Thursday, January 15, 2026
Topic: Serving our Senior Patrons
Attendance:
Shannon, Hoover
Katie, Irondale
Laura, Springville Road
Holly, Homewood
Natasha, Woodlawn
Sarah, Center Point
Grace, BPL
Jennifer, BPL
Lora, Vestavia Hills
Royce, BPL
Lynn, West End
Saundra, Pratt City
Leslie, Avondale
Grace, West End
Our Next Meeting: Community Engagement, Zoom Mtg, Wednesday, March 18th at 10 am
View entire meeting here: https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/9MBBw06IMGLQwmsnh0Co_CKcuEtI7PMVQ9W1thVZLosfb3vXaAKHVJAlmUpgJjop.6IlT1Bn7BkbNQ8Ul?startTime=1768494075000
The senior demographic has changed dramatically over the past decade. No longer do we simply purchase large print inspirational and western books and call it a day. While our senior patrons still love to craft, they also want active and educational programs. This is the largest growing segment of the population and we must meet the demand for innovative and useful services, programs and collections to provide.
The tried-and-true craft sessions are still highly popular and dependable and somewhat cost effective, but why not add something to it? Invite a speaker to discuss nutrition while making pot holders? Or have someone promote self help while crafting personal journals? You've already got a captive audience, why not add an educational component to the mix? If AARP is coming to discuss something quite droll, do a pot luck or add an element of fun to entice the audience into expecting both tough topics plus fun.
Senior Tech Help, either you can do seniors helping seniors or ask high school seniors to come in and hold open tech help sessions with whomever needs it! And why not tap into the wealth of knowledge some seniors have had in their lives? One of your patrons may have been a social worker for 40 years and knows everything there is to know about a topic of interest? Tap them to speak about their work and how they might help others. If you have a patron that is constantly knits or crochets at the library or plays Mahjong, why not ask them if they'd be willing to teach? Making the seniors themselves feel useful to others goes a long way towards uplifting and combating loneliness.
At Hoover, I was very interested in having Mahjong classes and two women from Galleria Woods senior living took it upon themselves to offer six small classes for 8 individuals over the course of three weeks. It was free to us and quite intensive, but an excellent way to get the job done. We had a blast and plan to continue having classes during the summer. Along the same lines, we are planning several "granny" type programs like canning, pickling, bread making, etc. that could all be taught by seniors (perhaps with our guidance!) Any Cottage Core craft/skill would be great to pair seniors with teens interested in learning.
Outreach: Book clubs for active seniors, book talks for less active seniors. Book talks are great for historical fiction or nonfiction because the leader can bring in additional information. Some of the librarians have gone through "TimeSlips" certification - an organization that bring meaning and purpose to the lives of elders through storytelling and creative engagement.
We deal with a lot of eager grandparents that want to encourage relationships with their grandkids through storytelling or sharing - we should have resources on hand for them i.e. best books to read aloud, etc. Collaborative storytelling or how to tell a story for grandparents might be a good workshop. There have also been programs where kids draw portraits of seniors, perhaps while the senior talks about their life.
Memory Care kits or, again, collaborative storytelling - start with a picture and build a story together based on the picture. Avondale already has a Memory Cafe and several libraries circulate memory care kits - these are a great way to engage seniors suffering from the first signs of dementia or Alzheimer's. This April, Hoover is having a writing workshop based on our Art Gallery in the Theatre downstairs - it's called an "Ekphrastic " Writing workshop. The poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn" is based on a piece of art - writing inspired by art. Collaborative storytelling can occur based on a piece of art.
Big issue: Accessibility for seniors! Consider the timing of your program. Find out when sundown is on your program day and plan to have it end before sundown. Seniors find it more difficult to navigate streets after dark and may attend programs more if they are scheduled with them in mind.
Written history: interviewing individuals older than 70. Perhaps work with homeschool or your schools to work together to schedule these types of activities. There are guided books available on Amazon that guide the person into telling the stories.
