3/7/2025
I know it seems as though sourdough is all I am interested
in. That’s not true even though I stayed up late baking sourdough, chocolate
chip cookies for my daughter’s March 7th birthday. (She’s 19 and
away at college, so I had to ship them.) I have not forgotten about other
aspects of my job. One of those is implementing the Strategic Plan.
Goal 3 calls for the creating solutions to minimize facility
shortcomings. Translation, how do we make our programs and materials available
for people who can’t make it down stairs or to the library at all.
With the second scenario in mind, we reached out to the
management of The Heritage, East Troy Manor, and Brolen Park about beginning at
out reach program. This is modeled after the Dane County Library services
provided to my mother’s senior housing facility in Stoughton. The library drops
off a crate of books each month for the residents. We have offered to do the
same for East Troy’s senior living facilities. Thanks to a donation by our
Friends group, we will also lend them a portable CD player and headphones and
include audiobooks in the delivery.
The items will be checked out to a corporate library card in
order to track where they are and update their availability status in the
library’s catalog. A clipboard with a title list will be provided for residents
use in signing out material to aid management’s ability to track in house. So
far, two of the facilities have agreed to participate. The third hasn’t had
time to respond. Deliveries will begin in early April.
The long-term goal is to offer delivery to individual
patrons. It would not be difficult from our end to have residents with their
own library cards, place holds and include their books in the delivery.
We actually have tested this with a resident at one of the
facilities. Each week his daughter, who lives on the west coast, logs into his
library account to place holds on movies he’d like to watch. On Thursday we get
take out. I deliver this week’s checkouts and pick up his returns as part of
the lunch pick up. It’s gone very well. With the help of a volunteer, I
anticipate opening up this outreach service to patrons who live in private
homes as well. The key to success has been having the patron or a family member
make the selection and having a consistent day for delivery.
If this sounds like an appealing service, reach out to us in
May, after we get into the swing of things and before summer kicks in.
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