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.

Nick Higgins, director of Outreach Services at Brooklyn Public Library, started this “TeleStory” program in 2014. He had previous experience working as a librarian at Rikers Island for a few years and proceeded to work closely with the Department of Corrections to turn visitation rooms, used primarily for video chats with attorneys, into a warm and welcoming environment for prisoners to video chat with their families. The process to schedule a “visit” is fairly simple: The family of the incarcerated gives the BPL forty-eight hours’ notice before a desired visit so that the appropriate paperwork can be filled out and the visit can be arranged and scheduled. The demand, however, has gone up so much that some families have had to be turned away, so the additional TeleStory stations will alleviate the lack of resources and bring more families together.^[4]

What BPL is doing is not just innovative but also incredibly necessary. As more and more prisons are doing away with in-person visits and favoring video visitation instead, they are also charging family members of the incarcerated about a dollar per minute for the privilege to communicate with each other. For low-income communities with high incarceration rates, the cost of communication/contact with imprisoned family members can leave a family deeply in debt, furthering the incarceration cycle; “Poverty, in particular, perpetuates the cycle of incarceration, while incarceration itself leads to greater poverty.”^[5]

Although it has been statistically shown that the more in-person prison visits an individual receives, the less likely they are to return to prison by violating their parole or re-offending after release, prisons continue to remove in-person visits in order to save money.^[6] Texas has been a prime example of this phenomenon: Texas legislators passed bill HB 549 in May of 2015,^[7] which stated that prisons must “provide each prisoner at a county jail with a minimum of two in-person, noncontact visitation periods per week of at least 20 minutes duration each.”^[8] At least twenty-two counties in Texas have since won an exemption to the bill, thereby confining visits to video chats only.^[9] And they are continuing to charge exorbitant prices, sometimes as much as thirty dollars for twenty minutes of communication.^[10]

The battle for in-person visitation is beginning to move towards other states.^[11] It’s clear that the tele-visit is not only staying but is the only option for some families. The fact that the BPL is creating a safe and affordable space for families takes away some of the toll, both financial and emotional, that incarceration puts on the incarcerated and their families, hopefully abating the damage of the poverty-prison cycle.

References

[1] Stephen M. Lilienthal, “Prison and Libraries: Public Service Inside and Out,” Library Journal, February 4, 2013.

[2] Jack Smith IV, “Prisons Want to Use Tech to End In-Person Visits — These Librarians Have a Different Plan,” Mic, June 23, 2016.

[3] Chris Weller, “This library’s heartwarming program lets inmates read stories to their kids on video chat,” Tech Insider, June 30, 2016.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Saneta deVuono-powell et al, “Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families,” Executive Summary (Oakland, CA: Ella Baker Center, Forward Together, Research Action Design, 2015), 11.

[6] “Prison Visits Make Inmates Less Likely To Commit Crimes After Release, Study Finds,” RJNews 13, no. 1, March 2012, reprinted with permission by Corrections.com.

[7] Jack Smith IV, “The End of Prison Visitation,” Mic, May 5, 2016.

[8] An act relating to certain duties of the Commission on Jail Standards regarding visitation periods for county jail prisoners, House Bill 549, Texas Government Code 20 (2015): 4.

[9] Jack Smith IV, “The End of Prison Visitation.”

[10] Jack Smith IV, “Prisons Want to Use Tech to End In-Person Visits — These Librarians Have a Different Plan.”

[11] Jack Smith IV, “The End of Prison Visitation.”

The post TeleStory Connects Familes at Brooklyn Public Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

As we strive to serve every member of the community, especially our YA patrons, public librarians may be looking to learn a bit more about a particularly marginalized group, transgender youth. Transgender youth, defined as those who do not conform to prevalent gender norms, can be an overlooked segment of the LGBT community. As society becomes more accepting of LGBT issues, transgender youth are also increasingly more  comfortable being open about who they are. However, despite recent societal inroads, trans youth are at increased risk for being ostracized, as well as physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Currently, 41 percent of trans people attempt suicide, according to the University of California Los Angeles, School of Law’s Williams Institute.¹

As these kids are increasingly claiming their right to define and express themselves in new ways, they may seek resources including—but not limited to—hormone treatment, gender reassignment surgery, name change, and cross-living. Whether they are seeking resources, or just a bathroom to change in, public libraries can be an excellent support network for this sidelined group. And though it might sound complicated, it’s as easy as learning about and understanding any other group within your community.

