ALA 2010: Public Libraries Renew Community Connections With Targeted Services

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By Carrie Netzer Wajda Jun 27, 2010

Six public librarians serving very different communities yesterday showcased how listening to community needs can generate ideas for innovative and popular library programs.

Clo Cammarata and Sarah Maner of Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC, presented two popular, low-cost programs.

"In the current economic situation people are really turning to library resources," Maner said. Her library supports a crafting group called Sew Delightful by providing space, crafting books, tea, and coffee. Sew Delightful meets weekly at the library to practice and share knitting, crochet and crafting tips.

The program is especially popular with retirees, who now teach crafting workshops to children and teens. The group donates many of its goods to charity organizations such as women's and homeless shelters, Ronald McDonald House, and Hats 4 Heroes.

Cammarata described another program serving a very different community: international residents. Let's Speak English is an informal gathering in which participants can practice conversational English and find assistance with reading and writing letters, filling out forms, and other tasks. The program, which started at a single location, has since expanded to four additional libraries.

Let's Speak English has had such an impact that one participant intends to begin a similar program for internationals living in his home country, South Korea.

Outreach innovation

When San Francisco Public Library staffers noticed that major changes were in store for the U.S. citizenship exam, they assembled a team of innovative librarians to significantly upgrade the library's exam web page.

The page already was one of the top ten pages visited on the library website, given that about 20 percent of San Francisco's population is foreign-born. After the revamp--information in eight languages plus video content--there was a a 50 percent spike in traffic. Many community organizations serving internationals have linked to the new page as a primary resource for exam information.

The team has since implement EDother successful projects. Librarians need to "respond quickly to needs and innovate within [our] organizations," said Brian Bannon (an LJ Mover), one of the librarians on the project.

GED testing

Gayle Holloman of Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System described meeting a very different kind of community need.

Atlanta-Fulton, she said, is the nation's only public library offering GED testing, partnering with Atlanta Public Schools to offer test prep courses. The GED program has been so successful that the library has expanded it to include two satellite testing locations.

Help in hard times

Although the economic meltdown reached the Seattle area late, librarians were quick to notice its effects on their patrons. "Our library staff noticed a change in patron behavior," noted Julie Brand of the King County Library System, including an increase in reference questions during normal working hours and higher stress levels.

By reaching out to local news media and vendors, the library was able to create an award-winning, high-impact, low-cost media campaign called "Look to Your Library, Especially Now" (LYTL).

Targeting small business owners, job seekers and the newly laid off, the library increased circulation for LYTL resources by 89 percent and created several accidental celebrities out of the librarians who appeared in the televised publicity spots.