Connecting Texas Libraries Statewide
Central Texas Library System, Inc. is a nonprofit organization created to support public libraries in Texas. Staff expertise includes library management, technology, education, and board training. Basic consulting services are available to any library and any community seeking to establish a library. Member libraries benefit from extended consulting, training opportunities, collective grant seeking, access to a library of equipment and professional books, and other services. CTLS is funded by a combination of personal donations, government grants, grants from foundations, service fees, and membership dues.
Visualizing Funding for Libraries
A free, data tool developed by Candid to help libraries and their supporters find funding opportunities, increase understanding of funding sources and track funding trends. Use our data and infographic as a powerful addition to your advocacy efforts in appealing to your stakeholders and decision-makers.
Texas Library Association and the Small Community Library Roundtable-SCLRT
A professional membership organization to promote, support and improve library services in Texas. Various membership committees and units – divisions, round tables, interest groups, and districts – carry out the work of the Association. SCLRT addresses the needs of directors, staff, and board members of libraries serving small communities across the state. These libraries, which constitute more than half of the public libraries in Texas, are different in many ways from their counterparts in large urban population centers. Although this group defines a small community library as one which serves a population of less than 25,000, membership in SCLRT is open to anyone who appreciates and supports small community libraries. The Tocker Foundation is proud to sponsor the SCLRT Librarian of the Year Award presented at the SCLRT Social during TLA’s Annual Conference.
University of North Texas, Portal to Texas History
The Portal to Texas History is a gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas. Created and maintained by the University of North Texas Libraries, the Portal leverages the power of hundreds of content partners across the state to provide a vibrant, growing collection of resources available to all through their user-friendly website. The Tocker Foundation is a proud supporter of the Portal by providing grants to libraries to digitize old newspapers up to 1965.
The Writers’ League of Texas provides a forum for information, support, and sharing among writers; to help writers improve on their craft and market their skills; to promote the interests of writers and the writing community at large; and to elevate the art and enterprise of writing. Core programming currently includes year-round classes , a monthly panel discussion (available as a podcast); the Summer Writing Workshop, a week long intensive writing workshop; the Agents & Editors Conference in Austin, TX, a weekend long conference, one of the premier literary conferences in the country, bringing together publishing industry professionals with writers at all stages of development; Project WISE , a program that brings writers into AISD public schools. Since 2014, the Tocker Foundation has been a proud supporter of Texas Writes, a program that sends writers to rural libraries across the state for half day workshops.
Texas Association for Minorities in Engineering
For over thirty years, TAME has worked to encourage the participation of women and minorities in STEM careers through innovative, hands-on science programming for K-12 students across Texas. Our strong network of K-12 educators, institutes of higher education, and industry partners helps us share ideas and concerns and to deliver targeted, relevant, and cutting-edge programming. Since 2014, the Tocker Foundation has been a proud supporter of TAME through grants that send the signature Trailblazer, science-museum-on-wheels, to rural libraries for a day of STEM fun and education.
Texas State Library and Small Library Management Training
The State Library’s mission is to ensure that citizens have access to the information they need to lead informed, productive, and fulfilled lives. Through their Small Library Management Training program, they offer ongoing educational programs to provide management and foundational library skills to those professionals without Master's degrees in Library Science who work in a small community (25,000 or less population) library in Texas. The Tocker Foundation is proud to offer travel stipends to enable library staff in the communities we serve to attend these valuable trainings.
Texas Co-Op Power Magazine
The print and online magazine is a monthly communication to better inform, educate and entertain members of the state’s 65 electric co-ops. It is delivered to 1.54 million, largely rural, Texas homes each month reaching 3.5 million readers.
The Texas Book Festival was established in 1995 by First Lady Laura Bush, a former librarian and an ardent advocate of literacy. Since the first Festival in 1996, the Tocker Foundation has been a proud supporter of the Texas Book Festival organization. This annual event on the grounds of the state capitol promotes of the joys of reading, honors Texas authors and benefits the state’s public libraries by awarding grants from the proceeds of the festival.
TechSoup is a San Francisco based nonprofit that provides IT product donations and a free library technology newsletter to all public libraries in the U.S. Membership to TechSoup is free as is the monthly TechSoup for Libraries newsletter. Sign up to become a member of TechSoup and also receive the email newsletter here.
As a member of TechSoup, public and nonprofit libraries are can request hundreds of IT products from over 90 donor partners including Microsoft, Symantec, Intuit, Dell and Lenovo. Most donated products have a small admin fee which covers shipping and customer support. Over half the public libraries in the U.S. are now members of TechSoup and subscribe to the library newsletter.