In an effort to shed a little light on the lives of trans young adults, I talked to Jennifer Leininger at the Gender & Sex Development Program at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Leininger’s extensive knowledge of the subject and experience in providing inclusivity training to local Chicago-area schools can help us make decisions when considering programming, collection development, and overall service to this YA
group.

Public Libraries (PL): Tell us a little bit about the Gender & Sex Development Program at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and what you do there.

Jennifer Leininger (JL): We are a multidisciplinary clinic. I’m the only non-clinician on the team. We have a mental health team with two psychologists and a psychiatrist as well as a medical team, endocrinologist, and pediatricians specializing in adolescent medicine. Of course everyone on the medical and mental health teams also specialize in supporting gender work. I manage the gender program and I do a lot of the community outreach, advocacy, and education, making sure that the folks in our program are supported not just from a medical and mental health perspective but also in their social settings and communities. We all work together to help foster a holistic approach, recognizing that just like every human is different, every person navigating their gender is also different and needs different things. So we accommodate that idea and provide the necessary support unique to their needs.

PL: Before we move ahead, let’s talk about terms. What are some of the terms, definitions, and concepts that readers should become familiar with?

JL: So, language is really powerful. Young people in particular, really tune into when language is used to be supportive and when language is used in a harmful way. So often what happens is folks aren’t familiar with what to say, and they may say something that seems unsupportive, and that can be really tricky to navigate.

I think it is important to distinguish between all of these things that make up who we are as unique individuals. So, as far as terms and concepts there is:

• Sex Assigned at Birth. So that’s body parts, internal and external genitalia, and chromosomes. It determines the birth-assigned sex and what gender we think someone might be.
• Gender Identity. Gender identity is someone’s deeply felt sense of self, which is not always the same as someone’s sex assigned at birth. Everyone has a gender identity of being male, female, something other, something in-between, but that again can be different from sex assigned at birth.
• Gender Expression. Then there is gender expression, which is individual characteristics of what we do that is perceived as more masculine or feminine. So that can be everything from clothing, appearance, play preference for younger kids, speech patterns, all kind of things. So that’s a little bit more like socially perceived as being male or female, masculine or feminine.
• Gender Nonconforming. Gender nonconforming is a term that I will probably use in the course of this interview. Related expressions include gender variant, gender expansive, and gender creative. Those all fall into the category of gender expressions that fall outside of society’s expectations of someone’s sex assigned at birth. And this is a little confusing as it may or may not impact someone’s gender identity. So it could be someone who is male sex-assigned at birth and identifies as male, but likes to express his femininity, so he identifies as a boy but likes to express his femininity. It could also be someone who is sex-assigned at birth as male but identifies as female and likes to express her femininity, so I think that is where it can be a little tricky. As far as gender nonconforming, it is a long-standing occurrence, so six months or more, [so] not someone who is a little boy who identifies as a boy but puts on a dress from the kindergarten dress-up day and wears it around all day. That’s adorable but not necessarily gender nonconforming. So someone—you know I don’t love the term “tomboy”—but that is the term that most people are familiar with and that would be a female who identifies as female but is expressing her masculinity, so that is a nonconforming female.
• Sexual Orientation. Sexual orientation is really different from gender identity. Sexual orientation is the gender to which folks are sexually and romantically attracted, so that really is external in terms of the other person, [rather] than gender identity, which is internal and how you feel. Part of talking about inclusion means having diverse representation of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is definitely different from gender identity, and that is so important for folks to understand. You know when we are talking about gender, we are not talking about sex, we are actually just talking about how someone feels and is.
• Cisgender. Cisgender is a term used to describe folks whose gender identity is congruent or the same as their sex assigned at birth. So someone, who is born with a penis and identifies as male is a cisgender guy. Related, there is this wonderful team of lawyers that I work with on some policy work and one of them asked me, “Why do we need to include this term cisgender in the list of key terms?” My response is that it really helps us avoid saying things like non-transgender students or even on The Morning Shift [WBEZ Chicago, NPR Affiliate, a radio show Leininger recently appeared on²], the caller, I think, didn’t quite know what to say so she said “traditional” students. I’ve heard other folks say “normal students.” So instead of saying those things, the right term is cisgender, so now we are all empowered with that information.
• Transgender. And then transgender is an umbrella term, so basically it is a number of different gender identities that fall under the trans umbrella, but as individuals whose gender identity is different than sex assigned at birth. Trans means across, right? The big thing to remember is that it applies to identity so it does not really have anything to do with how someone looks or how someone behaves. And it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with someone’s body parts; I think that there is sort of a fixation with transgender people’s bodies, in a way that is really unsupportive. How do you know if someone is transgender? They tell you. It is not pathological, it can’t be diagnosed. I think that is also important for parents to know. It is not something that you can go to a therapist and they can say, “Oh your kid is transgender.” The other thing that is helpful to know is that transgender is an adjective, so it is not a noun or a verb. So, “she is a transgender” is incorrect. It is incorrect as a verb, so “that person is transgendered,” or saying a transgendered person is also incorrect. Correct would be saying something like a trans male, a transgender student, a trans person—any of those is certainly the right way to use it.

