I first heard of this tradition last year when a friend visited Iceland. In Iceland, books are only published at the end of the year.[ii] Icelandic publishing companies put together a catalog of books, which is perused by shoppers, and is the de facto source of Jólabókaflóð merchandise and gifting inspiration.[iii]

The practice of Jólabókaflóð came into being during WWII. During this time, paper imported from other countries had fewer restrictions than other materials, which led to books becoming a gifting staple.[iv] Jólabókaflóð has since cemented itself in Icelandic culture, and is slowly gaining attention in other countries for its peculiar and awesome message.

The tradition is perfect for those who do not practice a mainstream holiday and can be used for library outreach services. A Jólabókaflóð display featuring recommended end of the year reads, and possibly a historical handout, will surely generate buzz around your library, and inspire others to adopt Jólabókaflóð as a new yearly tradition.

References

[i] https://www.tor.com/2017/11/30/jolabokaflod-iceland-book-flood-christmas-tradition/

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.

The post A Holiday Dedicated to Books first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

What exactly does the term “outreach” mean in the library eld? Outreach represents different services libraries might offer— programming, homebound deliveries, bookmobiles, volunteering, community events—as well as collaboration with schools, Spanish speakers, the homeless, the LGBT community, hospitals, senior facilities, and correctional facilities. When I accepted the position of outreach services librarian at the St. Charles (IL) Public Library District (SCPLD) in February 2015, I did not grasp what outreach fully meant or truly appreciate what an exciting field of librarianship I was entering. Not all libraries have dedicated outreach librarians or departments. So why should libraries become more aware of outreach services?

Growing Senior Population

The Administration on Aging projects that by 2030, 19.3 percent of the population (72.1 million people) will be aged sixty-five years or older, more than twice the number in 2000 and up from approximately 13.1 percent in 2010.¹ The US Census projects the US population aged sixty-five and older to grow to over 83.7 million by 2050.² Libraries need to ask themselves: (1) How does this increasing demographic affect our library and community? and (2) How do we serve this growing population?

“Aging in Place” vs. Care Facilities

In a recent survey completed by AARP, most seniors wish to “age in place,” to live at home and apply for long-term care services rather than reside in a senior care facility.³ All libraries can o er outreach service to this population: homebound deliveries, in- library pickup by caregivers, or books-by-mail are options. Volunteers or local Lions Club or Kiwanis Club members can select and deliver materials to homebound residents. Librarians can develop ideas that work for their library, community, and budget.

Due to the rising aging demographic in the United States, the number of people using nursing homes, alternative residential care facilities, and home care services is expected to grow from 15 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2050.⁴ An increase in senior facilities correlates to new opportunities for outreach programs to grow and create partnerships. When a new senior facility is built, outreach librarians can promote their library’s services and how it can enrich the residents’ lives.

Each facility requires different outreach services, so there is no “one size fits all” approach. At care facilities, we offer room-to-room service to deliver materials to bedridden patrons.

The St. Charles Public Library District

SCPLD serves a population of 55,000 residents in the far western suburbs of Chicago and includes parts of Kane and DuPage counties. SCPLD employs 120 full-time and part-time staff members.

Outreach Services, part of the Adult Services Department, consists of three part-time Outreach Services Assistants (Dana Hintz, Lynda Spraner, and Christine Steck) and a full- time Outreach Services Librarian (me).

The History of the Outreach Services Department

The Outreach Services Department of SCPLD has been delivering library materials to residents for over forty years. What began as one librarian delivering materials using her own vehicle has transformed into a full-scale operation involving four staff members. In 1975, a special services librarian was hired for the tri-city libraries of Geneva, Batavia, and St. Charles in Illinois—a first for the state. Shut-ins and those who were homebound were encouraged to call their local library to sign up for this new delivery service, which was funded through a federal grant and administered by the Illinois State Library, the DuPage Library System, and the three local libraries. When the service began, St. Charles had only one senior living facility. Available materials included regular print and Large Print books and magazines, talking books, phono- graphic records, and a circulating collection of framed art prints and sculptures.

Though the Outreach Services Department has had a long-standing history in the St. Charles community, the number of outreach patrons served boomed from April 2015, increasing from 79 to 183 patrons, a 132 percent increase.

Due to this boom and to new, dedicated staff, we have developed new community partnerships with the hospital, local homeless shelter, and Meals on Wheels, among other institutions, and we have established eight new community book exchanges, expanded services to patrons with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and launched programming at facilities. Outreach strives to bring new life to a traditional service and to expand our reach in the community.

The Outreach Services Department Today

The Outreach Services Department provides service to residents who are temporarily or permanently homebound in the library district, including those who have low vision, difficulty with mobility, are recuperating from surgery, or have a prolonged illness. Outreach Services visits nine senior facilities, three home care facilities, and twenty homebound patrons a month, all while maintaining thirteen community book swaps. We deliver materials with the library’s program van or our own personal vehicles. Residents who reside in facilities are automatically eligible for outreach service, while homebound residents must contact Outreach Services and complete an application.

We publish a monthly brochure featuring newly released Large Print books. Outreach patrons may check out items for eight weeks (as opposed to the standard three weeks) and they are not charged fines for damaged or missing material. We help eligible patrons apply for service with the Illinois Talking Book Outreach Center, which provides qualified Illinois residents with access to materials from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), and we register homebound patrons to vote and provide them with notary services.

What We Use

The Outreach Services Department uses the SirsiDynix ILS’s Outreach Module to help us select items, create facility and patron routes, and maintain patrons’ checkout histories. NoveList is used for generating book recommendations, and a library-owned Sprint Wi-Fi Hotspot is used to download e-books to a patron’s e-reader or tablet computer in the com- fort of their own home by someone from Outreach Services.

Outreach Services makes particular use of weeded materials at care and memory care facilities, especially for patrons who might not be able to keep track of circulating materials. The weeded materials that we supply are mostly Large Print books, but additional items are supplied from adult and youth services collections. SCPLD purchases periodicals for all facilities.

The Components of Successful Outreach

Engagement

Engagement is an important concept for outreach success. Coffee table books, adult coloring books, appropriate knick-knacks, and holiday props are used to encourage residents to swing by and check us out during visits. Outreach staff members offer programming at facilities: computer classes, book talks, holiday sing-alongs, and music recitals. Our programs are so popular that facilities and patrons want us to present them on all visits.

Outreach Services engages residents with “Tales and Travel Memories,” a program created by Mary Beth Riedner of ALA’s Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Interest Group. Each Tales and Travel program discusses the facts, folklore, and two native animals of a country, and we share books, pictures, and souvenirs with the residents. Outreach Services staff always have meaningful interactions and conversations with residents, with many remembering their own travels abroad.

We recently created four new Educational and Engagement Kits, used by staff to engage outreach patrons and specifically developed to assist in memory stimulation. These four sets revolve around specific themes: movie stars, TV stars, mu- sic stars, and cooking. Each kit contains a laminated, larger print informational book- let with background history and photos and small objects that patrons may hold and examine (for example, “Remembering Movie Stars” features movie stars from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s—such as Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne—and includes an Oscar statue, ruby slippers, pink opera gloves, and a fedora hat). Each resident receives a booklet and follows along during presentations by outreach staff at long-term care and memory facilities.

In August 2016, Outreach Services debuted ten new themed Caregiver Kits that contain DVDs, CDs, and coffee table books, located at our Caregiver Kiosk in the library. Themes include: “Laughing with Lucy,” “Classic Comedy Shows,” and “Golden Broadway Musicals and Dance.” The goal of the Caregiver Kits is to promote memory stimulation, inspire meaningful conversation, and encourage continuing education for individuals who have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Caregiver Kits are meant to be an enjoyable reminiscence activity for a caregiver to use with someone who has memory loss. The Caregiver Kiosk also features information on caregiving, aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia.

Social Interaction

In addition to the importance of the materials we deliver, and the formal programs we conduct, the social interaction between our patrons and outreach staff can be a meaningful experience for our seniors. Outreach staff members have been told that the visits we make can be a highlight of a senior’s week. A homebound patron humorously offered to pay my outreach services assistant a million dollars if she would visit her daily as she so enjoyed their conversations. The department believes that the best part of our job is getting to know our patrons and developing relationships, and we feel honored that they let us into their lives, so we incorporate time into our scheduled visits for patron interaction. Outreach is an opportunity to make a truly meaningful difference in our patrons’ lives. The impact we have on this specialized community is often outsized compared to the number of people we serve.

Good Collaboration

A positive working relationship with life enrichment coordinators helps ensure that the facility and residents always receive quality services and materials. Collaborate with life enrichment coordinators for facility programming and events. Often facility staff and patrons generate ideas for programs that require research which the library can help coordinate. One of our facilities recently requested a library program series featuring the culture and traditions of Mexico. Working with the facility’s life enrichment coordinator, we developed a presentation and educational handouts on Mexico while the facility provided entertainment and ethnic cuisine.

Senior facilities have a high employee turnover rate. The National Center for Assisted Living states that there is a 24.2 percent annual overall turnover rate of assisted living staff.⁵ One facility we serve had three new life enrichment coordinators in six months. Librarians must continually introduce themselves to the new staff members. Creating a welcome packet for new life enrichment coordinators that explains your outreach program can maintain good collaboration so that outreach services can remain successful during transition periods.

Community Awareness

Community awareness is essential for successful library outreach. Libraries cannot assume the public is aware of any of their services, including outreach programs. Reach out to local papers, which are often interested in featuring stories about libraries. Advertising in the library newsletter with a simple “We Deliver!” is also useful. Word-of-mouth can some- times be the most successful method of gaining new outreach patrons: when I was signing up a new patron for outreach service, she was so enthusiastic about our program that she called her neighbor to come over so we could sign him up as well.

Libraries must be visible at community events. St. Charles Public Library has booths at the farmer’s market as well as a local senior fair, local festivals, and business-to-business events. Our booth at the senior fair specifically displays information about outreach and handouts on our program, as well as other library services. Over six hundred seniors visited our booth in 2015, many inquiring about outreach.

Community Partnerships

Creating new community partnerships helps promote and strengthen your outreach program. For example, we partnered with our local Salvation Army Golden Diners. Golden Diners distributes Outreach promotional materials with meal deliveries to homebound residents, while Outreach Services maintains community book swaps at Salvation Army locations as well as senior facilities, apartment complexes, a grocery store, the hospital, and the local homeless shelter. Book swaps introduce the library to residents who might not ordinarily visit us. Weeded materials, again, come in to use here in addition to donated materials.

We are spearheading a partnership with neighboring libraries to increase service to residents in the hospital, as well as those recently discharged but temporarily homebound. Our Youth Services Department has partnered with the local juvenile detention center, where materials are delivered to teachers. Adult Services provides carefully selected (they have specific criteria) weeded and donated materials to their library.

Conclusion

Outreach librarians have a unique opportunity to improve an individual’s quality of life by providing library services, programs, and materials to these nontraditional library users. It is through these services that we expand the walls of our facilities and bring library services to patrons wherever they may be. Libraries can be at the forefront of serving the aging demographic if they explore new ways of connecting with the growing senior population in their communities. What an exciting time to be an outreach librarian!

References

1. “A Profile of Older Americans: 2011,” Administration on Aging, 2011.
2. Jennifer M. Ortman, Victoria A. Velkoff, and Howard Hogan, “An Aging Nation: The Older Population in the United States,” United States Census Bureau, May 2014.
3. Nicholas Farber et al., “Aging in Place: A State Survey of Livability Policies and Practices,” National Conference of State Legislatures and the AARP Public Policy Institute, Dec. 2011.
4. “Long-Term Care Services in the United States: 2013 Overview,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dec. 2013.
5. “Findings from the NCAL 2013 Assisted Living Staff Vacancy, Retention, and Turnover Survey,” National Center for Assisted Living, Feb. 2015, .

The post The Power of Community Outreach Meeting the Demands of the Growing Senior Population first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

A side of Hemingway with that corn dog? Park-goers can get both in one place, and are encouraged to share pictures of themselves, the librarian, and their books (which are free, and they don’t even have to return) using the hashtag #PopUpLibrarian.  Here are some tips for replicating their success at your library:

Use Creative Outreach

The Wichita Library may be using a unique approach, so consider that a pop-up library may not work in your town or city. But there is definitely something you can do to reach patrons and draw them in. You must get creative, but you can even piggyback off the creativity of others.

• Pay attention to your community calendar and participate. Every community has events that offer vendor booths or other outreach opportunities. Be a constant part of them.
• Don’t be afraid to go outside. There are probably places within easy walking distance of your library where potential patrons are engaged in everyday activities. Whether they are visiting food trucks for lunch, picnicking in a park, or riding bicycles on a riverside trail. Go meet them, offer them books, and remind them the library is still alive and well.
• Give away what is given to you. Often libraries get donations of dozens of books they can’t put in their collection for various reasons, or maybe your library needs to weed books that have aged or been damaged. Giving them away at events activates the law of reciprocity — people who have been given books are more likely to return to the library.

Using creative methods of outreach and thinking outside the box and beyond the Internet and digital library offerings will bring in more library visitors. These visitor counts are usually vital to funding and community support.

Use Social Media to Spread the Word

Often, people are very willing to share their experiences on social media, tag you or your organization, and even use specific hashtags. But you have to put the request out there — complete with the hashtag you’d like them to use. You should also plan to follow up and thank them on social media. Social media is just that: social. If you never talk back to your patrons, they can’t tell that you appreciate them sharing what you are doing.

This means you must actively post and respond to messages, Tweets, hashtags, and other social media communication. This is a part of social listening, a technique used by many businesses to learn more about their customers. Libraries should be no different. This will also help you create and target events in the future.

Invite Patrons In

Librarians in Wichita can’t issue library cards in the park. They can, and do, invite patrons in to the main library branch that is easily in walking distance to obtain or renew cards.

The purpose of outreach is engagement and to bring more visitors into the library. If you have events or special programs going on, hand out flyers or bookmarks with the free books as a reminder. Those things are all good, but they are not enough. When at outreach events of any kind, extending a personal, warm invitation for the person to visit the library in person. Give them a reason to visit. In marketing, this is known as a “call to action” and you need to do the same. Outreach is marketing and advertising for your library, and though it is often neglected, libraries need advertising for the same reason other businesses do.

The Wichita librarians saw a unique outreach opportunity and also used the power of social media to ultimately invite patrons to visit the library. Let their ideas and innovation inspire you in your community as well.

Further Reading:

The Psychology of Sales – Why Reciprocity Matters

Eight Ways to Use Social Listening for Your Business

The post Pop-Up Libraries: Meeting Patrons Where They Are first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Your library may be a good partner for an organization that provides summer lunches. Sometimes these groups are looking for something for the children to do while they are eating or a further incentive for them to come and get lunch. The library can be that draw, especially if it is difficult for the children to get to the library otherwise. In this case, it is the library outside the building. Using a set-up like a boxmobile can allow a library without a dedicated bookmobile or outreach services to circulate books and provide library cards to people. Especially in a community where public transportation is not an option or there are many single car families, bringing the library to lunch may be the children’s only option while school isn’t in session.

