The Springfield African American Read-In (AARI), a collaborative effort of the Missouri State University Libraries, the Springfield-Greene County Library District, Springfield Public Schools, Drury University, and the Springfield Branch of the NAACP, is entering its ninth year. Under the leadership of Grace Jackson-Brown, a library science faculty member here, the MSU Libraries, acting as the lead institution and fiscal agent for the group, recently received a $1,450 grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks to create an AARI website, a brochure, and other materials to promote AARI efforts in Springfield. The grant will help the local AARI initiative to build toward a strong and successful 10th Anniversary year in 2019. The Springfield AARI has an event scheduled next month on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Springfield Art Museum.

The National Council of Teachers of English supports the National AARI. Quoting from the NCTE Council Chronicle of November 2014, “The African American Read-In (AARI) . . . is built on an ambitious yet confident premise: that a school and community reading event can be an effective way to promote diversity in children’s literature, encourage young people to read, and shine a spotlight on African American authors.”