March 16, 2023

Topic:  Community Engagement 

Attendees:
Shannon, Hoover
Leslie, Avondale
Bridget, Homewood
Deidre, Bessemer
Nicole, Tarrant
Ellen, Avondale
Alisha, BPL
Cara, Center Point
Fontaine, Books-by-Mail
Pam, Hoover
Laura, Homewood
Lynn, West End
Erica, Powderly
Michele, Homewood

Fontaine mentioned that she is more than happy to come to your library to introduce the community to Books-by-Mail - there are a lot of folks that are not aware of this vital service.

Our compliments to Pam Bainter from Hoover for her outreach services to elder facilities with custom-tailored talks she takes on the road each month. Pam creates these talks and pulls out all stops to bring new & interesting topics to seniors - also promotes books-by-mail while she's at it!

Deidre is preparing for summer reading at Bessemer. Forgotten Alabama, Glenn Wills, booked for a free program there. http://forgotten-alabama.squarespace.com/

Shannon is doing Astronomy for All, a Community Art Swap, and Storytelling workshop and lastly self-defense classes -- all of these are for adults. Leslie is doing an adult craft and planned opening of their jigsaw puzzle exchange. They are also planning a Harry Potter Escape Room (printable). They are doing all this with a "puzzle/all together now" theme. Avondale is also doing several Pride-related crafts for adults and teens. 

Fontaine's sister works for the Nature Conservancy and can come to any library to speak about what they are doing in our area. That might be a contact for future programs. Any nature organization will probably come to your library for free.

Deidre reached out to Bessemer Police Dept - they did a program called "Safer Driving for Senior Citizens" - the speaker goes everywhere to share these safe skills. And from the County Courthouse she has had someone come and talk about Property Tax Exemptions for those over 65 - how to qualify and how to find the correct forms. Jefferson County Senior Division is coming to talk about free services along with memory testing (Free Memory Screening) - those might be beneficial to other branches too! Deidre also works with ACES (Alabama Cooperative Extension Service) to do their program "Live Well Alabama" - a walking program to introduce services available. Speaker for ACES is Desiree Bates - she also helps seniors fill out SNAP applications for those that don't have computer skills.

Lynn has partnered with Cahaba Medical Center to do programs - they are doing "Talk with a Doc" where one or two doctors walk over and answer questions and present new information to the neighbors. In April, they will be doing a 10-minute talk followed by a 20-minute walk - and it's called WE Walk or Walk with a Doc. The library reached out to the outreach director at the facility that is right next door. Great idea!!!

Cara at Center Point talked about going out once a month to senior center and does programs and they've started teaching crochet. They also participate in any community event like National Night Out (they had a booth); Mental Health Workshop in May where the library will provide resources; partner with a local coffee shop - they've installed a little free library in the shop. The shop also promotes library programs.

Keep your stay-at-home and work-from-home audiences by offering Zoom options for programs.

Laura at Homewood talked about working with the Chamber of Commerce for them to do a table at the Taste of Homewood event. Partnership with Trinity West - they have a remote campus that reaches a very diverse population that doesn't get to use the library as often. The church has a food pantry and a lot of outreach programs. Children's does storytime while the adults attend ESL classes.

Tarrant does a monthly outreach to retirement communities and offer delivery services for local patrons for whom visiting the library is difficult. Books by mail is utilized but this way they have access to more of the library's collection.

Cat at Homewood discovered the Extension Service for gardening programs like container gardens, etc. How to plant herbs, how to start a garden, etc. for kids and teens. Also creating comic books and leadership training from the 4H.

Speaking of gardening, you can contact Hope Long at the Botanical Gardens Library for a list of Master Gardeners that do outreach and programs. They are coming to the Hoover Library to do "Gardening with Nuisance Wildlife" for free.

Yiddish Book Center grant at the Hoover Library has been beneficial in offering partnerships with the faith community and civic organizations. Most interestingly is ALIRP, Alabama Interfaith Refugee Partnership - they are really helping me reach out to a diverse audience. They are also helping me with speakers that are refugees, etc. In the past, ALIRP  has done "Refugee Simulation Projects" with teens to learn empathy and understanding with others. That sounds like an interesting idea to bring to the library.

Ellen did a Tiny Art Show and worked with United Ability to participate in-person (the program was a grab-n-go originally). They sat down with UA's outreach person to develop some programs.  One of their people uses a voice device activated by eye movements and he wanted to read to kids. So, he does it and it was magical!

More about summer reading: everyone's kickoff is different but the aim is the same. Several library's have abandoned Beanstack for other methods of keeping track of reading. Homewood is using Jotform. BPL kickoff is May 13 with a big event at Avondale Park. Center Point is June 4 on a Satuday. Homewood is May 22nd. Hoover is Friday, May 26th. Hoover is trying to do more with adult summer reading during the kid's kickoff by having grab-n-go kits, a raffle, and our famous "Stump the Librarian" activity! Stump the Librarian is usually done during the month of July. What they do is have the cards from all kinds of games like Trivial Pursuit and patrons can ask any question they pull from a deck. The librarian must answer the question without researching it! If they get it wrong, the patron gets to put their name in the running for a gift certificate.  Keep in mind, some of these librarians have been doing this for over 20 years!!!

Update, if you need multiple books for a book group, please contact the Alabama Public Library Service because they have tons of book group kits. You can find them all online at https://apls.libguides.com/bookclub.

Maura emailed that Trussville just had a job fair with the Chamber of Commerce.

Lastly, if you don't know about JustServe https://www.justserve.org/ and find volunteer opportunities within the community. Your library can create an entry for an ongoing volunteer opportunity like your Friends group or a one-time project like rolling newspapers for the Humane Society. On Friday, April 14th, JustServe is having a networking event for nonprofits to share their experiences.

Thank you for all that attended!