Pottsboro Area Library: The Winner of TechSoup’s February Success Story Digital Connector Challenge

To kick off our new success stories section of TechSoup.org we launched a contest last month for great digital inclusion stories. We called it the TechSoup ‘Digital Connector’ Story Challenge. The challenge was that organizations had to tell their story with very few words – under 1,000 characters to be exact.

Pottsboro Area Library in Texas 

We of course got lots of great stories, and our winner is the Pottsboro Area Library in Texas. Their prize was a Dell Latitude Tablet 10. Pottsboro is a small town located 75 minutes north of Dallas on the Texas-Oklahoma border. The town has many retirees and low-income families. Forty-two percent of Pottsboro’s school children are eligible for the National School Lunch Program.

When  president of the operating board, Dianne Connery came to the library a few years ago, she found a classic small town library situated in a converted post office building with the requisite institutional green paint job. It also had bookshelves packed with books no one read. She immediately got to work. What is even more impressive is that Dianne is an unpaid volunteer.

Here’s Dianne’s winning submission in its entirety:

“The Pottsboro Library has made bridging the digital divide for teens a priority.  We've created a digital media lab.  In a town of 1,800 people, this is HUGE! Purchasing Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design through TechSoup made it possible to offer training in Photoshop and Premier Pro. A local TV station employee was hired to work with the teens in a 6-week course where they created a promotional video for the library.  Now the teens are branching out to other area nonprofits. They will be making a video for Hospice and a wildlife refuge.  This was a win-win-win.  The library has new promotional materials to use. The teens have new skills which can help them in work and education. Other area nonprofits will benefit also. A side benefit is that the TV station has taken note and run stories about our library programs. This would not have been an affordable program without the donation of the software. Thank you TechSoup!”

Of course Dianne didn’t have room to talk about everything that her activist library is doing to enrich her town. TechSoup’s Kelly Pasek gave her a call to find out what else they have going around digital inclusion. They are truly bridging the digital divide for two very different types of library patrons: elderly people and teens. The library is much more than just a place to get books. It is now more of a community center that offers training and facilitates events.  

Here are some more things they’re doing:

• The library has started a teen newspaper that is printed and distributed in Pottsboro. They recruited a local volunteer to teach the kids Adobe InDesign to lay out the publication. The teens also produce promotional materials for the library and nonprofits in the area. The newspaper alone is increasing attendance at the library.
• "TechPerts" provide elderly patrons with free one-on-one lessons on using their smartphones, tablets, and computers. 
• Both children and older patrons avidly use the library’s public access computers with current Microsoft applications. One grandparent got the help they needed to fill out the necessary forms online to get custody of their grandchild. Several people use the public access computers to fill out job applications.
• Many students in the town did not have Internet access at home, so the library found the money and opened on Sundays to provide their nine public access computers and five tablets to the kids. Dianne Connery considers access to public computers, Internet, and training as all-important in allowing Pottsboro children to be competitive as they apply to college and enter the job market. 
• The library has a scanner so the elders can bring in old family photos and digitize them.
• The library also offers training in professional grade software and devices that is not available anywhere else locally. The library hosts teen digital media classes including classes on Adobe Premier Pro video editing, Photoshop, and other Adobe Creative Suite applications that the library got from TechSoup. The teens also have access to GoPro and Nikon cameras provided by a Best Buy grant that Dianne applied for and got.  

The library staff has been clearing out unused bookshelf space to create a colorful Internet café type environment – complete with espresso machine. They are seeking grants to create more training space.

Here’s how Dianne sums it up:

“I'm really proud of all our work but am especially excited about our teen digital media programs. In a rural town, teens acquiring technology skills can change lives. We are happy to be able to provide professional instructors to work with the teens. This past Friday night we were selected by The Pottsboro Chamber of Commerce as Nonprofit Of The Year. The town is really energized by the changes they see.  If only I had more hours in the day.” 

Stay tuned because we’re planning to do another success stories contest in April that will focus and religious and faith-based organizations.

More TechSoup Global Resources: 

• Pottsboro's success story on the Local Impact Map
• The TechSoup Global Local Impact Map for international success stories
• The new TechSoup.org success stories section for U.S. success stories
• Microsoft donations on TechSoup 

Images: Pottsboro Area Library