Wissahickon Valley Public Library in Blue Bell 'Geeks Out' with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

For the next several months the Wissahickon Valley Public Library in Blue Bell will participate in a nationwide campaign to help spread awareness about the need for library funding and the value of libraries to public life, according to The Ambler Gazette.

The program, “Geek the Library,” is sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and will run until October.  The word “geek” has come to eschew its former unfavorable connotation, and the Blue Bell library now uses it in regard to having a fascination or a delight in something.

The library is displaying materials, from the Gates Foundation, which contain photos of people, each with a tagline about their own personal geekiness, such as “I geek football,” and a link to the campaign Website, found here.

According to the library’s director Anne Frank, they plan to attend nearby events to encourage people to stop by.

“We wanted to get the message out to the public,” Frank said.  “The overall goal is to highlight the important role public libraries play in people’s lives and to raise awareness about funding. Did you know that 79 percent of the library’s funding comes from local resources?”

According to Frank, many patrons also may not realize that the library has e-books and subscriptions to consumer reports for patrons who want to learn about the results of product tests.