In our case, we partner with the local ministerial association, which hands out lunches in two different parks in town. Unfortunately, both locations have only limited foot or bike traffic, but a growing number of families are finding a way to get there each afternoon. Lunch seems to be weather dependent. If it’s nice weather more come for lunch. If it’s raining or cold, hardly anyone comes. However, thanks to the commitment of the church members who hand out lunches everyday, they remind children when the library will be visiting and how great it is that they can take out books.

The ministerial association supports many programs and projects throughout the community to help children and their families be successful, and having the library at their summer lunch program is very much a part of that. It took a while to get everything aligned so the library could partner with them on the lunch program. Part of the challenge was the library works and plans about three to six months ahead of an event whereas the ministerial association didn’t know for sure they were going to be permitted to hand out lunches and at what locations until a few weeks before the program began. They chose where the library was going to visit to make sure it had the greatest impact on the greatest number of children.

Children are coming back from week to week to borrow and return books. They and their parents are getting library cards for the first time. Even for the children who do not borrow books, they stop and talk with the library staff about books or when they saw library staff last in the community. For both the people eating lunch and the people running the program, they are seeing the library as meeting the community where they are and doing what they can to help meet the community’s needs.

The post Summer Lunch: Partnering with Community Agencies first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Public Libraries: What inspired you to begin reading to homeless children at the Crotona Inn homeless shelter?

Colbert Nembhard: My journey with the Crotona Inn homeless shelter began eight years ago. I received a phone call from my outreach department asking me if I could go to the Crotona Inn shelter and do outreach. When I got there, I saw that they had a lot of young ones in the childcare center raging from about 8 months to 3 years old. I believe that literacy starts at an early age; therefore, I decided to take the library to the shelter. Studies have shown that by the time a child reaches the age of four, 90 percent of the brain is already developed. I wanted to make sure I foster literacy in those children at an early age. Often children in the shelters are forgotten and are not involved in the early literacy experience. With me going into the shelter, reading stories, doing sing-along, finger-plays, and conducting family literacy workshops, helps to foster literacy.

PL: What kinds of changes have you noticed in the children who attend your reading sessions?

CN: I visit the shelter on a weekly basis and I do notice that children participate more during story time. Children will often point to the books that they would like me to read to them. Some of them are able to imitate sound, identify images, and numbers. And the older ones can say their ABCs.

PL: What skills do you utilize as a librarian during your programs?

CN: During my programs, I do like to do lots of songs and finger-plays. I also use a lot of puppetry. I also work with them in identifying their colors, letters, and numbers. I sometimes incorporate musical instruments.

PL: What kind of hurdles have you experienced through the years?

CN: One of the biggest hurdles is to get parents of the shelter to take their child or children to the library to take advantage of our free programs and services.

Photo Courtesy of Ayofemi Kirby, New York Public Library

PL: Do you train others to read to children? If so, what advice do you give them as they are being trained?

CN: I have trained others to read to children. In reading to the young, I remind them that their attention span is very small so don’t read books that are lengthy. Choose books that will be appealing to the children-books that have colorful illustrations and books that are interactive. Children love lots of interactions.  Also, kids love pop-up books. I have also told others to get the children involved in your lift-the-flap books by having them participate in opening the flaps.

PL: Tell us a little about the impact that your programs have on you personally.

CN: Going to the shelters for these many years and conducting programs with these children has left an indelible mark on my life. Knowing that I am able to help develop their pre-literacy skills which will prepare them to become successful readers at an early age, has given me a sense of accomplishment.

PL: What do parents think of your reading services?

CN: Parents are grateful that someone takes the time out to read and interact with their children. They are grateful that their children are included and part of this learning initiative. Parents think that this is an awesome service.

PL: What is one thing you would tell other librarians wanting to start a similar program in their community?

CN: I would say to that librarian, go for it because he or she could make a big difference in the life of a child. I would also say it is a rewarding experience.

The post Educating Homeless Youth in the Bronx first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Lighthouse keepers and their families often lived in extreme isolation in highly unpastoral areas like rocky outcroppings or barren islands. They didn’t have many options in terms of leisure, and they certainly couldn’t pop into to a local bookstore. Access to entertainment was further hampered because lighthouse keepers usually weren’t paid handsomely for their labors. Because of their lack of access to entertainment and, well, anything else, lighthouse keepers as a group could greatly benefit from a circulating library collection. The only problem was that they were geographically excluded from access to local libraries. However, lighthouse keepers did important work. The least the librarians and library groups of the era could do was provide them with some entertaining books.

As Zarrelli explains, “Portable lighthouse libraries, distributed across the United States in the 19th century, were a common but important part of life for families living under the constant work and near-isolation of the lighthouse watch.”^[1] These collections were packed inside portable, sturdy boxes, and the contents were zealously guarded by the librarians. I dare say more books have gone missing from my libraries than from a lighthouse box, and I’m pretty sure lighthouse keepers couldn’t dodge their fines by donating a can of soup. After a box made its way around one area of lighthouses, it would be switched with a box from a different area. Eventually, the boxes would rotate around the country’s coast lines.

During my tenure as an MLIS student, I studied a few mobile libraries that surpass the traditional Book Mobiles. Biblioburro, a traveling library run by the very dedicated Luis Soriano that’s packed and transported on the back of his two Colombian donkeys, was all the rage on discussion boards then, and I hope it still is. A more recent example would be Raul Lemesoff’s Weapons of Mass Instruction, a Ford Falcon modified into a library and tank that carries about nine hundred books through the streets of Buenos Aires. Though its collection is limited, it makes up for it with what I believe can only legally be described as “sheer awesomeness.”

These traveling librarians are making good on both patrons’ needs and the meta-library mission. If the second Law of Library Science is “every reader to their book,” these small libraries are certainly working to fill a need that the largest and most impressive central libraries in the world can’t. There are readers in distant and hard to get to places that don’t have access to a library, interlibrary loan system, or even a strong Internet signal and the technology to download e-books. If these patrons are to have books then those books have to be taken to them, and why shouldn’t we, like the lighthouse librarians of yore, figure out a way to do that? I’m sure we’re capable, and I’m sure the patrons are waiting.

Reference

[1] Natalie Zarrelli, “The Most Precious Cargo for Lighthouses Across America was a Traveling Library,” Atlas Obscura, February 8, 2016.

The post The Tiniest Libraries for the Most Remote Patrons first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Our library has a partnership with a day care center for individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. Every week, the center sends these individuals to our library and they help seal our DVDs in protective plastic sleeves; the staff also visits the center once a month to alternate between a cooking and a reading program. I always make time to sit down and chat with the volunteers to see how they’re doing.  One day, one of the volunteers, Lorenzo, was telling me that his twenty-seventh birthday was coming up on a day that he comes to volunteer. He is disabled and uses a wheelchair. I asked Lorenzo what he wanted for his birthday, and he said he wanted to dance with a girl. So I got my librarian thinking cap on. I’m lucky we have a diverse support staff that includes a trained chef. When he does his outreach program at the center, it’s a group activity and he gets all the members of the center involved, having them help him find ingredients and mixing the dough (the center even pays for the ingredients). This time, our chef baked a birthday cake. Meanwhile, at our library, I talked to Lisa, who works for another organization but who has also partnered with our library. She does a weekly tabling event to get people in the neighborhood to sign up for health insurance, and she used to dance competitively when she was younger. I asked her if she would dance with Lorenzo on his birthday, and she said yes. I was so happy because everything was falling in place for Lorenzo’s birthday party. Everyone has some talent or potential. And it’s such a rewarding part of my job to be able to connect people together.

On Lorenzo’s birthday, we decided to forgo the volunteer work and just celebrate during his center’s visit to the library. I brought birthday hats and balloons. Another one of our staff members took on the role of a DJ, so the music was pumping in the library and we got to eat the yummy birthday cake. All the customers that morning were part of the party. Most importantly, Lorenzo got his wish of dancing with a girl on his birthday!

I love the flexibility of working in a library. Our mission is to serve the community, so even with limited budget and resources, I’m so happy that I can draw on the staff and community partners to create new stories with happy endings!

The post The Library: Making Stories Happen first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

According to the United States Census Bureau, as of 2014, the estimated Hispanic population is 17.4 percent of the total 319 million U.S. population.¹ Not every one of those individuals who classify themselves as Hispanic or Latino speaks Spanish. However, according to a 2015 report released by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes, “The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico.”² The U.S. has forty-one million native speakers and eleven million who are bilingual.³ Those are some serious numbers and public libraries are at the forefront of assisting many of these Hispanics with whatever resources they have available. Many Spanish speakers go to public libraries to look for answers regarding a path to citizenship, questions about the I-90 form, services offered for Spanish speakers, and my favorite, “¿Donde tienes tus libros españoles?” (“Where do you have your Spanish books?”) Publishing companies are doing their best to cater to this large community, but answer this question: Even with more Spanish books readily available, who are the librarians assessing community needs and building these Spanish and bilingual collections? It is one thing to be a Hispanic librarian, as I am, but it is another to truly understand the Hispanic community to know how a collection should be built.

To understand the literacy troubles many—but not all—Hispanic adults face, we first have to take a look at their early childhood education. When considering statistical numbers for illiterate Hispanic children in the United States, it is not hard to see those children are at a disadvantage when compared to their white peers. A lot of the troubling literacy issue stems from “lower maternal education, weaker early reading practices, larger family size, and less exposure to quality preschool.”⁴ A 2007 study conducted by Child Trends Hispanic Institute concluded that “Hispanic children are significantly less likely than white children to be ready for school on all indicators except the ability to hold a pencil. Hispanic children are significantly less likely than black children to be able to recognize all letters, count to 20 or higher, or read written words in books.”⁵

In one of the poorest areas in the United States, a predominantly Hispanic region in South Texas known as the Rio Grande Valley, about 50 percent of its citizens are illiterate. The Rio Grande Valley ranks dead last in the entire state of Texas when it comes to literacy. These people are underserved and many of them do not even realize they are beneficiaries of educational institutions like public libraries. The median household income in that area is $31,077, which means the education level of many of those individuals is destitute. Public librarians in the Rio GrandeValley, and all across the nation, can offer so much to their Hispanic communities and collaborate with educational institutions to assist Hispanics with finding work or meeting their educational goals, such as obtaining a GED, pursuing a trade, or enrolling at a college or university. Hispanics look forward to what public libraries offer them. A Pew Research Center survey found that “overall, Hispanics have strong positive feelings about the role of libraries
in their communities, just as other Americans do.”⁶

I work at a public library that is fully staffed with twenty-five employees. All twenty-five employees are Hispanic and each staff member fully understands the challenges of providing an unmatched service to our Hispanic community. We all speak English and Spanish so our experiences with Hispanic patrons are unique. We are able to connect with our patrons on a much deeper level because we understand the Hispanic culture and have grown up in the same areas many of our patrons have. This in no way means we are better librarians than those who may not speak Spanish or understand the Spanish culture. However, we do have the ability to provide feedback to librarians who may have questions regarding Hispanics and their culture. The most important thing is to make the Hispanic community aware that you do understand their needs and acknowledge their presence. There are so many important cultural differences for Hispanics from all parts of Central and South America, so every approach or tactic will not be bulletproof. However, simply acknowledging that you indeed do have a Hispanic community is already a step forward.

In library school, they teach you about multicultural librarianship and how to cater to diverse communities. But learning something can only take you so far. The application is the key. Libraries should “recruit Spanish-speaking personnel in all job classifications, i.e. librarians, paraprofessionals, clerical workers and volunteers.”⁷ If you know your community has a large Hispanic community, it would be a good idea to hire at least one staff member who can speak English and Spanish well. It will save the rest of the staff a lot of trouble when it comes to communicating with Spanish-speaking patrons. Staffing has proven to be a positive factor for Hispanic students’ morale as well. “It was determined that professional staffing is a significant positive factor in reading scores”⁸ for Latino students. Comfortability with bilingual librarians has proven to help Hispanic students achieve their educational goals. They tend to ask for more assistance if they know the staff understands their needs.

Librarians and library professionals should never underestimate the power of the “door knocking” approach. Get out into the Hispanic community in your area to sit and talk to individuals who wish to have input on the Spanish and bilingual materials in your library; they are stakeholders as well. It is much better to go straight to the source than to assume you have all the answers. These patrons will be receptive and are willing to provide input. There is no denying how important public libraries are to Hispanics when eight in ten say they “strongly agree that libraries are important because they promote literacy and a love of reading. . . and provide everyone a chance to succeed because they provide free access to materials and resources.”⁹

Librarians can no longer sit back and wait for Hispanics to provide them with information regarding collection development. Outreach is the answer! Making contacts and connections throughout the community is an integral part of the collection development process. If this is not accomplished, Hispanics will assume the library does not care about their needs and does not wish to have programs that cater to their community and culture. “The most effective way to reach out to Latino populations is to build relationships with community leaders. Such leaders already have the trust of many Latinos.”¹⁰ It is also a good idea to locate offices or key figures of Spanish newspapers and magazines, to find community members who can assist in reaching out to the Hispanic population about library events.

Whenever possible, advertise and post signage around the library in Spanish. This is a useful tactic that will let Spanish speakers know that the library indeed understands there is a Hispanic community and they are important as well. The signs do not have to be flashy or over the top. They should be as effective as possible while also being concise. The most important thing to consider with signage is simply to get the message across. Social networking is obviously very popular, so posting in English and Spanish gets the word out much better than only posting in English. If you do not speak Spanish, use Google Translate. It is a highly resourceful tool that goes a long way. Libraries should always consider Spanish and English as options when purchasing books, magazines, and newspapers. If possible, providing government forms, financial aid forms, and other informative forms in Spanish really makes Spanish-speaking patrons feel welcomed and appreciated.

One of the most prominent issues that few librarians discuss openly is immigration (certainly an issue during this 2016 presidential election). It should be noted that Hispanics and the Spanish-speaking community have noticed this is definitely a hot topic. Just because someone does not speak English does not mean he or she does not understand an English telecast. The immigration topic and fear of deportation has many immigrant Hispanics fearful of approaching a library’s reference and circulation desks. They may need information but are too afraid to approach the desk because they worry being asked questions about citizenship status will book them a trip to deportation. This is an ongoing issue at the library I am employed at. For example, once a Spanish-speaking patron exits the elevator on our second floor, which leads to our reference desk, he or she often appears timid and afraid. This patron may converse with a family member they are with about whether they should even approach the desk or not. Once he or she finally musters the courage to approach, a sense of relief is felt after hearing the reference employee speak in Spanish.

