[OPLINLIST] A Timely Idea

[Epling, Jimmie (KDLA)]

Library wooing boomers: Senior Spaces area unveiled in Old Bridge (A
pilot program at the Old Bridge Public Library, called "Senior Spaces,"
is designed to accommodate the interests, needs and concerns of baby
boomers, their parents and more elderly customers. The changes move the
area "from a passive to an interactive

East Brunswick (NJ) Home News Tribune. July 2, 2007

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707020402

 

A pilot program at the Old Bridge Public Library, called "Senior
Spaces," is designed to accommodate the interests, needs and concerns of
baby boomers, their parents and more elderly customers. The changes move
the area "from a passive to an interactive environment," said Old Bridge
Assistant Library Director Allan M. Kleiman, who is coordinating the new
Senior Spaces project. The new area includes comfortable seating called
"the living room" and a "bookshop" with books and other materials of
interest to the older age groups, Kleiman said. "The front porch" offers
furniture and fixtures for people to sit and chat with their neighbors
in rocking chairs and "the listening area" includes a television,
phonograph and DVD player, he said. The "special-needs space" provides
equipment and computers aimed toward those who are visually impaired or
blind, said Kleiman. "Phase one really was a design of an existing space
in the library and turning that space into an area for baby boomers,
older adults, and the elderly," Kleiman said.

            The New Jersey State Library is helping fund the program
with a $10,000 grant to match money provided by INFOLINK, which is the
Eastern New Jersey Library Cooperative, and Old Bridge Public Library to
fund a center for lifelong learning. "Serving the needs of older
residents as the population of New Jersey ages is one of the ways in
which we can help libraries to meet the challenges of the future," said
State Librarian Norma E. Blake. The State Library frequently supports
pilot projects such as Senior Spaces that are replicable and which can
serve as models for other libraries. "As part of our commitment to
support New Jersey in developing public libraries for the future, the
New Jersey State Library is delighted to provide funding to the Old
Bridge Public Library for their Senior Spaces demonstration project. We
hope that it will provide inspiration and motivation for similar
projects throughout the state," said Kathleen Moeller-Peiffer, director
of the NJ Library Development Bureau.

            The Old Bridge library also is growing its partnership with
the New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped, a bureau of the
State Library, Kleiman said. Old Bridge has been helping to promote the
Library for the Blind and Handicapped's talking book services and
Audiovision, which records and broadcasts readings from local newspapers
and special-interest programs for New Jersey residents unable to read
standard print because of a visual or physical disability. Senior Spaces
has set up an Audiovision radio so customers can try the radio-reading
service out in the library, said Faith Lundgren, director for the the
New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped.

 

Jimmie Epling, MLS

Regional Library Consultant

FIVCO/Big Sandy Regional Office

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

P.O. Box 370, 122 South Main Cross St. 

Louisa, KY 41230-0370

V: 606.638.4797  F:606.638.0586

jimmie.epling at ky.gov

 

 

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