I think with any of these terms it is just important to remember to let people self-identify. But this is a helpful shared language to understand the experiences of the people we serve in libraries and in the community.

PL: On The Morning Shift program you talked about training that you are doing for Chicago-area schools on making the schools more inclusive for transgender youth. How did this come about and what is the goal of the training?

JL: We’ve been doing the training as part of the program for the past few years. Actually there has been a huge increase in requests for training, which is exciting, as folks are seeing this as an emerging diversity issue.

Basically I work with staff members to provide an understanding of gender diversity within a school framework, and to discuss best practices that support all students around gender diversity including but not limited to those who are transgender and gender nonconforming.

Depending on how much time we have [for training] we can really delve into scenarios. Language is certainly a part of that. I definitely take the opportunity to talk about why it is important to support gender diverse students and include gender diversity in language and curriculum just like with everything else, kind of try to thread it into the framework of the education process. So, that is sort of the goal.

PL: I believe this training was required in the schools after a touchy locker room issue?

JL: Locker rooms and bathrooms are definitely the issue that has been most contentious at this point, but certainly not the only issues that trans young people are navigating. Some trans young people have trouble getting a teacher to call them by a name that feels good and honors their gender identity. Some young people do not have their preferred name and pronoun in the student information system, so a substitute teacher might out them. That happens a lot.

They face bullying and harassment in locker rooms and bathrooms but certainly not only in those spaces. So part of the training is also understanding how this is not just about access to facilities. This does not begin and end with where we change and where we go to the bathroom.

It is about creating a space that reflects and celebrates gender identity and gender diversity, in the school culture, in the language we use, and in the ways that we interact with all students, including those who are trans and nonconforming. Recently, a colleague mentioned how violent it can feel for trans young people to feel that they are not reflected in any way in the curriculum or the language and I think that can be pretty devastating.

Something I always try to say at the beginning of trainings is that this is not a political training. The goal is not necessarily to get folks to change their beliefs because sometimes there are certain beliefs tied to gender and how folks feel people should identify, but these students are at increased risk for a number of different factors including dropout rates. So the goal is to make sure that all of the students get educated and at the end of the day here is what you need to do to make sure that happens and make sure that students feel supported. Regardless of how someone feels. So the goal isn’t necessarily to change hearts and minds but if that happens I’m fine with it.

PL: Transgender people face systemic exclusion and are often targets of misunderstanding and violence from individuals as well as institutions. How can public libraries and public library staff members best become allies to transgender youth?

JL: Well this is my favorite question, of course. So similar to schools, there is a lack of gender diversity representation in school curriculums and in libraries so a big part of combatting that is by having inclusive programming and books. Having books that feature gender diversity, LGB and T characters, and having them not just sit on the shelves but also [represented] in the activities.

Put it on a booklist, put it on a display that you are creating, because that is really demonstrating that the libraries and librarians are being proactive. So LGBT history month, the transgender day of remembrance, we can use that as we would any racial minority or religious minority group. Create a display around gender minority folks.

The more included they feel, the more engaged young people will be. Similar to schools, the goals is to keep folks engaged. That is a big part of libraries, too. If a transgender teen comes in and sees the book Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, that really shows them that… “Hey, this is a place for me, too.”

Including books and characters that are interrupting gender stereotypes is a big thing and that is liberating for everyone. It shows that there is not just one way to be male, female, or anything else. And showing different genders, different sexual orientations, different families, is important.