Conclusion

It is up to all librarians to protect the privacy of all patrons regardless of their origin, age, background, religious preference, or views. A public library should be a safe haven for all who visit. Nobody should ever be afraid to enter a public library. It should always be a place where privacy shall never be infringed upon. Regardless of an individual’s legal status, libraries and librarians should be concerned with assisting Hispanic patrons with all the resources their libraries provide and nothing else.

There are many ways to reach out to the Hispanic community. Do not underestimate the little things and do not assume the Hispanic community does not take notice, because they definitely do. There are many resources librarians can look to for assistance with reaching out to Hispanic communities. As my inspiration, Louis Pasteur, once famously said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

References

1. United States Census Bureau, “Quick Facts: United States,” accessed Feb. 8, 2016.
2. Stephen Burgen, “US Now Has More Spanish Speakers than Spain—Only Mexico Has More,” The Guardian, US Edition, June 29, 2016, accessed Feb. 8, 2016.
3. Ibid.
4. Alma Guerrero et al., “Early Growth of Mexican-American Children: Lagging in Preliteracy Skills but Not Social Development,” Maternal & Child Health Journal 17, no. 9 (Nov. 2013).
5. David Murphey, Lina Guzman, and Alicia Torres, America’s Hispanic Children: Gaining Ground, Looking Forward (Bethesda, MD: Child Trends, 2014), accessed Feb. 8, 2016.
6. Anna Brown and Mark Hugo Lopez, “Public Libraries and Hispanics: Immigrant Hispanics Use Libraries Less, but Those Who Do Appreciate Them the Most,” Pew Research Center: Hispanic Trends, Mar. 17, 2015, accessed Feb. 8, 2016.
7. “Guidelines for Library Services to Spanish-Speaking Library Users,” Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, approved by the RUSA Board of Directors January 2007, accessed Feb. 8, 2016.
8. Jeanne Nelson, “Library Staffing Benefits Latino Student Achievement,” CSLA Journal 34, no. 1 (Mar. 2010), accessed Feb. 8, 2016.
9. Brown and Lopez, “Public Libraries and Hispanics.”
10. Ellyn Ruhlmann, “Connecting Latinos with Libraries,” American Libraries 45, no. 5 (May 19, 2014), accessed Feb. 8, 2016.

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Services like these are another great way for public libraries to showcase their relevance and make themselves more flexible in the modern public sphere. Providing 24/7 access to movies and books in more convenient places for busy commuters who may not be able to access the public library during regular hours is a wonderful opportunity to connect.[3] The kiosks are simply extensions of the same service behind having book drop boxes in areas other than the library: patron convenience. Public libraries in the United States are inputting kiosks at airports as well as local YMCAs and community centers. Japan has kiosks that allow patrons to scan their library card, choose an e-book, and then receive a QR code to scan with a smartphone or tablet to get their book!

The TPL project will cost $200,000 per kiosk and be funded by the city, but other public libraries have used alternative funding sources such as grants to open kiosks in their own cities or towns.[4][5] Beyond being a friendly convenience and service for patrons, having the library represented in unexpected areas is a great advertisement—a reminder to people that haven’t been to a library in a while that we’re still here and viable (and the e-book element is a nice tool to showcase that not only are we here but that we’re along for the modern ride).

References:

[1] Kendra Mangione. “Library book-lending kiosk coming to Union Station,” CTV Toronto News, August 6, 2015.

[2] “Book-lending machine coming to Toronto’s Union Station.” CBC Books, August 6, 2015.

[3] Jim Coyle. “Toronto Public Library gives commuters a ticket to read,” The Toronto Star, January 3, 2016.

[4] “Book-lending machine coming to Toronto’s Union Station.” CBC Books, August 6, 2015.

[5] Kendra Mangione. “Library book-lending kiosk coming to Union Station,” CTV Toronto News, August 6, 2015.

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A poll of my colleagues in the DC Metro area public libraries found that most librarians didn’t know about National Friends of the Library Week – an interesting oversight considering that this year marked the Tenth Annual Celebration, sponsored by United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

Happily, not all Friends were forgotten. The contributions of the Friends of the Lodi Public Library in California were celebrated with an article in the local Lodi newspaper.^[1] As with most Friends of the Library across the nation, the Lodi Friends (led by co-managers Deborah Westler and Diane Freggiaro) run a busy used bookstore that raises funds for equipment, programming, and services. For example, they purchased a self-check machine for the children’s room and funded a refresh of the library’s website. Recently, however, they really burnished their advocacy chops. Not only did they film an ad to promote the library, but they also purchased ad time to show it before movies at the local stadium in order to reach a new audience.

Despite my blunder this year, how do you think the Friends of Palisades Library responded to my funding request during their special week?  A unanimous, “yes,” as they nearly always do.  I thanked them profusely because I’m grateful to them every day of the year! So what is the best way to thank Friends like these?

United for Libraries has suggestions, press kits, and $250 grants awarded to Friends of the Library groups with the best celebrations of Annual Friends of the Library Week.^[2] “Applicants will be judged on creativity and innovation; involvement of Friends, library staff, Trustees, and/or advisory committee; recognition of Friends group, and promotion of Friends group to the community, school, students, and/or faculty.”^[3] The 2015 application deadline was December 2, but the award is offered annually. The 2014 winners were the A. K. Smiley Library in Redlands, CA, that did a western-themed, “Friends Roundup” and the Logan County Library in KY that celebrated all week with a mayoral proclamation, a media campaign, and events all week that drove Friends membership up by 10%.

Next year, I won’t miss the opportunity to thank our Friends formally during National Friends of the Library Week. I plan to participate in the United for Libraries annual celebration and perhaps even compete for the award. I’ll need competitors, however. What are your plans to celebrate your Friends next year?

Sources

[1] Cathey, Kyla. “Recognizing the Hard Work of Friends of Lodi Public Library.” Lodi News-Sentinel: (16 October 2015). Web.

[2] United for Libraries: http://www.ala.org/united/.

[3] National Friends of Libraries Week Awards: http://www.ala.org/united/grants_awards/friends/friendsweek.

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Science Programs
“Fun Science” (grades 5-8), “Chemistry Colors Our World” (grades 3-6), “Physics of Roller Coasters” (grades 5-8), and “Wonders of Weather” (grades 3-5) are examples of the science topics. Some of the programs are summer camps like the month-long Wonders of Weather, where kids meet at the library for a few hours once in a week and explore science with the TV channel meteorologist for a fun, hands-on “Atmosphere Adventure.” They learn how to predict storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather-related events.  Some are just a one-time programs, like a workshop with volunteers from American Chemical Society to do hands-on chemistry. Natural science topics are covered by experts from  Cleveland Metroparks who frequently come to the library to talk about various animals. They bring slides, natural samples, and stories of how birds and animals live in the habitats. Also, the naturalists provide a tour on the village trail that runs from the library to the Cleveland Metropark nearby.

Language Art and Reading Programs
“Book Buddies – Little Buddies” is a summer camp for children grades 1-3. Students meet once every week over four weeks to read together with teen volunteers.  It is an hour of reading, games, and fun that is based on the language, grammar, and language art curriculum requirements for that school age. “Book Buddies – Big Buddies” is a two-session event for grades 4-12 to read aloud and to participate in learning games. Book Buddies are  library volunteers who participate in a half-hour orientation before the first session.

Social Studies Related Programs
The library also runs an Eco Fair mixed-age program that uses more than twenty-five local environmental groups to share their initiatives and information on how to live more environmentally friendly lifestyles.

Career Related Programs for the School Age Teens
Workshops are popular for teen events and the library’s “Career Planning for College” workshop for ages 11-18 helps showcase various career opportunities on the current job market. A Career Counselor demonstrates how to search for the appropriate college and discusses the information teens need to know about their intended future profession. The ‘camp’ format is also used for teen programming, with the “Scratch Sensation“ and “Innovation and Imagination” camps for ages 11-18 offering interactive animation classes, games, and activities along with math, science, and design activities led by the Progressive Arts Alliance.

These are just a few of our recent programs, you can see more about the branch and related programming here.

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The People’s University Express Book Bike is on the move!  In honor of National Bike Month, the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) joined various library systems in the United States in launching bike-based library service. With the approval of Director Felton Thomas, the encouragement of Deputy Director, Cynthia Lombardo, and the tremendous support of the Director of Public Services, John Skrtic, this traveling library reached out to hundreds of Ohio residents during this past summer. The overall mission of the Book Bike is to celebrate both literacy and healthy living while implementing creative ways to educate, provide library services, and instill pride in our urban communities. It’s a fun and visible tool that we use in areas where it is difficult or expensive for Cleveland residents to park as well as to catch the interest of the constant foot traffic downtown. While the People’s University Express was modeled after several bike-based library services that display informational services and materials to their community during outreach events, it also provides patrons with a library checkout station and a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Cleveland Public Library’s Book Bike Hits the Streets

Great Idea
The People’s University Express began as a small dream that was hatched during a discussion with a group of library professionals who were detailing groundbreaking ways their systems were promoting their libraries.  After hearing another professional talk about a traveling library and how they use it to make appearances at community outreach events and schools as well as to give away free donated titles and canceled library books, I sprang into action, believing this would be a great service for CPL patrons!

I decided that it would be an even more phenomenal idea if the traveling library could also provide its patrons with a library checkout station and a Wi-Fi hotspot. It could be an excellent focal point in farmers markets, community events, and could act as a welcoming library hub at any outreach event.  I discussed the idea with my manager, Ms. Annisha Jeffries, Youth Services Manager, who encouraged me to apply for one of Cleveland Public Library’s yearly Innovation Grants for library staff.  Although my grant submission did not win that year, library administration was impressed with the idea and the department was given the funds to purchase a Book Bike.

Book Bike is Born
The People’s University Express Book Bike is a vintage orange, white and black, custom-built tricycle from Haley Tricycles.  As the Cleveland Public Library’s Youth Services staff prepared for each event during the summer, they curated a small library collection according to their target audience.  The Book Bike carried between 30-40 books at a time, and was stocked with best-sellers, children’s books, teen titles, graphic novels, and cookbooks. With the help of a Wi-Fi hotspot, staff was able register first-time patrons for library cards, answer reference questions, and place holds for library materials.  At first glance, Cleveland residents think the Book Bike is an ice cream truck, and ask its rider if they can buy some ice cream.  When staff members respond that it is actually a Book Bike that promotes literacy, they are in shock or begin to laugh. But as long as they come closer to the bike and check out our books, the CPL Youth Services Department staff is fine with the assumption.

Community Outreach
The People’s University Express attended a wide array of library and community outreach events this summer. The Youth Services Department contacted several neighborhood organizations around downtown to inquire if the Book Bike could participate in their events. For example, the People’s University Express attended the Downtown Cleveland Alliance’s Walnut Wednesday, which takes place in one of downtown’s urban green spaces and provides a social space where professionals and residents are invited to unwind while enjoying delicious food from some of the most Cleveland-famous food trucks as well as listen to live entertainment. With the bike-based library service complementing Cleveland’s urban bike community, the traveling library attended the Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s VeloSano 2015: Bike to Cure! VeloSano, Latin for “swift cure,” is a community fundraising initiative for cancer research. At its core, it’s a cycling event where riders commit to raise a predetermined dollar amount, and the rides start and finish in downtown Cleveland.

The People’s University Express also participated in the One Life, One Voice, One Community Event at the Cleveland Convention Center. The Cleveland Cuyahoga Partnership to Improve Birth Outcomes organized this free health and wellness event to raise awareness on infant mortality, and provide mothers with everything they need to have a healthy baby, a healthy lifestyle, and a healthy community. As a result, it gained the attention of several Cleveland media outlets this summer.  It was featured on the WKYC Channel 3 News #WeReadHere segment, in an article in the Freshwater Cleveland weekly e-magazine, and was nominated as the winner of Best of Cleveland 2015 by the Cleveland Magazine.

The People’s University Express has proven to be an excellent creative tool to educate, provide and promote library services, and instill pride in the Cleveland Downtown Community.  This bike-based library service is a great way to surprise library patrons who may not necessarily expect to see librarians outside the library institution but rather in unexpected settings throughout our service neighborhoods.

*All photos courtesy of Cleveland Public Library; used with permission.

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One issue that recently came up for my library involved appropriate number of open hours. With a population base of a bit over 5,000, my library is open fifty-one hours a week. But one board member felt this was inadequate; they suggested being open sixty hours a week, while another argued that being a small, relatively rural library our resources were already strained and we should reduce our hours. The discussion turned into one of obligations. What began as a discussion of the library’s obligation to patrons evolved into a discussion about the institution’s obligations to staff.  With a small staff (4.5 FTE), increasing hours would put additional strain on library workers and in particular the director, who would in effect, become ‘on call’ seven days a week.

For me, the discussion raised another issue: is the library’s obligation to the existing demographics of the community or to a more diversified perspective?  Specifically, consider collection development, programming, and displays. Should we offer only that which applies to our known community’s demographics? Or should we try to broaden outlooks and horizons? Many times our decisions in these areas are shaped by our users.  We might put up a holiday display because we believe our community expects or supports that perspective. But are we sure? Should we, in fact, be displaying alternative views as part of an obligation to support lifelong learning? Would we draw more users if we expanded beyond our perceived local culture?  Is this not part of obligation, also? While it may be easy to say we should do both–support our community’s demographics and expand on the status quo–the finances and/or politics of many libraries may not allow for such a broad spectrum of activities or materials.

We can also expand this question out to larger professional organizations. Is the obligation of a state agency to all institutions within its jurisdiction? One might answer, yes, of course!  But the question becomes whether this is a feasible possibility.  In most states there are urban and rural libraries, large bureaucratic establishments, and small independent organizations; there may also be municipal libraries and libraries in nonprofit organizations, with differing structures and needs. On a national level, the issue is confounded as there are an even greater number of variations.  Consider something as mundane as where a national event will be held?  The problem arises that no one location can inherently serve everyone.

Personally, I believe all public library organizations of any size have the obligation to provide a broad base of perspectives, as reflected in materials and activities, and the obligation to strive for as much diversity as is feasible. To that end, on the national level, I support organizations that make mindful efforts to rotate conference location. On a local level, I support state agencies that offer diversified support to different levels and kinds of libraries.

On the daily level of library operations I make a conscious effort to assure my collection is diverse in terms of the topics and peoples it represents. I seek out programs that are unique or unusual. I am ecstatic when I find things that most people have not encountered and thrilled when I hear patrons speak of finding something they never knew about before. I am considerate of all holidays and celebrations–not only putting out the materials or iconic images of those who most participate or that which is most common.

When I consider my obligations for my library I think about challenging common thought patterns, offering a path into places unfamiliar, and helping to support diversity; those considerations shape my obligations to my library.  I see this as my obligation not only to my library, but to my community and the well-being of our world.