Great program suggestion, contact Volunteer Lawyers here in Birmingham to come and offer free advice for anyone, including seniors. They are great to work with and have been at several libraries in our county. They also have programs they do on estates, wills, end-of-life documents too. Sarah from Center Point said they have had Dignity Memorial come and talk about end of life planning in a very respectful way without a sales pitch. They even brought snacks and played BINGO! Information from Sarah: The speaker from Dignity Memorial is Spivey Wilson. Her contact is Spivey.wilson@dignitymemorial.com. We had combined a meeting about estate planning with fun bingo games to lighten a heavy topic! Spivey brought the boards and game pieces and conducted the game and also brought prizes! We did this at the Senior Center because I do outreach there once a month. Other than that having House Plant Collective come and do a presentation went over well and anything with plants is always something they enjoy!
Leslie from Avondale goes regularly to Fair Haven Nursing Home and she does craft/art and book club. She is developing a STEM program for the seniors - it involves storytime plus a craft, maybe science- or technology-related. She's still developing the idea but there are robotics kits from Central BPL that could be utilized. At Hoover a couple of years ago (2024), I invited Abigail Gwinn-Arakas from the McWane Center to do an Adult Science Cafe. We decided to settle on "what makes us human". Below is the advert we used online. Her contact information: Abby Gwinn-Arakas, Director of STEM Education, (205) 714-827, agwinn@mcwane.org
Dodd Allee at BPL sent me an email about his experience bringing home improvement and simple home fixes to the general public - after years as a facility manager and working at Home Depot, he shares that knowledge. Although now, he's in Citizen Services and is stuck in the Passport office! Great idea though! I know some of the branches have reached out to ACE Hardware to do programs for them. Perhaps that would be an opportunity too. That and Repair Cafe too. There are plenty of seniors that have the skills to help younger home owners take care of their property.
Put together a Senior Health Fair! With all the nonprofits and the health department, there would be a great opportunity for seniors on fixed incomes to take advantage of such an event.
Add nostalgic music to the mix, perhaps some dancing. Why not have a Senior Prom? I know North Birmingham has done this to great acclaim but it doesn't have to be big. Everyone dresses up, photo opportunities, finger foods, perhaps a craft to make corsages and boutonnieres? Create a playlist, pick a theme, watch the fun begin! Here's some tips!
Back to senior story time ideas: collaborative stories, using pictures to stimulate the creation of stories, etc. Holly at Homewood said they do Seasonal Stories with Red Mountain Theatre groups Seasoned Performers - they come in and read actual excerpts from books. Perhaps create a story circle (like Irondale is doing in above advert) and build a topic to create a story. Here at Hoover, I invited veteran Moth StorySlam and creative writing professor at UAB Haley Cotton to teach a class on "How to Tell a Story" - it was well attended and I plan to bring her back sometime in the Fall. Here are her contact details: Halley Cotton | English Instructor, SPARK Writing Festival | Director, Department of English, UAB | The University of Alabama at Birmingham, hmcotton@uab.edu.
Memory Care Kits:
If your library is interested, kits for caregivers or for individual check out can be a great way to connect to the elderly community. There are other libraries in the JCLC that offer these types of kits. Here are the ones I found using the term "memory kit" while doing a word search and limiting the search to "Kit." I don't know if the search pulled up all locations that circulate memory kits so there could be others.
Homewood
Trussville
Vestavia
Trussville
Vestavia
BPL Locations:
Central
Southside
Avondale
Avondale
Woodlawn
East Lake
East Lake
Smithfield
Springville Road
Powderly
Pratt City
East Ensley
West End
Springville Road
Powderly
Pratt City
East Ensley
West End
Five Points West
North Birmingham
North Birmingham
*It looks like some libraries have them as part of their Library or Things collection.
Some use the preassembled kits from Penworthy.
Stay Sharp Kits from APLS, available to libraries throughout the state.
Thoughts after the meeting:
Older Americans are always concerned about their heirlooms and collectibles. Who will inherit/want them? Perhaps a library could have a swap or collectible trade and invite younger collectors to share in the joy?
Show-and-Tell for Grownups! As mentioned above, people love their stuff! Why not have a time every month where everyone brings something valuable/memorable/precious to them and they tell the story of its meaning?
What about an Adult Spelling Bee? Share your ideas!!!
Articles I stole from Programming Librarian:
Other resources:
https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2024/12/best-practices-for-engaging-seniors-at-the-library/
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