The other thing I did want to bring up—the bathroom issue is actually really significant at libraries. I knew that it was significant in all public spaces, but because libraries are such a commonly used public space, a lot of transgender teenagers will come into the library and maybe they are not supported at home. Someone who identifies as female but who has to have a masculine expression at home might come into the library to change. They might use the facility to change or they may be seeking resources. We don’t ask cisgender people to look a certain way when they use a bathroom so just remember that it is not very supportive to ask transgender people to look a certain way either.

I understand that there are safety issues that folks are concerned about, but we need to recognize that trans young people deserve to feel like the library is a space where they can feel supported and making sure that the bathrooms are a place where they can change or go to the bathroom just like everyone else, without fear of harassment or bullying. And it could sometimes be bullying by a staff member. Actually bullying by security guards, in this respect, is a big issue.

PL: This is a relatively new phenomenon and some persons may not yet have overcome their biases in regards to the transgendered. What are some resources for further information and how can a person who is uncomfortable with the idea of transgender best serve transgender youth?

JL: While society is more open to transgender people now, it is not really a new phenomenon. There are transgender people in history. There is a kids’ book about one of the fastest carriage drivers in the West, who was actually a transgender male, so his sex assigned at birth was female but no one knew that until he died. But lately there has been much more of a cultural awareness, which is really so exciting.

It is OK to feel uncomfortable. But recognize that everyone deserves to use the library and feel safe and supported in those spaces regardless of people’s own personal beliefs and biases. Sometimes it is a matter of looking internally and asking yourself, “How do I feel about this?” and “How will what I am thinking or doing be negatively reflected back to the patron?” It is just customer service, making sure that everyone is treated fairly and equitably in the public space, regardless of how you might feel about their gender identity or expression.

If you are not sure of someone’s pronoun, you can always ask. You can ask in a supportive way, like “Hey my name is ___ , I’m the librarian on duty today, I prefer she and her pronouns. Is there a name and pronoun that you would like me to use while we are working together today?” That can be a way to lead in without feeling uncomfortable.

Just like anything else, folks are entitled to feel whatever belief or bias they have, but part of their job is to create a space where everyone feels welcome and supported. So just remembering that. And I do think that knowledge is power. If there is something that makes you uncomfortable, maybe doing a little bit of digging and looking at some of these resources will help you understand better—regardless of how you might feel—
and also, it is important to make sure folks do not feel ostracized. You know they are already a marginalized population at risk for violence and harassment in schools and in any other public space, so how can we combat that regardless of how we feel? No one deserves to feel that kind of violence.

PL: Learning about transgender lives can break stereotypes and put a human face on issues that persons may not have encountered personally. Is there media available that can help put a human face on these issues?

JL: I Am Jazz is a reality show that follows a transgender teen. Transparent is a little bit more adult but might be a good opportunity to understand trans folks. There are also a lot of clips available online—some of them are good, some of them are not so good—but I think hearing directly from folks navigating these spaces as a transgender person can be really helpful. So it is not just hearing that two thirds of these people have faced violence and harassment for the first time in school; that is scary, but doesn’t mean anything really unless you put a face to it.

As far as Transparent, I work with children more than adults but obviously some folks have to wait to come out as their authentic gender until they are done with their careers, until a parent dies, or a child is out of the house, or for whatever reason.

If you are not sure of someone’s gender, one question also might be, “Do I need to know in order to help this person?” For example, if you are just directing them to where Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is, gender expression or identity doesn’t really matter. A smile goes a long way. Both children and older folks can tell when someone is uncomfortable around them. This group has been marginalized so they have to be hyper-aware for their safety, so when they are working with someone—a librarian or an educator, whoever they may be—and that person is demonstrating discomfort, that really sends the wrong message.

PL: Transgender youth may be struggling with a number of issues, from health to safety. What are some situations that may arise (or have arisen in the person’s life) and what is the best method for navigating or helping the transgendered person in those situations?

JL: There is a term, transphobia, and it basically is discrimination toward gender minorities. Gender is really deeply entrenched in our society, so folks that don’t conform to traditional binary ideas can face severe harassment and there are increased risks for violence and harassment. That can be everything from isolation, teasing, bullying, and gossip. I think there are few ways to approach those issues. Be proactive, show that the library is a safe and supportive environment through systemic work, make sure there is a diversity statement including gender identity, through policy work around bathrooms, and having those systems in place.

