It’s official! BookSpring has moved our headquarters to a new location in South Austin, 1807 W. Slaughter Lane, Building #1. Come visit us M-F, between 10-4, or sign up to volunteer in our new space or at our warehouse on Rutland Drive.
NOTE: Our new mailing address is BookSpring, PO Box 153024, Austin, TX 78715-3024.
After nearly 22 years working out of a leased space on the Blanton Elementary Campus grounds, it was time that our books, staff, partners, and volunteers had a more robust work environment from which to perform our mission. Making this move will enable us to have better access to our space, take extra precautions for safety and security, and make repairs and improvements promptly when needed. It will allow us to be more flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of our growing programs, driven by the rapidly expanding opportunities of Books Beginning at Birth.
It took three years of planning and a year looking at dozens of properties from Buda to Cedar Park, both vacant land and existing buildings, but we finally found a near perfect match to our wishlist matrix in a former bank building with a brick and stucco exterior and lots of light inside. “Bank” is a great physical metaphor for our new home, because what we do in large part is serve as a “book bank” for the Greater Austin community! See photos below, and read on to learn more how we got here and how it will help us build early literacy across Texas!
The new space is about 4,000 square feet and is centered around the book room: a library-like space for shelving and organizing our running inventory of high quality, diverse children’s books. It also has 3 offices for our 9 staff members, a beautiful conference room for up to 20 people, a multimedia room for recording and editing video and audio, a storage area for our motivational reading kits, a clean and spacious volunteer room, and a converted garage space where we can process donated books as well as store books that are ready for pick up from community partners. We are so excited to get to know our new neighbors in South Austin, but rest assured, we are still serving our original service area from Bastrop to Marble Falls, from San Marcos to Georgetown, and now, all over Texas!
There are many people we want to thank for this amazing and transformative milestone. But the main purpose of why we are here is not a truly charming building. The purpose is getting books into the homes of children, and to encourage parents and caregivers to read aloud together with their children, beginning from birth. This space will allow BookSpring to distribute more print and digital books than ever before through our continuum of literacy programs, and to do an even better job promoting, encouraging, and motivating families and children to develop a lifelong habit of reading.
We want to gratefully acknowledge the special donations of Andrew Delaney Foundation and Claire and Carl Stuart, whose lead gifts make the purchase and renovation of this building possible. This project was completed 100% with private dollars, and the purchase will allow BookSpring to build equity and make longer range strategic plans than the former lease would allow.
As our Capital Campaign Chair, Andrea Angelo stood by faithfully when moments seemed daunting and complicated, and remained ever and cheerfully focused on our goal. Please help me thank the over 20 donors who made this possible: Karen & Andy Esparza, Jillian Bergman and Family, The Campbell Foundation, Andrea & Jack Angelo, Kaye & Randy Patterson, Susan Patterson, Beth Hallmark, Deena Perkins & Madison Jechow, David Rice, Ginger & Fred Weber, David & Michelle Roe, Arthur Johnson, Pan American Round Table of Austin, Marcia Del Rios, Carrie & Chance Conner, Sarah Ruttan, Mindy & Marc Gomillion, Emily & Ron Cicchini, Matt Rester, and an Anonymous Donor.
I’d like to give special thanks to Lindsey Stuart, our Board President and also a major contributor, who has agreed to steward the organization in this role through the end of 2024.
We also must recognize our tireless full time staff, Bianca, Sarah, Jimmy, Alex, Idali, and Jessy who made this transition so wonderful and creative. I want to thank Square One, our project managers, who guided us through the necessary renovations and improvements, and Sania Shifferd from IBI Group, who expertly advised on many elements of this space. And, please give your special thanks to Madison Jechow, Susan Patterson, and Matt Rester, key members of the Facilities Committee, who held on throughout the long and wide property search and laid the path to collectively choose this exciting, vibrant, and expandable location. Also, First Citizen’s Bank provided financing with very favorable terms for the organization.
I am grateful for everyone who supported this project, and hope also that you will join us at the new location in May 13, 2023 for the first ever BookSpring Fest: A Read Aloud Celebration. We are taking sponsorships now for what’s shaping up to be an exciting new free reading-oriented event for your entire family.
There were so many good times at our former home. We honor the value that the Austin Independent School District provided us as an organization for 22 years and remember the many people who have shared their time and energy there, too many to call out by name. We remember so much laughter and smiling faces on Greenbrook Parkway and we bet you do too. Bye-bye, blue portables! Bye-bye, red roses and Little Free Libraries. We will see you again when we come to deliver more books.
We hope you will continue to support BookSpring, wherever you work, live, or go to school, as we embark on this exciting new and exciting chapter of our story in our quest to better support early literacy in families and children across Texas.
By Emily Ball Cicchini, PhD, Executive Director