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Dustin Fife (DF): Kim Fong, you’ve changed my life! Some time ago we talked about your experiences as the librarian for Salt Lake County (Utah) Jail and I was inspired. It took some time to digest, but two months ago my library, the San Juan County (Utah) Library (SJCL) began providing library services for our small county jail, which houses about 100 inmates. It is one of the most fulfilling and gratifying things I have ever done. Everyone needs a self-esteem boost from time to time, and I’ll tell you this, every time I work at the jail it is a huge boost. I have never been showered with so much gratitude in my life.

Before we began our library services, the jail had only a few thousand old and threadbare titles. There were no Spanish-language materials, though several inmates speak almost no English, and no new titles were being purchased. With that in mind, our new patrons are ecstatic to have access to the public library’s collection and services.

I thought it would be hard to get this program approved, but both the county sheriff and jail commander were immensely helpful. They both love programming and hope that the new library will help lower recidivism and increase quality of life. The
program has rolled out smoothly and has felt like an important success for SJCL.

My question to you is where do I go from here? What else should I try at the jail? What worked and didn’t work for you? Is it strange to feel so inspired by inmates?

Kim Fong (KF): I know that library service at the jail is very fulfilling, because the patrons are so grateful and appreciative of the service. I’ve never been in a library job where I got standing ovations for bringing books into the unit—until I started working in the jail. It is very rewarding, but it is also very easy to pat yourself on the back and think that everything is great because you have such an appreciative audience. It’s easy to look great when you consider the conditions of the library before you started providing service.

So now the really interesting part begins! What kind of materials are you providing to the prisoners? Are you buying materials
that will really appeal to them or are you using “leftovers” from your regular collection? When I first started at the jail, I was surprised by the patron’s interest in a wide variety of topics and genres. There really is no “stereotypical” prisoner when it comes to reading tastes. I also think it is important to get a feel for what they are really interested in reading, instead of what would be “good for them” to read. Put preconceived notions out the window and really take a look at what your patrons want. You’ll notice that I use the word want and not the word need. If you get too caught up in need, you will fall into the trap of deciding what is best for your patron.

When you start providing materials that your patrons really want, you may run into resistance from jail staff. Many are of the
mindset that prisoners should not have access to certain types of books. You want to have a very clear selection policy in place, so that you can back yourself up when materials are challenged. The selection policy that I used at the Salt Lake County Jail Library specifically addressed certain issues that came up fairly often. We tried to limit the amount of items that couldn’t be in the library.

Here are the questions I asked myself as I considered books to buy: Will this book compromise the security of the jail? Will this book teach skills that could make the reader a threat to officers, other prisoners, or himself? With those questions in mind, there were some nonfiction topics that were not in the library, including martial arts, bomb making, drug making, boxing techniques, etc. However (and this is important), just because a book mentions some of these topics, it doesn’t automatically exclude it from the collection. A fictional depiction of a ninja fight does not rise to the level of compromising security.

I had many challenges to books, but I rarely removed them from the collection. What were some of the things that were challenged? Books on Asatru (which is a popular religion with white supremacists), urban literature, mysteries with descriptions of violence, books with sex scenes, graphic novels, and the list goes on, but I think you get the picture. Plan ahead, so when you experience challenges, you will know what to do. You have a great opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of the patrons you serve.

DF: I’m still in the honeymoon phase, but you are right, it is probably time for me to stop patting myself on the back. You have given me some important things to consider. In regards to collection development, our system is quite simple; I treat them like I do every other patron in San Juan County. Our jail is small and maxes out at 110 inmates, so we don’t actually keep any of the books at the jail. We bring the books from our library branches. That wouldn’t have worked for you since you were working with thousands of people at Salt Lake County Jail, but it is a fluid process for us. What that really means though is that I spend most of my time at the jail doing reference and readers’ advisory. We talk about what they want and I see what we have. Just like with any other patron, if we do not have what they want or something that will suffice, I consider their requests and either purchase something for the county collection or interlibrary loan a book for them.

My jail’s population is unique, and that leads me to some tough professional decisions. I really love the questions you asked yourself when working on collection development. Eighty percent of the jail population here are state inmates who are sex offenders. They are here to be part of a special program to work with therapists before they are released from jail. It is safe to say that every single inmate at the San Juan County Jail will someday reenter society. The therapists have asked that we restrict materials that might exacerbate their addictions. This is a difficult thing for me because censorship is such a battle, but I have to respect the therapists’ wishes in this situation or there will be no library services at all. It is an important service that will hopefully help inmates transition smoothly back into our world. The therapists know that we do not read everything and that we withhold our personal judgments as much as possible, however, they have asked if I have any questions that I consult with them. I do not have to tell the therapists the titles or names, they are just available for discussion. This has come up once so far. I purchased a drawing book that I didn’t hesitate to put in the county’s collection, but felt unsure about for the jail. I told the inmate about my concerns and he quickly assured me that he did not want it if I felt at all unsure. It was a positive experience for both me and the inmate, but I am trying to limit subjective judgments as much as possible. However, I still feel on shaky ground with such vague guidelines. Have I compromised myself professionally?

What about programming? How do I move beyond just circulating materials? They have a great education center and many of them are finishing degrees and certificates, but what should I attempt to add to this environment? What worked best for you, what were some of your successes?

KF: Programming in a jail setting can be very challenging, especially if the prisoners are already in educational programs that take a lot of their time. One program that I found very successful was an introduction to the library. This presentation was given in conjunction with the life skills class that the jail conducted. In this class, I would show students the library website, teach them how to do catalog searches, demonstrate some key databases and have them fill out a library card application. I made sure that each person had a library card in their property, so when they were released, they could visit the library and put their card to work. I think that this program was especially useful, because many of the prisoners were only familiar with the jail library and hadn’t been in a library on the outside in years. Even those that were generally familiar with libraries had no idea that so much online information was available through the library website. Keeping in mind their interests and needs, I would generally share a database that helps with test prep, since so many are working on GEDs or other certifications. I showed them a reliable job search site and they were always very excited about the car repair database.

Another successful program was a book club. This was conducted in a traditional way—although many of the discussions were far from traditional! I also stuck to the traditional demographic for book clubs—women. I used a compressed timeline because women seem to be out of jail faster than men. I would go out to a unit and sign people up for the club. Then I would return the same day with the book. Inside the book, I would have a reminder of when we would meet—usually the following week. When the time came for the meeting, they had usually finished the book and were ready to discuss. I was amazed by their openness about their situations and lives in general. We talked about prostitution, drug addiction, losing their children to foster care, rape, and child abuse. This was certainly not for the faint of heart! I think that they appreciated an open forum to talk about the books and also about the things in their own lives that they thought about while reading the books. It certainly opened my eyes to the very difficult circumstances of some women’s lives.

We also had a summer reading program at the jail. There were small incentives for reading a certain number of books and the prisoners were very excited about participating. The prizes had to be approved by jail administration, so that no security risks were involved. The prizes were small—bookmarks, golf pencils, and erasers—but very appreciated. We had large numbers of participants and finishers. It was extremely successful!

I think the best way to have successful programs is to get jail administration behind you. Their willingness will make or break your programs. The other thing to remember is to be flexible. Lockdowns will sometimes mess up your schedule. Or lunch being late. Or a security incident. Or any number of other things for which you have no control. Take it in stride and work out ways to reschedule. Programming is challenging, but worth it! You will look at the world in a different way after interacting with prisoners this way.

DF: I love that you put a library card in their possession. Hopefully they were able to seamlessly reintegrate into the Salt Lake County Library. It is a perfect continuation of services, “come to the library at the jail and keeping going to the library when you get out of jail!” I think it will be a major resource for the inmates as they use the libraries and the skills you taught them. Your thoughts on flexibility are also appreciated. I am coming to understand that you cannot avoid counts, lunch, inmate breakdowns, and general interruptions. But, when you think about it, how different is that from every other library? I spent two hours last week getting a bird out of a sewer grate, and I promise, I had not scheduled time for that.

I’m excited to get started with programming. I have been including the inmates in our One County One Book program, but I hope to start a jail-specific book club in the near future. I have circulated a large amount of drawing books, so I was also considering a library drawing contest. I will definitely seek the support of jail administration before moving ahead with any program. It is a different dynamic than I am used to, asking permission and such, but the jail administration seems to genuinely care about the rehabilitation of the inmates and the success of the library.

I wanted to get your thoughts on outreach and service diversification because I really feel like we are doing both. The new jail program in San Juan County feels sustainable and expandable. After just a few months it is clear that the program is a great boon to the library system. We have garnered positive attention from local officials and residents alike and our circulation has risen from the new patrons. It is a new visible way that we are serving San Juan County residents and it is also a group that was not being reached before (often from minority or poorer socioeconomic backgrounds).

Resources for inmates not only improve the quality of their lives, but drastically help curb recidivism. It feels like a win-win-win. We have diversified our service and created outreach with a new program and partners. The most interesting part of it is that this is your grandmother’s librarianship. I spend most of my time doing reference and readers’ advisory!

KF: I’m really glad that you are enjoying your jail experience! Jail libraries may be the last bastion of old-fashioned librarianship. It is all about the books. Reference and readers’ advisory skills get honed in a completely different way when your patrons don’t have access to the Internet.

I want to broach the subject of recidivism. I don’t want to burst your bubble, but I also don’t want you to have an unrealistic expectation of what happens when people get out of jail. I think that your situation with prisoners that are getting specific therapy and programs to help them be more successful may make the outcome different, but you need to know that recidivism is a real problem for incarcerated individuals. You will face disappointment as you see people coming back again and again—despite your best efforts to give them the resources and skills that could change their lives. I employed many female prisoners in my library. They were smart and capable. They were learning a marketable skill—shelving books. They were often avid readers. They were getting off the drugs and alcohol. I had high hopes for many of them. And the vast majority (around 75 percent) came back to jail.¹

When I say that I found fulfillment in changing people’s lives, I didn’t mean that I was helping to make a permanent change. Given the circumstances that many prisoners face when they are released, a permanent change is not very likely. BUT, I did change their lives while they were in jail. As you know, jail is a dismal, mind-numbing place. People could spend hours staring at the walls or they could find a way to escape those walls by reading. I can’t count the number of times someone told me that they had never read a book all the way through until they started reading in jail. Those stories warm my heart and I believe many of those people will become lifelong readers. But they may do most of their reading during their frequent visits to jail! I hope this is not too depressing, but I think the reality of the situation should be addressed.

DF: Not depressing at all, a realistic view is important. An inmate requested a book the other day that he first read in juvenile detention. He told me that he stays out of jail longer when he reads this particular book. Let me be optimistic about your pessimism though; changing their lives in jail is changing their lives. For more than two million people in the United States at a time, incarceration is life. Maybe they will come back two or three more times, or maybe they won’t, but we are still creating opportunities for individuals and the community. That is what it is all about. You cannot make someone come to the library, you cannot make them use your digital media lab, you cannot create a book club without them, but we can continue to try and create opportunities. You created opportunities for people to become lifelong readers. You created opportunities for inmates to connect through book clubs. You helped people learn skills and you gave them a pass to libraries with a full gamut of services for when they got out. I have loved working with the inmates, but it is about so much more than one under-served population. Who else are we missing? Who else can we easily help? I keep thinking about how easy it was to start this program. I just had to ASK! People have gone out of their way to help establish the jail library because they know it benefits our community. I know we have limited resources, but maybe we aren’t asking enough for those either. Are we asking for help from everyone who is willing to help? I’ll give you the final thought on this Kim; any last words of advice?

KF: There is one final caution that I would like to give you. You may not have experienced it yet, but you will have jail officers ask you for information about what individual prisoners are checking out. Officers are often of the opinion that prisoners don’t have any privacy rights, but they do!

In Utah, any library that is funded by public funds must adhere to Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) rules.² If an officer wants information about a prisoner’s loan history, they have to go through the same legal process as they would at any other library. I experienced incidences of anger and retaliation from officers when I wouldn’t give them the information they wanted. They didn’t really understand that I would be breaking the law to give them that information. A talk with jail administration or superior officers usually remedied the situation, but it was never a pleasant experience.

But, on to more philosophical musings. I think that public libraries spend a lot of time talking about serving under-represented populations, but they don’t always know how to do it. I think your willingness to ask is something that all of us need to emulate. Maybe we don’t have a jail in our area, but there are other people that we aren’t reaching. How do we find them? What will entice them to try the library? What barriers have we set up to library use? All of those questions are ones that we should be constantly asking ourselves and we should experiment with ways to reach people that would truly benefit from what we have to offer.

I have talked to many librarians over the years about my work at the jail library. One of the most common responses was “I would never do that!” That makes me sad, because I think that they are really missing out on a wonderful opportunity. I’m glad that you took the plunge and are enjoying one of the most rewarding library experiences ever. I do believe that we should all go to jail and if most librarians gave it a try, they would never want to leave.

References

1. Salt Lake County (Utah) Sheriff’s Office, Jail Programs Division, 2010 Annual Report, “Comparative Recidivism Rates of Prisoners Released in 2007,” p. 18, accessed May 13, 2015.
2. “GRAMA Rules,” Utah’s Right to Know, accessed May 13, 2015.

The post Comparing Notes A Conversation about Library Service to County Jails first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Attending the seminar New Uses of Public Libraries (organized by the Province of Barcelona with the Library Consortium of Barcelona, the IFLA Section on Public Libraries and the IFLA Section on Library Buildings and Equipment), I learned that these two libraries had kitchen and cooking programs. I emailed both library directors a few questions. [1]

Children’s Mexican Cooking Workshop at the Central Library of Castelldefels

Public Libraries Online: What made your library decide to start activities about cooking?

Mariona Chavarria Domingo (Biblioteca del Fondo): Seeing the multicultural context of the neighborhood, the municipality, [and] aiming for social cohesion, [we] thought about the idea of “cooking” as a central point to all cultures, and as an excuse to bring diversity together and build a community by creating mutual trust.

Marta Granel Dalmau (Central Library of Castelldefels): Our library specializes in cooking, [so] these activities are the ideal complement for our specialty. We complete our cooking programs with a collection of books about cooking, for kids and adults.

Children’s Mexican Cooking Workshop at the Central Library of Castelldefels

PL Online: What information, tools, and processes did you need?

Mariona: One of the halls of the library has a complete kitchen installed, prepared to cook and to perform cooking shows. It is equipped with a hotplate, electrical oven, microwave oven, fridge, [and] dishwasher. It is also equipped with enough kitchenware (a list of which was provided by a local Restoration School). We have gathered information about legal points to take into account (related to health and food security, hygiene, and first aid). A Commission has been established in order to think about the project named “Cuines del Món” (Cuisines of the World), which includes the kitchen and a section of the library collection (books and other document types).