Be proactive and also be reactive. Recognize what transphobic language sounds like. Hearing things like transphobic slurs, or hearing someone who is being misgendered, can be hard if you do not have a relationship with the young person and don’t know their gender pronoun. Being misgendered [using a name and pronoun that doesn’t align with a person’s preferred gender identity] is a really common way that transphobia manifests itself.
So, again, I think being proactive systemically and reactive by stepping in if you hear someone using transphobic language. Interrupt gender stereotypes.

For example, there is no one way to be male, female, or any other gender so there is no such thing as a boy’s haircut or a girl’s haircut, clothes are clothes, shoes are shoes. Trying to interrupt that kind of language can be really helpful, but also educating staff, especially security guard staff and other support staff. This can make a really big impact on creating an inclusive and supportive environment for transgender folks.

PL: Pronouns seems like they might be an issue on occasion. What is the best way to salvage a situation in which an incorrect pronoun is used? Can you explain the idea of letting persons self-identify?

JL: This is an awesome, awesome question, because humans make mistakes. So if you use someone’s name or pronoun and it is not the one they prefer, like if you know someone as Katie and then they let you know that they prefer Mark and male pronouns. What I would not say is, “I always knew you as Katie and it is hard for me because you still look like Katie.” Because it is not supportive. It is putting it on the person and it is your mistake so make sure you own it.

So if you call someone sir and they actually prefer madam, say, “I’m so sorry, I did not mean to disrespect you and I will absolutely call you miss/she/her moving forward; we want to make sure you feel supported here.

The person might still be offended but just make sure you still own the mistake.

So if you accidentally call Mark Katie, say, “I know you prefer Mark. I’m so sorry that was my mistake. I’m going to do everything I can to remember to call you Mark in the future.” So, making sure you own it and that you don’t put it on the person. As far as letting folks self-identify, listen to the language that they are using and use neutral language. So if you’re talking to someone saying, “Where is the child’s dad?” You could say, “Where is
the child’s parent?” And maybe you don’t need to use gendered language. You can always use “they” and “them”—that is something that folks are becoming more comfortable with over time.

The Washington Post just came out with some guidelines around the use of they and them as single use pronouns.³ The American Dialect Society named “singular they” as the word of the year a few weeks ago, and there are some people who do identify as nonbinary and prefer “they” and “them” as their pronouns.⁴ Listening to the language that folks are using to describe themselves is a way that they can self-identify. We don’t always need to ask. If you think maybe a young person is transgender or gay, part of that is recognizing is this me being curious or do I need to know this information?

PL: What have you learned from your school-trainings?

JL: Most people, regardless of how they feel in terms of their comfort level, want students to feel safe and they want young people to feel supported. So regardless of how someone feels—and it is a huge range in districts that I’ve worked with—everyone wants students and young people to succeed. And that is a takeaway that, for me, has been really positive—giving folks the tools and the knowledge to support students and their success regardless
of how someone feels personally about transgender identity. I think that’s the big positive takeaway for me and not to get too cliché, but knowledge really is power.

PL: What might public libraries do to become more inclusive?

JL: Reflect gender identities and diverse families in materials and programming for sure—in addition to ensuring policies and systemic structures are in place and training. It is so great that folks are reading this interview, and this is a good nugget to introduce the idea of gender diversity to librarians, some of whom may not know that it existed or hadn’t thought too much about it.

Try to do training that is part of being proactive. You don’t know until you know, but once you know you can’t not know, if that makes sense. You can’t plead ignorance once you have this information and no one is teaching it as far as I know in any graduate programs. Whether it is education or library sciences, this is just a subject that is getting missed.

And so, doing some of your own research around trans folks and gender diversity and diversity in general will be very helpful, but also including that as part of staff trainings both for librarians and support staff. Because young people will be coming into contact with everyone.

References

1. The Williams Institute, “Suicide Attempts among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults,” accessed Feb. 10, 2016.
2. National Public Radio, WBEZ Chicago, The Morning Shift, Jan. 21, 2016, accessed Feb. 10, 2016.
3. Bill Walsh, “The Post Drops the ‘Mike’—and the Hyphen in ‘E-mail,’” Washington Post, Dec. 4, 2015, accessed Feb. 10, 2016.
4. American Dialect Society, “2015 Word of the Year Is Singular ‘They,’” Jan. 8, 2016, accessed Feb. 10, 2016.

