ASRT Meeting: Community Engagement

Zoom meeting, March 18, 2026 

Attendees:
Shannon, Hoover
Leslie, Avondale
Jeremy, Powderly
Lora, Vestavia Hills
Tisha, Bessemer
Holly, Homewood
Alison, Pinson 

Next Meeting: Monday, May 18, Disability Awareness (via Zoom) 

To view the entire zoom session, go to this link. 

What's Below:

• Outreach options
• Book talks & Podcast talks
• Sharing stories over quilts
• Partner with Parks & Rec or Police 
• Addiction Prevention, Volunteer Lawyers, and more
• Grocery Bus at Bessemer
• Virtual yoga at Bessemer
• Invite Volunteer Lawyers
• Passive programming is in!
• Crafting Kindness at Hoover 
• What can you add???

At a glance, Hoover has a relatively new community services department that includes our bookmobile, and two staff members that visit facilities in our community. Pam Bainter has a book club at our senior center and does book talks at living facilities. These book talks are on a topic and she creates full fledged talks that go "on the road" and give suggested reading plus lots of information on various topics. She develops probably a dozen new talks a year, then tours them to over ten facilities. Everyone seems to enjoy them. We also have another team member, Traci Wood, that specializes in memory care and less active seniors - she also develops book talks but does crafts and games with her folks too. Our bookmobile takes reservations for pop ups but also tours facilities for those that want to visit. These are direct ways we reach out into the community but not our only ways. Whether passive or active, we are always seeking new opportunities to get the library joy out there.

Leslie at Avondale visits Fairhaven in Avondale and does talks, crafts, etc. and this year added working at First Light Women's Shelter too. She also does acrylic painting and a book group. She's looking into developing adult storytelling. At First Light, she started a podcast group - something uplifting and positive. Next they are trying a video podcasting session. Self help stuff goes over well with this crowd. Leslie also brought up the idea of having seniors bring in something important, a nostalgic item, and discuss their history with it. Something to engage and create storytelling. Treasures and heirlooms can be used to share stories and get to know each other. Actually, they wouldn't even really need a physical item! This led to a discussion about an outreach program Hoover did at the Riley Community Center - everyone brought handmade quilts and everyone told stories about them. It was very moving and emotional.

Holly at Homewood talked about the impact going out into the community! As a result of going out into the community, the group she spoke with has now started coming into the library together looking for her and their "library lady" - you just never know who you impact! 

Mahjong! Learn to play and learn to teach!! You will have the crowd show up. And, no, it's more than just matching tiles! I don't think it's going anywhere for a long while.

Reach out to your Parks and Rec department for program partnering. At HPL, we are doing two birding sessions with experts out at a park and also a rain barrel workshop with giveaway rain barrels. Our youth department already does an outdoor storytelling event every few months, plus a story walk at Aldridge Gardens.

Addiction Prevention (Randy Hall, Program Coordinator, randy@apcbham.org) can help talk to the community about using Narcan and possibly arrange to have kits delivered to your library. Perhaps looking into providing gun locks too - I did read about this out in the community.

Tisha at Bessemer does a lot of crafting at senior facilities - arts are so vital for engaging older patrons. She also works with Mercy Ministries to bring their food bus to the library to provide low cost, fresh food to the community. They bring a mobile grocery bus and prepare food boxes for folks - also accepting EBT in the community. Bessemer also works with the Foundry so their folks can be aware of what's happening within the library. Tisha has also started an oral history project that is going well. The overarching theme is the City of Bessemer, Tisha will pick a topic and spread the word, then community members will come in to record stories. They get a copy of their recordings too. I want to know more!! Eventually, all the stories will be uploaded to the cloud for everyone to listen to. There was lots of talk about the ongoing closure of Bessemer and Tisha's attempts to engage the community while closed. Hueytown hosts their book group and they have started virtual yoga - partnering with the YMCA. Bessemer also partnered with Regions Bank to come into the library and do programs on real estate and more. Perhaps that will start once the library starts back up! Tisha also brought up the fact that the Master Gardener's program at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens are required to secure volunteer hours for their certificate. It's possible they could do things for your library: programs, yes?? They are coming to Bessemer to do a seed buffet for the seed library and other small gardening projects with kids. Great idea!

We talked a bit about partnering with the police department for various things. Ours has a youth ambassador program where they are doing service projects here at the library. Your library could also invite Volunteer Lawyers to come do an Ask an Attorney program at your library. It's free and very helpful for the community.

Holly talked about Homewood's passive programming that engages community members - right now there is a book bracket vying for attention - it's down to To Kill a Mockingbird vs. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! Ask a weird question: what's your favorite condiment? Turkey or Ham for Thanksgiving? Things that take people a few seconds to engage. A lot of adults will also sit at my library and finish a puzzle while waiting for their AARP appointments for taxes!

Spice of the Month (Homewood, Center Point and Southside) or Tea of the Month (Avondale) are also ways of connecting. Also, when planning craft programs and you are left with unused supplies, bundle them up into giveaway take and makes for those that couldn't attend or just to give out at the desk. Sometimes that extra craft kit will make someone's day.

Chatted some about HPL's Crafting Kindness monthly program where we schedule five hours on a Monday each month devoted to volunteering. It has developed into something quite big now (upwards of 44 volunteers over the course (in and out) of five hours. I've gotten where I have at least four or five ongoing projects so that people don't get bored and I cover a variety of abilities. I always provide newspapers for rolling (humane society) and writing note cards (short blessings) for Bundles of Hope Diaper Bank along with having kids draw on and design craft bags that will be filled with items (sometimes hygiene kits or snack bags for the homeless). I work with nonprofits to come up with active things we can assemble, create or collect on site. It does take a lot of time and organizing and not all nonprofits have stuff we can do off site at our library. However, if you get creative you can sometimes hit on something fantastic. One of my favorites was making pony bead fidget toys for the Hoover Police to give out to anxious kids. I'll let you know when I'm totally sick of it!

Next Meeting: Monday, May 18, Disability Awareness (via Zoom)