Marta: We need professionals to do the activities, normally local collaborators, [as well as] multipurpose spaces and users interested in activities about cooking.

Children’s Mexican Cooking Workshop at the Central Library of Castelldefels

PL Online: How did you determine what activities to organize?

Mariona: The above mentioned Commission “Cuines del Món” (which includes: representatives of the municipality – politicians and technicians; representatives of social, educational, and cultural entities of the neighborhood; representatives of the University of Barcelona Campus de l’Alimentació – Food and Nutrition  and representatives of Fondo trading association as well as a well-known Chef, Víctor Quintillà, whose restaurant La Lluerna has been awarded with one Michelin Star during the last three years). The overall objective of the “Cuines del Món” Project is to be a tool helping to bring together diversity; bringing down walls of lack of trust; and, being a public library, to promote reading habits and skills. We have oriented the activities in three main directions or levels:

a) Academic level – about food, nutrition, science and cooking – inviting cooks as well as university lecturers;

b) Informative level – bringing together people from different backgrounds to share a cooking session while explaining similarities and differences of cooking, for instance about rice, potatoes, or about the use of species or different kinds of oil, etc.; teaching to cook nutritive meals to people with low incomes; teaching children cooking habits, etc.

c) Reading Promotion: the library, in collaboration with educational and cultural entities of the neighborhood, organizes activities connected to its own activities (storytelling for children and families, a reading club for adults, people learning Catalan or Spanish, etc.).

In some cases we offer the kitchen space for activities organised by others: i.e., by a psychiatric center nearby, or by other similar associations; by groups working with children with social risks, etc.

Marta: First we contact the collaborators and look for the activities, we want the activities to be attractive, easy, and possible to be done in the library, without fire. Normally we try to organize the activities in cycles, for kids and for adults.

Cooking Workshop at the Biblioteca del Fondo

PL Online: What challenges did you face?

Mariona: The main challenge is to implement good projects that keep the kitchen lively and used at its best. Linked to that, another challenge is trying to keep with a regular activity in the kitchen while not having enough library staff for that, having to work with volunteers (good on one side, but unstable on the other). Also the follow-up after the activities in the kitchen (the washing up and putting back stuff in the cupboards) is an unsolved problem. I wouldn’t call it a challenge but it’s challenging.

Marta: The challenge is making programs varied, attractive, and cheap.

PL Online: What kind of positive results have you had? (And, any negative ones?)

Mariona: We are “young,” yet the fact that this library, situated in such a popular neighborhood, has a kitchen, has put this place in the newspapers for something good and unseen before. It gives a new/better status to the surrounding area. The kitchen opens us easily to different collaborations (for instance with market stall holders or other commerce in the area, or the University Campus, lecturers, and students).

Marta: The results are very positive, the users are very happy and thankful about these activities. The are usually no vacancies in these type of activities.

Cooking Workshop at the Biblioteca del Fondo

PL Online: About how much time does it take?

Mariona: It takes a lot of time: meetings, contacts, preparation of the space, being close during the activities in case of any need, and collecting and washing the kitchenware.

Marta: We spend a lot of time to program these activities. First we look for the possible collaborators who could do the activities, and sometimes we have to pay for the activities. Then we have to do advertising and registration. Afterwards we send the participants an assessment questionnaire, as we want to know their feedback.

PL Online: What advice would you give a library wanting to do something similar?

Mariona: I feel it is too soon to be able to give any good advice. The only one I can think of is: don’t be afraid to start a similar project!

Marta: At the end of the activities the users are so thankful and happy!!

Sources:

[1] Mariona Chavarria Domingo’s e-mail to author (03/19/2015); Marta Granel Dalmau’s e-mail to author (03/25/2015). The interview questions were inspired by Kate Theimer, Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections, Facet publishing 2010

The post Kitchens in Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

E-government as a phenomenon first began appearing in the 1990s as governments and government agencies in the United
States and abroad began making documents, services, and information available online. The purposes of implementing e-government were not only cost-saving for the agencies, but in an increasingly Internet-saturated world, the availability of e-government offered convenient access for people compared to having to go to a physical building.¹ For those without computers and the Internet, however, the move to e-government was problematic.

During this same time period, public libraries started strengthening their technological infrastructure and offering public access computers and free Internet.² Because of this, people without access at home began using these services at public libraries. Due to the “co-evolution” of the move to e-government and the increasing availability of public access computers in libraries, public libraries found themselves becoming “community anchors” for the provision of e-government services, particularly to people without home Internet access.³ In some cases, government offices themselves began referring people to the public library both for access to their sites and for assistance.⁴ Some examples of agencies that have explicitly referred people to public libraries in order to complete forms and file for benefits include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Food Stamps program, the Department of Labor,⁵ the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,⁶ and the Florida Department of Children and Families.⁷

Jaeger and Bertot noted that libraries have historically disseminated local, state, and federal government information in
the United States and other countries.⁸ However, while libraries’ roles as providers of government information are not new, the intensity of the expectations of assistance from librarians and library staff has dramatically increased as government offices have moved their services online and, in some cases, closed their physical offices in communities.

Public Library Websites

There is a large body of literature about the engagement of public libraries with e-government that offers an in-depth analysis of the history, progression, implications, and recommendations for public libraries concerning this somewhat new service role as facilitators of e-government. But the e-government literature does little to address the role of public library websites. Are public libraries offering e-government assistance through their websites?

It is possible that one reason the question of e-government on library websites is not widely covered in the bulk of the existing literature on e-government in libraries is because the focus of the literature has been the disproportionate impact that government offices moving their services online has had on the technology “have nots” in society. For example, Gibson, Bertot, and McClure found that 52.4% of people who access e-government at libraries do not have a computer at home, and 42.4% lack access at both home and work.⁹ Providing access through the library website would be less useful for people with access issues. However, a great deal of public library users overall do have access to computers and the Internet and might be interested in the library providing access to e-government through their websites.

While little systematic research has been done over public library websites and e-government provision, there are several exemplary library websites that are discussed in the literature. For example, Palm Beach County (FL) Library System’s “Government Research Service” webpage is a digital guide to federal, state, and local e-government, as well as a resource that caters to government clients.¹⁰ Pasco County Library Cooperative’s “Get Help Florida” web portal links to nonprofit social services organizations and local, state, and federal government resources; provides options for appointments with an e-government specialist; and showcases an e-government blog.¹¹ Also in Florida, the Orange County Library System’s “The Right Service at the Right Time” is a diagnostic tool that helps users pinpoint the services they need and for which they are eligible, as well as provides links to commonly used sites.¹² Hartford (CT) Public Library’s program for immigrants (“The American Place”) includes a sophisticated website, classes, workshops, and events specifically targeted to the immigrant experience. The website simplifies information from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.¹³ Atlantic City (NJ) Free Library’s Immigration and Naturalization site not only links to various sources but also allows patrons to comment and interact with each other.¹⁴

Website design literature is mostly silent on the question of the provision of e-government through library websites. These works are generally more concerned with structure than with content and the content suggestions they contain predominately do not address e-government.¹⁵ An exception is one early article by Peter Jorgensen that explains the evolution of the Lincoln City (NE) Libraries website, that included a Federal Government subpage and “one-click” quick access links to state and federal tax forms on the main page.¹⁶

Should Public Library Websites Offer E-Government?

While research can determine if libraries are or are not offering e-government access on public library websites, a different question is: Is this a recommended practice? Both U.S. and international authors lament the low level of findability of e-government information on the Internet. For example, Jaeger and Bertot state, “Even for technology-savvy users, e-government services are often limited by difficulties in searching for and locating the desired information, a general lack of familiarity with the structure of government,” and other factors.¹⁷ ALA’s issue brief on public libraries and e-government suggests that government sites are difficult for users, stating, “There is no consistency of service, design, or website usability across e-government services and resources. Each branch of government, and the different agencies within each branch, provides e-government services and resources differently. This creates a range of challenges for patrons who need to access multiple services, but also for librarians helping patrons meet their e-government needs.”¹⁸

Public libraries are expending a great deal of effort to assist in-person requests for help with accessing government websites. The 2011–12 Public Library Funding & Technology Access (PLFTA) study found that 91.8% of public libraries reported helping citizens understand and use e-government websites and 20.6% of public libraries have developed tools to help patrons navigate e-government services.¹⁹

It may be surmised that online assistance with navigating e-government would also be a useful service for library users.

While it does not directly recommend that public libraries put e-government links on their websites, ALA’s E-Government Toolkit site includes links to commonly accessed federal e-government sites and suggests types of useful state and local e-government links. It also gives some links to examples of library webpages that do contain e-government links and assistance.²⁰

Some international literature about public libraries and e-government mentioned library websites. For example, Jennifer Berryman, in a report for the State Library of New South Wales (Australia) discussed a consulting firm’s report that gave best practice suggestions for public libraries in providing e-government such as including links to government webpages.²¹ Luanne Freund found in a survey of Canadian librarians that many were “promoting government content on their websites,” and most were “adding links to government documents and websites directly into their online catalogs.”²²

Hopton and Freund reported that the 2011 survey of Canadian librarians found that while 80% of librarians agreed that e-government made government information more accessible to the public, only 37% thought that search engines were effective tools for locating it, and only 16% thought e-government information was easy for patrons to find.²³ Freund also described a study where researchers went to public libraries with laptops and “asked people to search for Canadian government information on a number of common search topics. . . . The majority of searchers used Google rather than government portals, and more than a quarter of all searches did not result in useful information. . . . [T]he majority (68 %) of documents selected were from sources other than the Canadian government.”²⁴ With 91.8% of U.S. public libraries reporting that they are assisting users with government websites (as cited above), it may be safe to assume that the results with U.S. library users might be similar to these Canadian users.

While the literature on e-government in libraries does not directly state that having e-government items on public library websites is a recommended best practice, it does suggest that many library users benefit from librarians’ help in finding the government information they are seeking, as finding government information and using government websites can be difficult for users. It also holds up some excellent library websites that have e-government as positive examples. This suggests an indirect recommendation that public libraries provide vetted links and information on their websites, or perhaps offer online pathfinders to government sites.

Whether it is desirable to have e-government links, forms, or information on public library websites is linked to two implicit or explicit assumptions by the website designers. First is an acceptance of the concept that the public library is a conduit through which people access e-government. Several authors have argued convincingly that this is the case, at least for the physical library in the form of providing computers with Internet access and assistance in using government websites, forms, and so on.²⁵ The second assumption is that of conceiving of the library website as electronic outreach to a dispersed clientele, or a digital branch of the library.²⁶ For people who do not wish to come into the physical library, a site with an organized approach to e-government can help them navigate to appropriate government sites.

Also related is the practical question of: Who is responsible for creating and maintaining public library website content? In other words, who might decide whether e-government items will be on the websites? Chow, Bridges, and Commander found that about a third (33%) of library websites were designed by a librarian as part of his or her job, with 28.4% designed by an “other” category (volunteers, state libraries, or committees), and 21.2% by an outside company. Half of the sites were managed by a librarian (50%), with 18.2% managed by “other.”²⁷ While they addressed content as well as design features in their study, these authors did not mention e-government content or links as an observed or recommended feature of websites. These findings suggest that as many as two-thirds of library webpages are not designed by librarians, and half are not maintained by librarians. Therefore, the question of e-government content on library websites may be slipping through the cracks of professional input.

The conclusion from this review of the literature is that most of the works in the literature about e-government and public libraries do not mention the library website as a tool for making e-government more accessible and findable for people outside of the building. At the same time, authors addressing website design do not mention e-government as a potential item of interest for library sites. Also lacking is philosophical debate over whether the library website is a recommended venue for facilitating users’ e-government needs.

Research Problem

This study concerns how public libraries are using their websites to facilitate access to e-government information and services. Research questions include:

1. What types of e-government items do public libraries have on their websites?
2. What characteristics of libraries are related to a higher likelihood of having e-government items on the website?
3. Is the quality/complexity of the website overall related to a higher likelihood of having e-government items on the website?

Research Method

The 2010 Public Libraries in the United States Survey (PLS) by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) was used as a sampling frame from which a simple random sample of public libraries was chosen.²⁸ There were 9,308 libraries in the PLS and a sample size calculator was used to determine a sample size of 369 libraries. Of these 369 libraries, 323 (87.5%) had websites. These websites were examined in 2012 with a content analysis check sheet and sites were marked for the presence or absence of a number of variables. The resulting data were paired with the PLS data set for those libraries to allow analysis using a variety of background factors documented in the PLS data set such as the population of the service area, funding variables, and location variables. Data were analyzed with percentages and cross tabulation tables, and chi square was used to test the bivariate comparisons for statistical significance. Multiple regression and correlation were used to test for relationships between library size variables and e-government item scores.

Limitations of the study were that the websites were only viewed from a computer and not from a mobile device or through mobile apps. Many public libraries have alternative sites for mobile device users and content may vary from that provided on websites designed to be viewed from a computer. Also, some of the public libraries used social media sites such as Facebook in lieu of having a more traditional website. These types of social media library pages were not included in the study. While one Canadian study suggested that public libraries in that country were cataloging government websites and adding them into their online catalogs, this study did not search the library online catalogs, just the websites themselves.

Description of the Variables

The dependent variables in the study were the e-government items from the data collection check sheet where items were checked either yes or no and coded 1 or 0 in the dataset. These items included federal links, federal information, federal forms, state links, state information, and state forms. The subject of the links, information, and forms was coded separately as taxes, unemployment, child services, and other. Scores were computed that determined how many possible items a website contained, and these variables were labeled FedScore and StateScore, each with a range of 0 to 3, and a composite EgovScore with a range of 0 to 6.

The variable Website Score was created by combining the variables “subpage of city website,” “website has subpages,” “ease of use,” “complexity,” and “broken” (broken links, empty pages, and so on). While there was a potential range of zero for a very poor website to 8 for an excellent site, actual scores ranged from a low of 2 to a high of 8. Since three of the variables that went into computing Website Score were at the ordinal level of measurement, Website Score was considered an ordinal variable for this data analysis.

