Published:
The Black Hawk College Gust E. Lundberg Library at the East Campus is the only community college library in Illinois to receive a $10,000 national grant specifically for small and rural libraries.
The BHC Library was selected for Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities, an initiative of the American Library Association. The initiative provides community engagement and accessibility resources to small and rural libraries to help them better serve people with disabilities.
The $10,000 award will help the BHC Library improve study spaces for neurodivergent students.
“The BHC Library is excited and grateful to have been selected for this opportunity,” said Ashtin Trimble, director of library services.
“This grant will allow us to work with our neurodivergent students to make our library more welcoming, accessible and conducive to all types of learners,” she said.
BHC Library staff will:
- Take an online course in how to lead conversations, a skill vital to library work today.
- Host conversations with students about improving library spaces and services for neurodivergent learners.
- Use the grant funds to create more private and distraction-free study spaces.
Neurodiverse students are a growing population in higher education today. Studies suggest neurodivergent students struggle with academic performance and have lower persistence, retention and graduation rates when compared with their neurotypical peers.
Given this disparity, the BHC Library is seeking opportunities to improve its spaces and services to ensure all students have the opportunity to achieve academic success.
About the funding
In April 2026, 300 public, academic and school libraries were selected for the initiative’s fourth and final round of funding. The first round was announced in May 2023.
Twenty libraries in Illinois were selected for fourth round funding with only two of the 20 being a college or university library. Eligibility was limited to communities with populations of less than 25,000 located at least five miles from an urbanized area.
Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL).