Supporting Access through Little Libraries and Library Box

Just a quick mention of two services that bring the library out of the walls and into the neighborhoods. One is Little Free Library where you build a little box on a post, put some books in it and then invite people to take a book and leave a book or read and return.

I read about Library Box in the August 2013 issue of Library Journal. This one is a small router that comes with a USB drive preloaded with free (in the public domain) content. The router allows the patron to download the content of their choice to a wifi accessible device. This is for those areas where people may not have access to wifi, but still want to read a copy of Emma by Jane Austen or the Jungle Book by Kipling. Or maybe the person may not know s/he can visit the Gutenberg project and download a book for free, or maybe there's just too many options and this little bad boy makes the choices easier. Check out the kickstarter campaign for Library Box to see what are the latest developments for the project.

What is a Minority?

I'm beginning putting together some info for my first report on minority services in libraries and one of the recommended actions is to take a survey of the community demographics to help you define what are the minorities. I started by looking at the QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau for my city and there's tons on breakdowns of demographics: age, race and ethnicity, nationality, gender, language spoken, economic status... But then it hit me that there are demographics of religion, sexual orientation, physical and mental capabilities (ex. blind/deaf)... it just keeps going!

This time around, I was interested in a few resources that can help me wrap my mind around services to the LGBT community. Local service communities include:

• Dallas Fort Worth Steering Committee of the Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org)
• North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce (since 2005) 
• Recourse Center of Dallas (rcdallas.org) (since 1983) (serves 50,000 annually)

 But then I got off track and ran the following Google Search: "trends minorities site:ala.org" and pulled the following links:

• This is a bib list of titles for Young Adult Mexican Americans. Surprise in the list is a book dealing not only with ethnicity, but sexual orientation and religion. (The God Box, which we have, high five, teen selector!) http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2013/05/05/its-not-what-you-think-mexican-americans-in-ya/
• Then there was this post "The Invisible Minority: LGBTQ Teens and their Lit: http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2012/11/09/the-invisible-minority-lgbtq-teens-and-their-literature/
• Quick Facts Services to Teens from ALA: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/advocacyuniversity/additup/13to18/quick
• This paper on awards lists and diversity mentions many of the minority / diversity things I mention: http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2011/06/are-all-lists-created-equal-diversity-in-award-winning-and-bestselling-young-adult-fiction/
• and another paper: http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/pdf/ibarra05.pdf

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Much, much later. So, I submitted my first report and instead of starting with a review of our community and a look at where my system is currently in meeting those needs, I was counseled to pick just one user group and report of them with a focus on the actual programs. I, of course, included a selection of readings and a small review of literature to support why I selected the programs that I selected, just in case someone asked, "why do you think this programming is applicable to this user group?"

My first "minority" group I decided to present on is "Older Adults," and let me tell you, they are a scary bunch. My city is undergoing a new push to attract residents and business b/c "growth is the only way to support a city's revenues," and I learned some things about the Older Adults group that puts the city's initiative in a new perspective.

27% of our city is aged 50 and over. As this group ages into the senior citizen category over the next 10-15 years, our revenues will drop because the % of taxes that we collect on that age group decreases as a benefit to being old (and presumably having less money). Typically this wouldn't be an issue with traditional seniors with limited lifespans and who live in assisted living residences. BUT, the new Older Adult is not so old. This group is actually younger in mind and body. This group isn't going to sell their home and move into retirement homes. They are going to stay and age in their homes for 20+ years. (Decrease in revenue). They want services to provide entertainment and opportunities for socialization and engagement. (Pressure on revenue to meet demands.) They are a powerhouse voting block (politically powerful). This is what I mean by scary.

At the same time that this group wants to learn stuff, they need more time to learn new skills with frequent opportunities to practice. However, this group can be relied upon to support each other by sharing their expertise and in their willingness to volunteer.

My favorite library programs for Older Adults include:

• Cumberland County, NC: Downton Abbey Tea Party Series (historical talks followed by trivia); 
• Des Plaines, IL: Rotating deposit collections (50-100 items) at nursing homes and senior living centers
• Mecklenburg County, NC: Shutterbug Club (Digital photography series)*
• Various locations: 1:1 Techno Buddies Teens and Older Adults (supports skill building through assisted practice)

Montessori Storytime: a Seed Grew!

There was a boy who attended the Montessori School where I volunteered storytime last summer who sat there with a grumbly grimace throughout my one hour "productions." He refused to do any of the songs, the rhymes, the body motion activities. Just sat there and if I asked him a question, woe to me with his monotone, monosyllabic responses.

The other day I was entering the school to retrieve my son as Mr. Grumpy Grump and his family were exiting. He stops me to ask if I'll be doing storytime again next year. I looked at him, weary of his reaction and said, "why not?" expecting there to be a very emphatic, "aww, maaaaannnn" and a roll of the eyes.

I was stunned to watch him jump up and down, pumping his fist in the air, and exclaiming, "yes!" It put a big grin on my face and made me determined to provide better storytimes. A seed grew, in both of us.

Here are some themes I've come up with based on books my son and I have read lately:

• Cooking/Building Theme
• Books: Rubia and the Three Osos 
• Activity: What can we mix that doesn't need baking? or a building theme (boxes with my "nails" for hammering? Building something out of cardboard?)
• Adventures and Storytelling Theme
• Book: Clever Jack Takes the Cake
• Activity: circle up and whisper a sentence in the ear of one of the kids and have them send it round, what ends up being told?), maybe a pick your own adventure type story?
• Craft: can we do a group build of Clever Jack's story on a large piece of butcher paper?
• Art Theme
• Books: Warthogs Paint, David's Drawings and maybe one of those artists for little kids books, 
• Activity- Joy of Zentangle lesson (prep the boards, have a space for the kids to write their names) or Ed Emberley's fingerprint drawing book
• Fire Theme
• Books: Fire Fuego Bravo Bomberos, Fire Engines Up Close (non-fiction), Munsch's the Fire Station (can get TumbleCloud to do? Yes, with wifi hub!!!)
• Activity: do exercises that a real fire fighter must do.  
• Craft: Paper Cup Fireman Puppet http://www.pinterest.com/pin/111323422010198421/ OR firetruck craft: http://onemomfiveboys.blogspot.com/2009/09/firetruck-craft.html

Training: EBSCOHost Small Business Reference Center

Just some notes from the webinar: Small Business Reference Center

This database is a unique collection with some overlap of materials collected with other EBSCO databases, but by no means is this database a sub-db of say, Business Source Complete. The trainer pointed out that BSC didn't have the full text of the NOLO small business guides that SBRC contains. Aside from collecting 400 FT periodicals and 500 FT reference books, it also has a graphical interface which makes browsing a bit easier for a person who is not used to using a database.

There are Harvard business videos, which are a great resource. I saw that there was a note on the videos that said that there were supplemental lecture materials available for purchase. I asked whether EBSCO collects those materials or not. The trainer said she would look into it.

The start up kit is actually one of the NOLO books with the chapters broken down. There is also a state-by-state guide to what you need, but the guide is not as thorough as I would have liked. Of course that would have been hard to do b/c regulations are always changing/evolving, so the state-by-state guide tells you of the sorts of things you should look out for, such as licensing in your area of business.

Remember you can do a publication search. There's the usual EBSCO functionality such as email an article, permalinks. Remember patrons need to authenticate first, then they'll be able to access the material.

I did a trial search for "florist" b/c I had a patron who was interested in opening a florist shop. There were a lot of industry specific articles that talked about the status of earnings, where to get floral supplies, etc. Very handy. So long story short, be sure to recommend this resource when someone comes in looking to research starting their own business.