LOUISVILLE, Ky. (July 10, 2009) – Better World Books and the National Center for
Family Literacy (NCFL) announce today the creation of The Better World Books/NCFL
Libraries and Families Award, which will recognize exceptional family programming in libraries
around the country. Each year, three winning libraries will be awarded $10,000 in grants.

"Local libraries serve a critical role in promoting lifelong learning and literacy in their
communities," said David Murphy, president and CEO of Better World Books. "We are proud to
partner with the NCFL to specifically promote the new and innovative ways libraries are
working to bring families together over books and learning."

Funding for the program will come from Better World Books’ Libraries Discards &
Donations program, a free service that helps libraries manage their unwanted books. Better
World Books sells those books online, sharing the revenues with the libraries and one of its
nonprofit literacy programs. Since the inception of the BWB/NCFL library fund, 747 libraries
across the United States have shipped 1.7 million books to be sold online to generate funding for
libraries and their literacy partner, NCFL.

The competition will be conducted through an online Request-for-Proposals process.
NCFL will manage the grant competition, assess applicants and award the winning programs.
NCFL anticipates awarding three $10,000 grant awards each year – one in each of the
following three categories:

1. Local Friends of the Library programs
2. Public/academic libraries
3. Urban libraries

In addition, award recipients each year will receive scholarships to attend that year’s
NCFL Annual National Conference on Family Literacy.

The specific award criteria and application will be available online by Oct. 1, 2009. In
the meantime, organizations can visit www.famlit.org as soon as Saturday, July 11, to submit
their contact information and be notified when the application is available.

"Parents are not only their children’s first teacher, but also their most effective and
important one," said Sharon Darling, NCFL president & founder. "Libraries provide important
access for families to read together, explore technology and take other critical steps that lead to
success. This new award program will spur the innovative programming that is fundamental to
that success."

The Better World Books/NCFL Libraries and Families Award is the latest partnership
between the two organizations, which together have raised more than $400,000 for NCFL’s
programming since 2005.

Hundreds of thousands of books have been donated and sold to support family literacy
since the partnership began. Books come from college campus book drives, library discards and
donations, and corporate book drives. These efforts have funded the purchase of more than
10,000 books to restock family libraries after Hurricane Katrina and the development of
resources to reach wide audiences with literacy tools and materials.

ABOUT NCFL
The National Center for Family Literacy is the worldwide leader in family literacy. More than
1 million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s
work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers. For
more information, visit www.famlit.org .

ABOUT BETTER WORLD BOOKS
Better World Books (www.BetterWorldBooks.com) is a for-profit social enterprise that collects
and sells books online with each sale generating funds for literacy initiatives in the U.S. and
around the world. With more than three million new and used titles in stock, Better World Books
is a self-sustaining company that balances the social, economic and environmental values of its
stakeholders. Better World Books diverts books from landfills by conducting book drives on
1,800 college campuses, and by collecting discards from over 1,800 libraries nationwide. Since
its founding in 2003, the Mishawaka, Ind.-based company has raised $6.5 million for its non-
profit literacy, library and college partners; donated over 1.3 million college textbooks; diverted
more than 25 million pounds of books from landfills; achieved over 9,000 tons of carbon offsets
through carbon-neutral shipping, and created more than 200 full-time jobs with meaningful
benefits.

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