A number of items from the IMLS PLS were used as independent variables. These items are listed below with their PLS codes:

• Population of the Legal Service Area (POPU_LSA)
• Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) ALA-MLS Librarians (MASTER)
• Operating revenue from local government (LOCGVT)
• Operating revenue from state government (STGVT)
• Operating revenue from federal government (FEDGVT)
• Total expenditures on the library collection (TOTEXPCO)
• Legal Basis Code (C_LEGBAS)—this is type of governing agency of the library
• Bureau of Economics Analysis Code (OBEREG)—this is region of the country
• Urban Centric Locale Code (LOCALE)—this refers to the size of the community the library serves and was recoded as City, Suburb, Town, and Rural
• Administrative Structure Code (C_ADMIN)—this states whether or not the library has branches

Data Analysis

This section of the data analysis addresses the first research question: What types of e-government items do public libraries have on their websites? The majority of public libraries did not have e-government items on their sites, but a sizeable minority—39.6% of libraries—did (128 out of 323). The websites were slightly more likely to contain state e-government than federal e-government, with 112 (34.7%) containing some kind of state e-government items and 96 (29.7%) having some kind of federal e-government items. Links to federal and state websites were the most common manifestation of e-government, but a small number of libraries also contained e-government information, and an even smaller number of sites had state and federal e-government forms. For those that did have e-government on their sites, it was predominately related to taxes. In fact 25.4% (82 out of 323 sites) had federal and/or state tax items. Nine libraries had federal tax items only, another 9 had state tax items only, and 63 had both federal and state tax items. Of these, 71 had links to federal tax sites, 17 had federal tax information, and 10 had federal tax forms. Also, 71 had links to state tax sites, 16 had state tax information, and 11 had state tax forms (see table 1).

How were the different types of information combined on the websites that contained them? Were libraries more likely to have one kind of information and not others, or did most sites that had some kind of e-government generally have more than one kind?

Table 2 shows the relationship across different types of e-government on the websites. A total of 128 library websites had some kind of e-government items: 80 sites had both federal and state items, 32 had state with no federal items, and 16 had federal with no state items. As can be seen in the table, the most common representation of e-government items was sites with federal and state links (54 sites). An additional 26 had only state links and 12 had only federal links. The remaining 36 of the websites that had some e-government had a variety of combinations of items. There were 195 library websites that had neither state nor federal items of any kind.

Bivariate Analyses and Multivariate Analyses

This section of the data analysis uses bivariate and multivariate analyses to examine the second research question: What characteristics of libraries are related to a higher likelihood of having e-government items on the website? Also examined is the third research question. In the following bivariate tables, the federal and state items were condensed into two variables, one that indicated if there were any federal items and one if there were any state items on the websites. First examined are library variables such as whether the library employs ALA-MLS librarians, whether the library has branches, and type of governing agency.

Libraries with ALA-MLS librarians were about twice as likely to have e-government items on their websites than libraries without. Additionally, libraries with branches were much more likely to have e-government items than stand-alone libraries. For both of these calculations, the differences were statistically significant using a chi-square analysis (with alpha level of .05 or better). While there were differences between libraries with different types of governing agencies, these differences were not large enough to be statistically significant. See table 3.

The likelihood of libraries having e-government items on their websites differed greatly by location variables. City libraries were more than twice as likely to have federal items on their sites than rural libraries, and nearly twice as likely to have state items. These differences were statistically significant. When examined by the population of the service area (recoded into 5 groupings), libraries in areas of larger population were nearly twice as likely to have federal items and somewhat more likely to have state items. The differences on federal items were statistically significant, but for state items the differences were not great enough to be significant. This is partially a reflection of the greater likelihood of smaller libraries to have state items than to have federal items on their websites. There were enormous differences in likelihood of having e-government items by geographic region, and these differences were statistically significant. Libraries in the Rocky Mountain region and in the Southwest were the least likely to have e-government items on their websites (5.6% to 16.7%), and libraries in the Great Lakes and Far West regions were most likely (41.3% to 57.15). However, the percentages for libraries in the Rocky Mountain region and in the Far West region should be regarded with caution because the N for these two regions was very small—fewer than 20 libraries. About one-quarter to one-third of libraries in the Plains, New England, Southeast, and Mideast regions had e-government items. See table 4.

Research question 3 asked: Is the quality/complexity of the website overall related to a higher likelihood of having e-government items on the website? Three subjective evaluations of website quality were collected in the data analysis: the complexity of the site, ease of use, and accuracy as judged by broken links, empty pages, and other problems. When compared with the presence of federal and state items, the complexity of the website was significantly related to both, with nearly half of complex sites having both types of items compared to one-fifth to one-quarter of basic websites. The ease of use results came out differently than expected so a cross-tabulation of ease of use and complexity of website was conducted, which revealed that the more basic the website, the higher the ease of use. This makes sense, as a one-page website would be easier to use than a complex site. Complex websites were mostly likely to have a middle ease of use. When combined with the e-government variables, state items were most likely to be found on websites with a middle ease of use, which corresponds to complex websites. This was a statistically significant finding. The differences concerning federal items were not large enough to be statistically significant. It seems that overall library websites were mostly error-free as 83% of them had few or no broken links, empty pages, and other errors. The presence of e-government items on the sites seemed unrelated to this variable, and the differences across categories were not statistically significant. See table 5.

Correlation and Regression

A number of ratio level variables that are indicative of library size were used to examine the created variables EgovScore, FedScore, and StateScore to determine if the presence of these items on library websites was merely a reflection of larger libraries having websites with more information on them, including e-government information.

A Spearman’s rho analysis for correlation showed that many of the variables indicative of library size were correlated at a low to low-moderate level with the overall e-government score and the more specific FedScore and StateScore.²⁹ Note that the closer to 1.00 the correlation coefficient is, the stronger the correlation, and for these calculations the statistically significant correlation coefficients ranged from .130 to .273, numbers that show some correlation, but not at a very substantial level.³⁰ The variables with a more moderate correlation to the e-government items were the presence of ALA-MLS librarians, level of local government funding, and population of the service area. Lower correlations were found with the level of state funding, the total expenditure on the collection, and the level of federal government funding. These levels of correlation suggest that while larger libraries may be somewhat more likely to have this information on their sites (as evidenced in the previous bivariate analyses), there are factors other than library size that are predominately responsible for whether or not library websites contain e-government items. See table 6. Regardless of library size, was the overall quality of the website correlated with a higher likelihood of e-government items being represented on the site? A correlation analysis was run with the e-government scores and the variable WebsiteScore. The Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients ranged from .198 to .211, indicating a low-moderate effect of website quality with the presence of e-government items. See table 7.

While bivariate correlation presents a comparison of two variables, multivariate regression analysis allows several independent variables to be combined to test whether they interact to create a stronger model predicting the outcome of the dependent variable. The independent variables population of the legal service area, FTE ALA-MLS librarians, total annual expenditures of the collection, and local, state, and federal funding were applied in various combinations to regression models with the dependent variables EgovScore, FedScore, and StateScore. When the independent variables were run separately against each dependent variable, there was almost no predictive value (R2 ranged from .000 to .027). In combination, the above independent variables (excluding federal funding) created a model that predicted 8.8% of the variance of EgovScore, 8.1% of the variance of FedScore, and 8.0% of the variance of StateScore (R2 of .088, .081, and .080; F values of 6.147, 5.574, and 5.476 all significant at .000). These variables that, combined, were representative of the size of the library, predicted less than 10% of the likelihood that the library’s website would contain e-government items. Therefore, it can be concluded that library size is not very strongly responsible for whether or not the libraries had e-government information on their websites.

Discussion of Findings

Most public libraries, even very small ones, have a web presence these days, whether it is an independent website or part of a city website. More than one third (39.6%) of public libraries had some e-government items on their websites with the majority of these items being links to government sites and the subject of the links overwhelmingly related to taxes. State e-government items were slightly more likely to appear than federal items. Most websites that had e-government items on them had both federal and state items, with 37.5% having only one or the other. Concerning subjects other than taxes, 27 sites had information relating to government resources for unemployment (17 had both federal and state information and the remaining 10 had only state information). An additional 2 sites had federal and state government information concerning child services. Gibson, Bertot, and McClure, in a multifaceted study on the e-government needs of library users in Florida, found that the majority of requests (39%) were related to taxes.³¹ While the focus of that study and this study were different, it is heartening to note a continuity between what the libraries are offering (assistance with taxes through the library websites) and the requests of library users for tax help.

A variety of variables concerning characteristics of libraries, location, and website quality were related to e-government items on library websites. Many of these variables were indicators of library size such as whether or not the library employed ALA-MLS librarians, whether the library had branches, size of the population served, and whether the library was in a city versus a suburban or rural area. On all of these library size variables, the differences between differently sized libraries were statistically significant with larger libraries slightly or moderately more likely to have e-government items on their websites. Variables not related to library size included geographic region of the country, which was statistically significant, and type of governing agency, which did not show significant differences between libraries.

In analyzing the contents of the webpages, was the presence of e-government items simply a reflection of more sophisticated website design? More complex websites were somewhat more likely to have e-government items than basic websites, but even basic websites had these items at a rate of 20 to 25%, compared to nearly half of complex sites. The most easy to use websites were least likely to contain e-government items, most likely because the more basic websites were the easiest to use. Both complexity and ease of use were significantly related to e-government items on the website. The vast majority of libraries had few or no broken links or empty pages, and variations on this item in regards to e-government were not statistically significant.

Based on the assumption that larger libraries with more funding would have better websites that would be more likely to contain e-government items, more stringent analysis was done to determine the relationship between library size variables and the dependent variables in the study. Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between these variables and the constructed dependent variables EgovScore, FedScore, and StateScore.

While the cross-tabulation tables showed that larger libraries were somewhat more likely than smaller libraries to have put e-government items on their websites, these differences were not robust enough to result in substantial correlations or regression models. Correlation coefficients for Spearman’s rho calculations were less than .3, a number range generally considered to be low or lowmoderate. The variables with correlations closer to moderate were the presence of ALA-MLS librarians, level of local government funding, and population of the service area. Library size variables were also not highly predictive for the presence of e-government; the best regression models for these variables were only able to predict less than 10% of the variance in EgovScore, FedScore, and StateScore.

What these data are therefore indicating is that, even though websites of larger libraries are somewhat more likely to contain e-government items, most of the variation is due to some other variables and not just a function of library size. At the nuts and bolts level of library website creation, what ends up on the site comes down to the decision of an individual or group of individuals concerning what they think will be important to their library user base. As mentioned in the literature review, Chow, Bridges, and Commander found that many library websites are not designed by librarians, and e-government items are mostly not mentioned in the design literature. Since e-government items are not found on the majority of public libraries’ websites, site designers may either be making a conscious decision to not include these items, or the idea of whether or not to include them is not coming to mind.

The way that e-government access manifests on public library websites varies a great deal and, while not part of the quantitative analysis, it could be helpful to supply some specific examples of this variation. A brief comparison of the public library websites of three midsize cities shows some different approaches to e-government items. As an example of a library that is using their website as a digital outreach tool for e-government assistance, the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System webpage has a Services section with an extensive Income Tax Resources page and a link to the state’s Documents.OK.gov page. Their Tax Forms and Information page contains 58 federal and state tax documents and forms for download. They also have links to federal and state tax websites plus phone numbers for the federal and state tax offices and a description of the in-library tax services that people can access. In a different approach, the Seattle Public Library predominately uses their site to advertise their in-person e-government assistance and has much less in the way of digital outreach: it has a tax help page that describes their tax help for people who come in to the library, with a single link to the IRS webpage on their site. Washington State does not have state income tax so they obviously would not have state tax information on their site. Seattle Public additionally has a citizenship page that does not contain links to government sites, but encourages people to come to the library and to attend citizenship classes that the library offers. Another similarly sized city, Nashville, does not appear to have tax items on their public library websites, but they have other e-government links related to job searching such as the Tennessee Department of Labor Job Seekers site, State of Tennessee job site, and USA Jobs for federal government jobs. It is possible that Nashville could offer a tax page during tax season and disable the page during other times of the year. It is worth noting that “e-government” is not a term used on library websites because it is not a term that people perusing the sites would use. Instead, links and information are generally located on subject pages or in subject sections such as taxes, job assistance, citizenship, and so on.

Conclusions and Recommendations

While this study examined whether or not public libraries are including e-government in some fashion on their websites, an important question for librarians is: Is this a recommended practice? A number of authors have argued convincingly that physical libraries have become indispensable to communities as hubs where people can engage with e-government by using the free public library computers to look up information, fill out forms, request services, and more. As people begin to think of public libraries as a place to go to interact with government agencies through the Internet, it seems a logical step that people will go to the library website to get links to useful government sites. Since the 1990s, libraries have made various attempts to sort useful websites, including cataloging sites, creating lists of useful links or pathfinders, and otherwise helping patrons to navigate the enormous sea of unregulated Internet options. In this light, providing e-government on library websites is a continuation of this established practice. While an information-literate individual may have no problem finding the irs.gov website, a person with less skill may be lured from their Google search to a variety of commercial or other sites and have real difficulty finding the accurate site for their needs. The suggestion of these researchers is that digital outreach through the library website can help people find and navigate the sometimes confusing or difficult-to-find government sites by providing links directly to commonly sought sites and information.

The most important measure of whether e-government items are useful on the public library website is if users perceive of these items as something they would find useful. How likely are people, either from inside the library or outside of it, to go to the library site to look for e-government forms, information, or links? This study cannot answer that question. It is recommended that future research gather the opinions of librarians and library users by surveying them directly concerning their expectations in this regard.