Resources

41 Transgender-Friendly Books for Young Kids

PFLAG Illinois Book & Movie Recommendations 2015

Growing Up Trans (Frontline/PBS)

I Am Jazz (TLC)

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Gender & Sex Development Program

Welcoming Schools, Actions You Can Take as a Librarian

Welcoming Schools, Books to Engage Students: Bibliographies

The post Knowledge Is Power: Serving Gender Diverse Youth in the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

You can find the Tasty Tuesdays farmers market in the New Port Richey Public Library courtyard from ten in the morning to noon every Tuesday, rain or shine. The market started with a serendipitous conversation between Assistant Library Director Ann Scott and two local organic micro-farmers. One of the farmers mentioned how great it would be to have a place for people to share recipes, growing tips, and actual produce. ​”Then it was just like one of those cartoon lightbulbs going off above our heads,” Scott said.[1]

With support from the library director and the city, Scott created a contract for market vendors that indemnifies the library and city and leaves the vendors responsible for following appropriate regulations for their products. The contract also specifies that vendors must use non-GMO seeds and organic materials. Some vendors also provide gluten-free and other allergy-free products.

The Tasty Tuesdays market also helps out those who need food the most. Through a grant from Florida Organic Growers, the market offers “Fresh Access Bucks” to customers using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Customers can double their ability to buy healthy food for their families by spending up to $10 of SNAP benefits to receive up to $20 in tokens to spend at the market.[2] The library then pays the vendors for the tokens accepted.

About twenty vendors are on hand every week, with more in the winter as the snowbirds come south. At first, vendors were asked to commit to attending the market weekly. “Now they come and go as they like, however many vendors are here rain or shine, all year long,” Scott said.[3]

Those vendors bring in about a hundred customers weekly, some who are library customers and some who are there just for the market. “What’s really interesting is watching library members’ curiosity grow as they venture in and out and begin exploring the event. The same goes for market attendees,” Scott said.[4]

The library promotes its other wellness programming and resources at the market, including an organic heirloom seed library, cooking classes, meditation, and yoga for kids, and has seen market customers become enthusiastic library members.

References:

[1] Ann Scott (assistant library director) in e-mail interview with the author, March 16, 2016.

[2] “Fresh Access Bucks,” Florida Organic Growers [website], accessed March 18, 2016.

[3] Ann Scott (assistant library director) in e-mail interview with the author, March 16, 2016.

[4] Ibid.

Resources:

Tasty Tuesdays Community Market at NPR Library

The post Fresh from the Library: Organic Foods first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

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.

The post Toronto Public Library Installs Book Kiosk at Union Station first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Libraries (CH-UHL) of Ohio are part of a small movement with big potential: Little Free Libraries. Little Free Libraries are small, dollhouse-like structures containing books for people to borrow or exchange. People can take a book and bring another book to replace it, or just return it. The Little Libraries are located on yards, tree lawns, and street corners. The project helps to promote reading and literacy among the community members. It is also another way of providing outreach services. I wanted to find out about the CH-UHL Little Free Libraries, so contacted the library’s project manager, Sam Lapides.

The Little Free Library project at CHUHL started in 2012. The library administration was interested in the project in order to bring a new service to Cleveland Heights-University Heights residents. After getting approval from the library director Nancy Levin,  Lapides found a local craftsman who agreed to build three Little Libraries for a small fee. The library then pursued gaining permission to place the Little Libraries in approved locations throughout the city. In order to publicize the Little Libraries, the library held an ice cream social at each Little Library location during the summer. Since the Little Libraries are in front of volunteer homes, the owners of the homes are stewards of the Little Libraries. They agreed to stock the Little Libraries with appropriate materials. The response from the community has been fantastic. During the first six months, volunteer stewards had to restock the Little Libraries on a regular basis, but now that the community is more aware of the program, residents are bringing their own books to restock and the Little Libraries are basically self-sustaining. The main ingredient that has led to success for CH-UHL in this project was finding enthusiastic stewards who live in neighborhoods.

References
Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public library web site. 2013. “Little Free Library Project” http://www.heightslibrary.org/page/little_free

The post Little Free Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.