[OPLINLIST] Outreach Services

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 13:29:21 -0500

Hi, David,

You might like to take a look at our new book, Serving Seniors: a
How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians.  While we are from a smaller library,
the expertise, program ideas, and service ideas are from libraries of all
sizes across the USA and Canada.  Here is the first review from the Kansas
State Library newsletter, if you would like a librarian-who-is-not-the
author's perspective on the work:

5January 2004Serving Seniors: A How-to-do-It Manual forLibrarians, by
RoseMary Honnold and SaralynMesaros, Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2004.Two years
ago, a group of Kansas librarians startedthe Older Kansans Information Forum
with the premisethat Kansas was shortly going to have a very largepopulation
of older Kansans with very diverse needsfor information and entertainment
and that Kansaspublic libraries, for a variety of reasons, should
makeservice to older Kansans a high priority. There is a lotof valuable
information that can be accessed throughour website, which you will find at
http://www.skyways.org/okif/.We have gotten a variety of responses to
thispriority. One common response that was perfectlyreasonable was: "If this
is so important, we could usesome ideas." The ideas have arrived. Serving
Seniors:A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians has veryrecently been published
by Neal Schuman. Theauthors are RoseMary Honnold and Saralyn Mesaros,two
librarians who work for the Coshocton PublicLibrary in Ohio.Serving Seniors
takes a commendably comprehensiveapproach to serving older library users.
The firstchapter is called "Develop a Comprehensive SeniorServices Plan." It
offers very valuable information ongetting to know the community's seniors,
finding outwhat seniors want, building collections and servicesthat will
serve them well and marketing those servicesto the target audiences.Too many
librarians take their older patrons forgranted and don't invest time in
getting to know them.The authors make the point that getting to
knowcommunity seniors is particularly important becausethey have varied
abilities and interests, suffer fromcultural stereotypes and absolutely
loathe beingpatronized.The second chapter is "Build a Collection to
ServeSenior Adults." It offers good advice on both subjectareas and formats
that should be strengthened toserve seniors.Additional chapters offer ideas
for discussiongroups, information programs, entertaining
programs,intergenerational programs, residential facilityprograms and
programs that can be implemented inpartnership with other agencies. There is
a good chapter on helping seniors learn touse and enjoy the Internet, plus a
good list of sitesthat have been popular with older Americans. This isan
area where a number of Kansas libraries havealready done some wonderful
work.There is a short but useful chapter on serving thehomebound. Serving
the homebound can be veryimportant in rural communities where there is
littlepublic transportation. Many surprisingly smalllibraries have managed
to offer this service, thoughonly with the help of dedicated volunteers. The
bookalso contains a chapter called "Groom GreatVolunteers," though this is
one subject that couldhave been covered more extensively.Serving Seniors is
loaded with ideas, many of whichcan be adapted by small libraries or
expanded by largeones. In view of the dramatically rising population ofolder
Kansans, this book is recommended forpurchase for many Kansas libraries.
Two years ago, a group of Kansas librarians startedthe Older Kansans
Information Forum with the premisethat Kansas was shortly going to have a
very largepopulation of older Kansans with very diverse needsfor information
and entertainment and that Kansaspublic libraries, for a variety of reasons,
should makeServing Seniors: A How-to-do-It Manual forLibrarians, by RoseMary
Honnold and SaralynMesaros, Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2004.
Two years ago, a group of Kansas librarians startedthe Older Kansans
Information Forum with the premisethat Kansas was shortly going to have a
very
largepopulation of older Kansans with very diverse needsfor information and
entertainment and that Kansaspublic libraries, for a variety of reasons,
should
makeservice to older Kansans a high priority. There is a lotof valuable
information that can be accessed throughour website, which you will find at
http://www.skyways.org/okif/.We have gotten a variety of responses to
thispriority. One common response that was perfectlyreasonable was: "If this
is
so important, we could usesome ideas." The ideas have arrived. Serving
Seniors:A
How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians has veryrecently been published by Neal
Schuman. Theauthors are RoseMary Honnold and Saralyn Mesaros,two librarians
who
work for the Coshocton PublicLibrary in Ohio.Serving Seniors takes a
commendably
comprehensiveapproach to serving older library users. The firstchapter is
called
"Develop a Comprehensive SeniorServices Plan." It offers very valuable
information ongetting to know the community's seniors, finding outwhat
seniors
want, building collections and servicesthat will serve them well and
marketing
those servicesto the target audiences.Too many librarians take their older
patrons forgranted and don't invest time in getting to know them.The authors
make the point that getting to knowcommunity seniors is particularly
important
becausethey have varied abilities and interests, suffer fromcultural
stereotypes
and absolutely loathe beingpatronized.The second chapter is "Build a
Collection
to ServeSenior Adults." It offers good advice on both subjectareas and
formats
that should be strengthened toserve seniors.Additional chapters offer ideas
for
discussiongroups, information programs, entertaining
programs,intergenerational
programs, residential facilityprograms and programs that can be implemented
inpartnership with other agencies. There is a good chapter on helping
seniors
learn touse and enjoy the Internet, plus a good list of sitesthat have been
popular with older Americans. This isan area where a number of Kansas
libraries
havealready done some wonderful work.There is a short but useful chapter on
serving thehomebound. Serving the homebound can be veryimportant in rural
communities where there is littlepublic transportation. Many surprisingly
smalllibraries have managed to offer this service, thoughonly with the help
of
dedicated volunteers. The bookalso contains a chapter called "Groom
GreatVolunteers," though this is one subject that couldhave been covered
more
extensively.Serving Seniors is loaded with ideas, many of whichcan be
adapted by
small libraries or expanded by largeones. In view of the dramatically rising
population ofolder Kansans, this book is recommended forpurchase for many
Kansas
libraries.Book review for Serving Seniors: AHow-to-Do-It Manual for
Librarians-by Shannon RoyDirector of Local Library Development

RoseMary Honnold
Coshocton Public Library
655 Main ST
Coshocton, OH 43812
740-622-0956
honnolro@oplin.org

See YA Around: a Web site for librarians who work with teens
http://www.cplrmh.com

101+ Teen Programs That Work
http://www.neal-schuman.com/db/6/296.html

Serving Seniors: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians
http://www.neal-schuman.com/db/5/355.html
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "DMCNALLY" <DMCNALLY@cuyahoga.lib.oh.us>
To: <OPLINList@oplin.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 12:23 PM
Subject: [OPLINLIST] Outreach Services

> Do you work with outreach services at your library?  Cuyahoga County
Public
> Library is currently reviewing its outreach services program.  Given
current
> budget restraints, our goal is to improve services to customers and create
> system wide procedures, without creating a separate outreach department or
> collection for our 20+ library branches.  We are focusing on services to
> homebound (seniors and disabled) at this time.  If your library serves
this
> group effectively and economically, then I would appreciate hearing from
> you.  If you do this in a medium to large metropolitan area, then I would
be
> especially interested in learning more about your program.  Thank you in
> advance for taking the time to share your experience with us.
>
> David McNally
> Outreach Services Redesign Team
> Fairview Park Regional Library (CCPL)
> Phone: (440) 333-4700
> E-Mail: dmcnally@cuyahoga.lib.oh.us
>
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