References & Notes

1. Lemuria Carter and France Bélanger, “The Utilization of E-Government Services: Citizen Trust, Innovation and Acceptance Factors,” Information Systems Journal 15 (2005): 5–25.
2. Paul T. Jaeger and John Carlo Bertot, “Responsibility Rolls Down: Public Libraries and the Social and Policy Obligations of Ensuring Access to E-Government and Government Information,” Public Library Quarterly 30 no. 2 (2011): 91–116. DOI: 10.1080/01616846.2011.575699.
3. Kathryn Sigler, et al., “The Role of Public Libraries, the Internet, and Economic Uncertainty,” Librarianship in Times of Crisis—Advances in Librarianship 34 (2011): 19–35. DOI: 10.1108/S0065-2830 (2011)0000034005; Paul T. Jaeger, et al., “The Co-Evolution of E-Government and Public Libraries: Technologies, Access, Education, and Partnerships,” Library and Information Science Research 34 (2012): 271–81.
4. John Carlo Bertot, et al., “Public Access Computing and Internet Access in Public Libraries: The Role of Public Libraries in E-Government and Emergency Situations,” First Monday 11 no. 9 (2006).  (accessed Aug. 8, 2014); Paul T. Jaeger and Kenneth R. Fleischmann, “Public Libraries, Values, Trust, and E-Government,” Information Technology and Libraries (Dec. 2007): 34–43; Rachael Cathcart, “Librarian or Social Worker: Time to Look at the Blurring Line?” The Reference Librarian 49 no. 1 (2008): 87–91. DOI: 10.1080/02763870802103845.
5. Charles R. McClure, Paul T. Jaeger, and John Carlo Bertot, “The Looming Infrastructure Plateau?: Space, Funding, Connection Speed, and the Ability of Public Libraries to Meet the Demand for Free Internet Access,” First Monday 12 no. 3 (2007).
6. Amelia Gibson, et al., “Community Leadership through Public Library E-Government Services,” Florida Libraries (Spring 2008): 4–7.
7. John Carlo Bertot, et al., “Drafted: I Want You to Deliver E-Government,” Library Journal (Aug. 2006): 34–37.
8. Jaeger and Bertot, “Responsibility Rolls Down.”
9. Amelia N. Gibson, John C. Bertot, and Charles R. McClure, “Emerging Role of Public Librarians as E-Government Providers,” Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2009).
10. Robert Davidsson, “Welcome to the E-Government Library of the Future—Today,” Public Management (Apr. 2008): 16–18; Robert Davidsson, “Serving Government Clients Using Library Electronic Resources,” Florida Libraries (Spring 2006): 10–12; Paul T. Jaeger, “Building E-Government into the Library and Information Science Curriculum: The Future of Government Information and Services,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 49 no. 3 (2008): 167–79.
11. Nancy Fredericks, “Electronic Tools and E-Government Services,” Florida Libraries (Fall 2009): 4–6; Nancy Fredericks, “Chapter 5: E-Government and Employment Support Services: Addressing Challenges for Public Libraries,” The Transforming Public Library Technology Infrastructure (Aug./Sept. 2011): 33–37; Sigler et al., “The Role of Public Libraries.”
12. Fredericks, “Electronic Tools and E-Government Services”; Fredericks, “Chapter 5.”
13. Homa Naficy, “Centering Essential Immigrant Help on the Library Web Site: The American Place (TAP) at Hartford Public Library,” Public Library Quarterly 28 no. 2 (2009): 162–75. DOI: 10.1080/01616840902892440.
14. Jaeger, “Building E-Government into the Library and Information Science Curriculum.”
15. Roswitha Poll, “Evaluating the Library Website: Statistics and Quality Measures,” World Library and Information Congress: 73rd IFLA General Conference and Council, Durban, South Africa (Aug.2007), (accessed Aug. 3, 2014); Anthony S. Chow, Michelle Bridges, and Patricia Commander, “The Website Design and Usability of US Academic and Public Libraries: Findings from a Nationwide Study,”” Reference & User Services Quarterly 53 no. 3 (2014): 253–65; Matthew Reidsma, Responsive Web Design for Libraries: A LITA Guide (Chicago: American Library Association, 2014).
16. Peter Jorgensen, “Webmastering in the Public Library: Creating User-Friendly Websites for Staff and the Public,” Nebraska Library Association Quarterly 32 no. 2 (Summer 2001): 6–9.
17. Jaeger and Bertot, “Responsibility Rolls Down,” 100.
18. American Library Association, “U.S. Public Libraries and E-Government Services,” (2009). (accessed July 10, 2014).
19. Judy Hoffman, John Carlo Bertot, and Denis M. Davis, “Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study 2011–2012,” American Libraries digital supplement (June 2012): 1–97. http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4673a369: 30 (accessed Aug. 8, 2014).
20. American Library Association, “Library E-Government Services” (n.d.) (accessed July 30, 2014).
21. Jennifer Berryman, Egovernment: Issues and Implications for Public Libraries: A Report on Trends and Themes in the Literature for the Public Library Network Research Committee, State Library of New South Wales (Mar. 2004). (accessed July 30, 2014).
22. Luanne Freund, “E-informing the Public: Libraries and E-Government,” Library Connect Newsletter 11 no. 2 (2013).  (accessed July 25, 2014).
23. Leah Hopton and Luanne Freund, “The Digital Shift: Librarians and Public Access to Government Information,” Feliciter 57 no. 5 (2011): 197–99.
24. Freund, “E-Informing the Public.”
25. Bertot et al., “Drafted”; Jaeger and Bertot, “Responsibility Rolls Down”; Jaeger et al., “The Co-Evolution of E-Government and Public Libraries.”
26. David Lee King, “Building the Digital Branch: Guidelines for Transforming Your Library Website,” Library Technology Reports 45, no. 6 (Aug./Sept. 2009).
27. Chow, Bridges, and Commander, “Website Design,” 260–61.
28. Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries in the United States Survey (2010), (accessed Aug. 8, 2014).
29. While these variables are at the ratio level, a Spearman’s rho analysis was used instead of Pearson’s r because of factors in the data such as outliers to which the Pearson’s r test is sensitive.
30. David de Vaus, Analyzing Social Science Data (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2002).
31. Gibson, Bertot, and McClure, “Emerging Role of Public Librarians as E-Government Providers,” 5.

The post E-Government in Public Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Enter Leah Esguerra, the nation’s first full-time library Psychiatric Social Worker. Esguerra was hired in 2009 to do outreach to patrons in need of social services. Esquerra thinks that one of the recompenses of her time at the library is that she has become a recognizable face to the patrons and is therefore more approachable. She has noticed that she is even recognized on the streets as “that library lady.” Her job often is comprised of providing information to people about where they can access services like free meals, temporary shelters, and legal aid.  She does however sometimes encounter an individual who meets identifiable criteria, including being recurrently homeless, with a physical or medical condition, at which point her roles and services change. “I do the full clinical assessment. And then I make a presentation to my colleagues at the San Francisco homeless outreach team. They provide case management and also housing. In fact, since the program began, about 150 formerly homeless library patrons have received permanent housing and another 800 have benefited from other social services.”[1]

The Naysayers
Some are not happy with this service though. Often the San Francisco Public Library will get patrons who complain about these homeless patrons. One patron recently wrote a review on the main library’s Yelp page:”Can you please, please, please kick the homeless people out? They are disruptive in the stacks, leave their garbage, stink, body fluids at the desks. They use their bathrooms as their shower facilities.”[2]. Luis Herrera, San Francisco Public Library’s City Librarian, said that “urban libraries are one of the most democratic intuitions that we can have, and we welcome everybody; 99 percent of the individuals come in here, use the library respectfully, for its intended purpose, but we’re always going to have that small percentage that has some problems or some issues.”[3]  It would therefore be safe to say that the San Francisco Public Library is committed to this local revolution of how a library can inspire and help all of its community.

References
1. Library social worker helps homeless seeking quiet refuge. News Hour, San Francisco: PBS, 2015. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/library-social-worker-helps-homeless-seeking-quiet-refuge/

2. Ibid.

3 Ibid.

The post Social Workers and Librarians Working Together first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

As host of the podcasts, each week  I speak with a different person who has a unique perspective on owning a business. I’ve spoken with seasoned to newly minted business owners, franchise-owners, and people who are turning their business into a franchise. The podcasts are recorded on GarageBand, but Audacity also works. While some interviews have lasted between 20-35 minutes, the majority average 10-15 minutes. I upload the recording to SoundCloud and publish it on our library website and social media. To date I have hosted 10 business podcasts.

I have also taught a class on Podcasting 101 and was surprised at the variety of participants. In addition to business owners, there were educators who wanted to create a podcast for their students, nonprofit organizations who wanted to provide weekly updates and information on their causes, and comedians. The beauty of podcasting is that it works for a variety of users. And as podcasts can be created very easily and uploaded in a matter of minutes, they are a great way to easily and quickly share stories and connect community members.

While my podcast series may not have all the bells and whistles of a professional series—nor do I expect it to be as popular as Serial —I have gotten positive feedback from listeners. They are appreciative of the insights and stories of their peers and fellow community members. In the community that I serve, nearly 80% of businesses only consist of 1-4 employees, so we know that our podcast series topic resonates with our community. Have you used a podcast in your library? If so, share a link below so that we can check it out. You can listen the Barrington Area Library’s Entrepreneur series  here.

The post Creating Podcasts to Share Community Stories first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The mission of the DRC program is to “provide select probationers and parolees the opportunity to change criminal thinking and behavior through a combination of  counseling, educational programming, and close supervision.”¹ It is a non-resident prison alternative for people with drug addictions who have committed nonviolent crimes. Participants in the programs attend regular Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings. They also attend and participate in classes designed to help them change criminal behavior, take responsibility for their actions, and see how their behavior affects their lives and the lives of their families. Over the course of the program, clients learn what triggers their addictive behaviors and they develop positive coping strategies. They also work on basic life skills. They may take anger management training, parenting workshops, GED prep classes, and basic adult literacy classes if they need them. The program works hard to involve family members and other supporting individuals in their reintegration process. It also puts clients in touch with services in the community that they might use either while as part of the program, or when they leave. People from vocational rehabilitation programs, Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, Behavioral Services, the Department of Labor, the public library, and other area resources come and speak about the various services their programs offer. All programming used by the DRC is driven by the “What Works” body of research that identifies programming and principles that reduce recidivism and promote public safety.

All of these programs are available to clients free of charge while they are participating in the program. If clients consistently test positive for drugs, have attendance problems, or do not progress satisfactorily in the program, they can be reassigned to a traditional jail or prison for the duration of their sentence. The program lasts approximately one year and it has proven very effective. A Georgia State University study determined that a graduateof the program has a three year reconviction rate of 7 percent.² People completing a traditional jail sentence are reconvicted at a rate slightly over 25 percent. And, the program is an effective use of scarce funds. In 2012, it cost $16.40/day for a client to participate in a Day Reporting Center program. In comparison, it costs $50.17 a day to house and feed an inmate.³

A new group of clients begins the program in Tifton every four weeks. Classes vary from four or five parolees to no more than fifteen. The first day in the program can be daunting for many of the DRC’s new clients. They are drug tested and told that drug testing will be an integral part of their lives for the next nine to twelve months. They have new rules to follow, a new schedule to learn, and they receive a large amount of information about the resources that are available to them. Luckily, most clients bring a family member or close friend to act as their sponsor and advocate during this tumultuous period.

Introducing Library As Partner

TTCPL staff were invited to speak to incoming classes in the fall of 2011. The director of the center knew that the library offered a great deal of free programming for children and the idea was that a librarian would come out and tell the clients about activities they could do with their children that would be inexpensive and also help with their rehabilitation. A significant part of addiction rehabilitation is the substitution of good habits for bad, and since many people are strongly motivated by the desire to be good parents for their children, it is often possible to influence people by including their children in the discussion. Library staff spoke briefly about what was necessary to get a library card, and we handed out bookmarks and brochures explaining our services.

As the library staff listened to the introductory lectures that new clients received, it became evident that we had a great deal more to offer these people than a schedule for storytimes. We also realized that the library message was just one of many the clients received that first day and that, if we expected to make more of an impact, we needed to do something more interesting and dramatic than yet another presentation. We were seeing a few of the DRC clients in the library, but we did not think we were doing as good a job as we could to get them in the door and involved in what we offer other community members.

A New Level of Engagement

In late 2013, library employees John Mack Freeman and David Styer were able to work out a system by which we could register library patrons anywhere we decided to set up. The system employs Wi-Fi or Ethernet connections that allow a laptop-based integrated library system (ILS) to remotely hook into our server for instantaneous registration. The ILS that we use also features a stand-alone system to register people in locations that lack an Internet connection. TTCPL is a member of the PINES consortia of Georgia libraries that run the Evergreen ILS. Library staff members have now done library card drives at elementary and high school functions, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities in the area. After a discussion with DRC Director Kay Simpson and her staff, we now offer that service during our monthly presentations to the DRC clients.

Now, instead of a five- to ten-minute talk where some people’s interests may wander, we have a tightly regimented program that introduces DRC clients to the library quickly and easily. About a week before the new orientation, we receive a call from the DRC, letting us know when the event will be. The day before, the staff going to the event packs all of the items they will need, including a laptop, power cord for the laptop, extension cord, Ethernet cord, barcode scanner, pens, blank forms, blank cards, Sharpies (to write names on cards), brochures, and bookmarks.

Because the DRC program is not based in a prison/jail facility, the library staff does not have to undergo the same screening process that many outsiders encounter when attempting to enter a traditional prison. The staff knows us, we are allowed complete access to the facility, and the material we bring to the program is not screened for contraband. This streamlines the process greatly and contributes to the feeling that the staff and external organizations are working in partnership with the clients to help them achieve something positive and worthwhile. We are proud to contribute to that effort.

We arrive at the center about ten minutes before their 9 a.m. start time. During this time, one person will set up the laptop and load the ILS while the other person introduces themselves to the clients and their family members, passing out library card application forms. As people finish the forms, they are passed off to the person with the laptop so that they can immediately begin to register them. Because the ILS is available anywhere, any previous accounts, overdue balances, or other problems can immediately be seen and rectified.

As the tech person continues to register patrons, the other staff person is introduced by the DRC director. Then, that staff person introduces the library and delivers our five minute talk about the library that typically focuses on three main points: education, employment, and entertainment. After the talk, the presenter passes out the new library cards with brochures and bookmarks while the tech person tears down the registering station and packs it back up. Overall, the event takes about one hour of prep time and about one hour of staff time to attend each month. We know that taking much longer than this to explain services to people is probably wasted—the clients are overwhelmed with the amount of information they are receiving (some of it critical to them being able to remain in the program). The carry-home message from our presentation should be “The Library CAN and WILL help you do all sorts of great and useful things. Come see us.” Some groups of clients have more questions than others, and we will stay and talk to people as long as they have questions. The most common questions concern issues around getting library cards for clients’ children, borrowing times, and computer help. In addition, some people ask about programming for their children.

Both clients and their sponsors are able to get valid library cards before the library staff packs up and leaves. The DRC staff strongly encourages all participants in the program to apply for a card during this opportunity, though it is not required. We have noticed that while there are some people in the program that will already have a library card, the majority of the class will not. If we find a client with a card, we will make sure that it is valid and up-to-date and thank the client for supporting the library. Although we have discovered some patrons with outstanding materials, this has been a very small portion of the clientele. If the client has a card with a few fines on it, we will forgive the fines and issue a new card. We believe giving people another way to succeed is an important part of this program.

Best Practices

We have discovered a number of things working with the DRC. Many of their clients have not finished high school and many of them believe a public library is where educated people go to check out books that are not relevant to their lives. They need to hear someone say that the library is full of computers they can use to apply for jobs—they are not likely to read the brochure you handed out or left in a rack for them to pick up. They need to hear someone say that the public library has DVDs they can borrow as well as books and programming for their kids. They need to hear someone say that public library staff will help them do what they need to do, whether that is get an email address, find a book on how to raise a child with a disability, or apply for a job. Most of these clients are not well off, and the DRC staff has heard many comments from clients on how helpful having the library available to borrow materials has been to them. This feedback is, in our minds, another strong indication that the program is worthwhile.

We don’t look at this program as an instance of the wonderful public library coming to the aid of people down on their luck. The clients of the DRC are part of our patron base, and not meeting their unique needs would be a disservice to our community. Although we could use the DRC to help us find a client that has lost or overdue materials, we have never wished to do so. We also do not indicate on any of the clients’ paperwork received from the DRC that they were registered there. As members of our community, they deserve all of the benefits that come with having a library card. And, for people who have typically had negative experiences with authority figures and government agencies, forming a positive connection with these patrons may help their overall community connection in the long run.

