and a full-time aide, meaning it can be open before school, every period during school and even after school, for parents to come in with children and check out books. It is big enough that two classes can use the library each period.

...When the Robin Hood Foundation, a nonprofit agency that fights poverty in New York City, was looking to help the schools, it decided on libraries, because a library is the one academic place every child in the school uses...and they are spectacular to behold, every one different and worthy of an Architectural Digest spread.

...At P.S. 105, Mrs. Feldman, the librarian, has time to coordinate classroom lessons with teachers. For a kindergarten class studying transportation, she read, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus." "Is this fiction or nonfiction?" Mrs. Feldman asked.

"Fiction," said a girl. "A pigeon can't drive a bus."

Mrs. Feldman had two dozen transportation books displayed for them to check out. For fifth graders doing a unit on African-American poetry, Mrs. Feldman used the library laptops to teach them how to convert their reports into a PowerPoint presentation. "That's hot," a fifth-grade girl whispered.

The library at P.S. 36.