RUMFORD – SAD 43 will receive $407,543 to extend library hours and services, and update equipment at four schools starting next fall.

Students and their parents from Meroby Elementary, Mountain Valley Middle, Mountain Valley High and Rumford Elementary schools will have an extra hour before and after school to use the libraries, with help from educational technicians and other staff. During the summer of 2010, the libraries will also be open two mornings a week for five or six weeks.

Gloria Jenkins, curriculum coordinator for SAD 43, said Monday that the district’s four librarians, along with a professional grant writer, devoted several months writing the U.S. Department of Education grant. The district was notified on Friday that it is one of two school systems in the state to receive such funding.

“The goal of the grant is to provide more library services for students and their families,” Jenkins said. “After one year, if there is a need, we’ll look for other resources.”

The grant, known as Improving Literacy through School Libraries, is known locally as Maine Advances in Education, or MAINE. This is the first time SAD 43 has received such an innovative grant.

Mountain Valley Middle School librarian Amy Ryder said tentative plans call for meshing the library grant with an after-school grant Regional School Unit 10 received. SAD 43 and two other districts, along with the town of Hanover, have consolidated to become RSU 10, which begins operating July 1.

The middle school library has equipment that is outdated, such as tape players and analog televisions. Some of the money will be used to buy MP3 players, iPods, video conferencing equipment, DVD players, and interactive white boards, desktop computers, along with scores of new books.

“The theory behind it (the grant) is that a really well-equipped library makes a difference,” Jenkins said.

Helping to boost the district’s chances to receive the grant this time around most likely can be attributed to the small size of the district, the level of poverty in the area, and the innovative technology, such as video conferencing and interactive white boards, included in the grant application, Jenkins believes.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both R-Maine, announced the grant Friday afternoon. “School libraries provide the necessary tools to not only fight illiteracy, but also give students the opportunity to explore and expand on their ideas, interests and to set forth a solid foundation for life-long learning,” their statement said.

The Waterville School Department was the other system receiving library funding. It received $243,643.