The library staff is often asked to do community presentations for funding, service organizations, and other groups, and we try to work in our relationship with the DRC as often as possible. The local library board has been very supportive of a program that grew very quickly from a one-off presentation to a marginalized group to a scheduled monthly event. Since there is very little budgetary impact and minimal staff requirement (the DRC site is less than half a mile from the library and we do our program in approximately an hour first thing in the morning, so there is little impact on library staffing), we feel that this program is nothing but a win for us.

Since we have been registering DRC clients for library cards during their program orientation, we have seen an increase in library visits by program participants. One of the unexpected perks of the program is that DRC staff members have become loyal library supporters. A number of staff members have registered for cards while we were registering clients and have started coming to the library and using services they had not previously known we offer! DRC staff members often hear comments from clients surprised at what they find when they come into the building. Both DRC and library staff members are very pleased with this collaboration and have every intention of continuing to work together.

Bringing This Program to Your Area

If you are interested in starting a program like this in your area, here are a few things you might like to know.

Understand the Programs Near You

If there are groups in prison settings, make sure the people in the program actually get to go home at night. Also, there may be many restrictions as to who is allowed to go into a prison, how many people, what they are allowed to bring into the facility and/or leave there. Prisons sometimes have their own libraries, and there are prison librarians. There may be opportunities to form partnerships that are completely different than the program we do, but they will still be worthwhile. As is the truth in so much of library work, the more flexible you are, the more likely you are going to be able to do something successful and worth doing.

What Kind of Flexibility Do You Have With Your ILS?

Can you search your patron database when you are not in the building? Although we do forgive fines attached to patrons and will issue a new library card free of charge to people in the program, we are not able to forgive outstanding library property. Not being able to search the patron database in real time leaves you open to giving a card to someone who may owe you a significant amount of property.

Find the Right Staff

There may be some judgmental people working in your library; you should leave them there when you go out to do programs such as this. Cultivate a positive attitude. The staff at the Tifton DRC are dedicated professionals who spend their lives coaching, cajoling, and being cheerleaders for people who may never have had anyone on their side before. We need to do the same. We tell the clients, “We are here to meet you where you are now and help you get where you want to go”—just like any other patron that might come in the building.

References

1.  Georgia Department of Corrections, Day Reporting Centers & DRC Lite Fact Sheet, accessed Sept. 30, 2014.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.

The post It’s What Works: Outreach to Probationers and Parolees first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Former executive-director of LIT and a former school librarian in a juvenile detention center, Jessica Fenster-Sparber, observes that “jails, detention centers, and prisons provide a unique opportunity to address young people’s literacy gaps…excellent school libraries are in dire need at these sites.”[2]

The Challenges

There is a lot more to consider than just encouraging reluctant readers to read. Challenges include:

1. Collection development.
2. Institutional compliance and cooperation.
3. Inclusion of incarcerated teens as part of the public library’s young adult/outreach services.
4. Collaboration with school, correctional facilities and public libraries.

Books for Incarcerated Youth

Public libraries need to recognize literacy’s role in empowering incarcerated teens. Dr. Ernest Morrell, Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) at Teachers College, Columbia University, explains it best: “Literacy is not just about decoding text. It’s about becoming a superior human being that can act powerfully upon the world.”[3]

Public librarians can access many specialized lists such as The New York Public Library’s Incarcerated Teens: A Booklist and School Library Journal’s From the Underground column.

The good news, however, is that young adult librarians already have the tools to work with this population. Dr. Alfred Tatum, current Director of the University of Illinois Chicago Reading Clinic, calls for the use of enabling text, ”texts that [minority students], (60% of incarcerated teens), find meaningful and that will help them…move beyond some of the tur­moil-related experiences they encounter outside school.” Dr. Tatum stresses that enabling text can “serve as a road map for being, doing, thinking, and acting.” [4]

Incarcerated teens do not want a “one size fits all” collection. Yes, they want urban fiction, but fantasy and other young adult genres appeal to them also. It is up to the librarian to get to know each individual audience.

School Libraries/Public Libraries Partnerships

Collaborative efforts between school districts and public library systems increase programming efforts, too.

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Boys Totem Town, a juvenile detention center, was able to host Young Adult author, Francisco X. Stork, through a partnership with the Ramsey County Library, which helped fund the project. Stork spoke to students about his novel Behind the Eyes (Dutton, 2006), which deals with reform school. The Ramsey County Library’s outreach regularly visits the facility with both books and programs.[5]

Sabrina Carnesi is school librarian at a STEM magnet school in Newport News, Virginia. She promotes literacy services to many formerly detained youth. Her school library’s “Young Gents and Young Ladies” book discussion group addresses tough topics that these kids confront outside of their academic day. [6]

Young adult librarians and school librarians need to be attuned to teens inside facilities and those recently released. They share the same literacy concerns.

Innovation Gained Through Cooperation

Correctional facilities and public libraries are teaming up for pilot programs as new technologies emerge in library services. The correctional facility is a very important stakeholder in planning and is vital to program success.

Presently, Passages Academy has become the first school library to get iPads into the hands of its incarcerated students with, of course, the cooperation of the New York City Department of Corrections.[7]

Through the Urbana Free Library, the University of Illinois School of LIS and IMLS Mix IT Up, Joe Coyle offers a Teen Open Lab, a weekly digital music production program at the Champaign County JDC . The library and JDC hope that these pre-adjudicated teens will continue their library association through this program.

Promoting a Life-long Activity

In many states, teens as young as sixteen, are incarcerated in adult jails. Reading and literacy skills can be the one positive thing they leave jail with.

Barbara Roos, coordinator of teen services for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Louisiana and outreach coordinator to the local juvenile detention, gives them another—a Library Exit Packet. It includes an information packet about her library and its services, bookmarks for Text-a-Librarian and online databases, a coupon worth $5 at the library book store, a Fresh Start coupon to erase any fines they had, a previously approved library card, and a free book.[8]

Ms. Roos’ philosophy: We want to keep them reading.

Literacy and Education—The Better Alternatives

Whatever the reasons why they became incarcerated, promoting literacy and education are far better solutions than incarceration. One million dollars invested in incarceration reduces 300 crimes; one million dollars invested in education reduces 600 crimes.[9]  Literacy works.

[1] Chung, S. (2014). Literacy for Incarcerated Teens. School Library Journal, Fall (September). Retrieved October 13, 2014, from http://www.slj.com/2014/09/literacy/literacy-for-incarcerated-teens/#_

[2] Ibid

[3] Morrell, E. (Keynote Speaker) (2014, June 3). Cultivating Youth Voices: Literacy and Agency for African American Males. Building a Bridge to Literacy. Lecture conducted from School of Information and Library Science at UNC, Chapel Hill.

[4] Tatum, A. (Keynote Speaker) (2014, June 3). Bridge to Literacy. Building a Bridge to Literacy. Lecture conducted from School of Information and Library Science at UNC, Chapel Hill.

[5] Marta, M. (2013). Partners In Success. School Library Journal, 11(1) (January 2013), 23-28.

[6] (E-mail interview, 10/09/14).

[7] Fenster-Sparber, J. A.Kennedy, C.Leon, & Schwartz. (2012). E-reading Across the Digital Divide. Young Adult Library Services, 10(4) (2013, Summer), 38-41.

[8] Roos, B. (2012, Spring). Beyond the Bars Serving Teens In Lockdown. Young Adult Library Services, 10(2), 12-14.

[9] Knewton, Breaking the Prison Cycle through Education. Infographic. Houghton Mifflin Company, Inc. 2013. http://www.knewton.com/prison-education/.

The post When the Prison Doors Slam Shut On a Teen: Hope in Literacy first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Library outreach services to the incarcerated aren’t just about the people inside the jail. Their children and families benefit from library outreach services as well. Long before our nation’s current shift of attention toward its broken prisons and jails, our leading library systems were focused on serving those in jail and their families within the communities.

Children of the Incarcerated

The National Family Resource Network estimates that there are at least 2 million children with an incarcerated parent. Yet that figure doesn’t count the close to 10 million children who have a parent who is under some form of criminal supervision such as probation or parole. [1]

Nicholas Higgins, Director of Outreach Services at Brooklyn Public Library, was well aware of those figures when he started the “Daddy and Me” program while serving as the “jail” librarian on Rikers Island. That program, which fostered family literacy, included children’s visits with incarcerated fathers at Rikers and DVDs of fathers’ reading aloud books sent home to their children. Suddenly, an incarcerated father didn’t seem so far away, thanks to library outreach services.

Televisit

Now, thanks to Nick’s vision, the BPL, a lot of shared collaboration, and an innovative CISCO telecommunications system called Televisit, those “Daddies” are even closer to home.

Televisit, located at the BPL Central Library branch, is a shared video feed between Rikers Island and BPL where inmates and families participate in a shared family literacy program. It is meant to supplement, not replace, in-person visits.

Having Someone In Jail Is Not Something To Be Ashamed Of

Children, from birth 10 years-old, can participate in “televisits” in one of seven semi-private rooms in the Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons at the Central branch of the library. The rooms, filled with Muppets, stuffed animals, books, crayons, and giveaways, are inviting and welcoming. Sesame Street characters from the Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration video series have been donated by Lynn Chwatsky along with support material from the program.[2] The Televisit rooms, off to one side, offer privacy, but in no way are hidden—BPL wants to reinforce the message that having a loved one in jail is not something to be ashamed of.

Offering Children of the Incarcerated Support

According to Families Left Behind: The Hidden Costs of Incarceration and Reentry, children of the incarcerated experience PTSD symptoms and experience the same grief as a child who has lost a parent—with good reason, too.[3] The 2013 Sentencing Project Annual Report found that 59% of parents in state prisons and 45% in federal prisons had not had any personal visits with their children while in prison.[4]

And children of the incarcerated receive very little support—often they receive just the opposite—teasing, bullying, shame. Through the Televisit program and BPL’s Children’s Services, the children of the incarcerated are being offered that support.

Televisit Overcomes The Obstacles of Time And Distance

Televisit offers the child and the parent help in overcoming the obstacles that the Women’s Prison Association counts as ways to discourage children from visiting a parent in jail[5]:

• Inadequate information about visiting procedures.
• Difficulty scheduling visits.
• Geographic location of prison facilities.
• Family’s inability to afford transportation.
• Visiting procedures that are uncomfortable or humiliating.
• Visiting rooms that are inhospitable to children.
• Foster parents or caregivers who are unwilling to facilitate visits.

Instead of a “drug dog” sniffing a baby stroller in the visitor’s room, Televisit offers the child both a comfortable, safe, and welcoming environment as well as a shared literacy experience with a parent.

Nick Higgins understands that shared moments between a child, a parent, and a book are ones that a child never forgets and he wants to create those moments despite a parent’s incarceration. He wants to expose both parent and child to the library services available to them at the public library. For both parent and child, this shared moment can be a lifelong learning opportunity.

Library Outreach Services Is Where It All Begins

The touchpoint to the parents and the children is at New York Public Library’s and now Brooklyn Public Library’s collaborative jail book services at Riker’s Island. Outreach library services to the incarcerated, book services, literacy programs, and re-entry information services provide the connection to their families.

The services to the incarcerated at Riker’s along with services to their children and families converge at the intersection of what we call “outreach services.” Televisit is a perfect example of services interfacing with each other in order to fulfill the needs of more than one part of the library community.

No One Forgets Being Read To

Nicholas Franklin, Coordinator of Transitional Services at BPL, recently sat in at Rikers with one of the inmates while the inmate visited via Televisit with his one and a half year old at BPL. She excitedly ran around the Televisit room picking up toys to show her father as he responded: he read her a book, he sang a song, he played peek-a-boo. All the while, other inmates passed by; some correctional officers peeked in. The inmate was as engaged as his daughter, oblivious to his surroundings or any interruptions. Finally, his daughter ran up to the large screen and began to blow kisses at the screen. He blew kisses back.

The inmate’s lack of inhibition and his engagement manifested his concern for his daughter and Franklin observed, “I think this experience helped him realize what a positive effect he could have on her life.”

Televisit and Jail Library Outreach Services

BPL’s Televisit embraces the family’s role in early literacy and embraces the library’s role in re-entry and outreach services to the incarcerated.

Televisit recognizes the stark reality that you don’t have to be arrested to be caught in the cycle of incarceration.

The post Library Outreach Services Helps Families of the Incarcerated Stay Connected first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Blame isn’t Productive
It’s often nobody’s fault, and besides looking for blame  won’t get you anywhere – but we are wired to look for it (and often become stuck there). Typically, after a failure, you’ll process what went wrong, make notes on what/how you might have done things differently and vow not to repeat the missteps. But what do you do if you’re only setting yourself up for failure again, because the variable that killed the project is outside of your control? The more and more we attempt and fail, the more dispirited we will become towards the idea of collaboration, and the less we will pursue – confusing the culprit (so-and-so “dropped the ball,” “they never got back to us”) and missing the diagnosis (they lacked enthusiasm, they were unorganized, etc.).

Embracing Timelessness
After a few community partnership attempts went awry at my library, we came up with an idea.  We were determined to prevent our time challenges from getting in the way of these meetings. Scouring our initial spirited emails (when the idea of collaboration was truly at its more energetic – the courting phase) for language about what we’d hoped a specific collaboration might be or look like, we decided that maybe we didn’t have to meet with these outside organizations at all.  In this car, the organization we wanted to partner with was a neighborhood health association nonprofit that wanted to provide its clientele with community resources and didactic guidance and instruction – so that’s what we did. And that’s when we thought of Outreach in a Box.

The Concept
In essence, the idea and development, is very similar to that of a book group in a box, but more service-oriented and directed. We would pack up a box full of specifically tailored pathfinders, collection spotlights, resource guides, card signup links, and library promo materials. But we also wanted to have a physical presence there – a little satellite library that could maybe even be eventually used as a community reads distribution center, or at least have a more substantial presence than a couple bookmarks and flyers lying on a countertop.

The Design
Inspiration strikes at the most unexpected times. After nailing down the concept – yet still uncertain as to the vehicle that would deliver the most bang for our buck – a friend anecdotally passed on a bit of trivia regarding Chinese takeout boxes being purposefully designed to not only carry (or deliver) the food, but also to serve as plates. And boom, it came to me. The design concept would not just be a Tupperware style/cardboard box, merely transporting the items, but it would also be substantial and attractive (indeed representative of and projecting our library’s branding, colors, fonts, and style) enough for display and to house our materials.

What We Learned
Take the work out of their hands. On the simplest level, this is no different than the literal explication a librarian shares with any patron approaching the reference desk with a question regarding public/social services. Don’t make it more (work) than it really is. Remove the ego, the blame, etc. and focus on the end product. It’s not about whom, it’s about what. We contacted the organization with our idea and they loved it. Our box is in its developmental stages, and I’ll be sure to post once we’ve completed it.

The post Outreach in a Box first appeared on Public Libraries Online.