According to Judith and Burt Boyce, "outreach is the only means by which library services can be effectively distributed over rural areas where the population necessary to provide the public financing of quality information service is so dispersed that a single location facility will not be accessible to large portions of the population contributing to the service. Rural areas are served by national information agencies, state information agencies, the libraries of colleges and universities, and by local public libraries-all using outreach methods. " (112)
Works Cited
Boyce, Judith, and Burt Boyce. "Library Outreach Programs in Rural Areas." Library Trends 44.1 (1995): 112-128. Web. 16 Sep 2009. http://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/handle/2142/8010?mode=full.
I agree that outreach is a great programming method for rural libraries. Think of all the possibilities! Visiting schools, festivals/fairs, nursing homes, providing home bound service to those unable to come into the library, etc. Outreach is key to not only providing services outside of the library building, but also acts as a source of spreading the word that the library is actively involved in the community. Getting out into the public to get your library noticed will increase chances of more people coming into the library at zero cost to you. Since many rural libraries are open a limited number of hours, how about doing outreach while the library is closed? This is just one suggestion that may be useful to libraries with limited staff.
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If you have the budget to pay your staff to work on outreach while the library is closed that is one way to get those extra outreach activites accomplished. Otherwise, you tread on legal issues. Even if your employees are willing to "volunteer" their time, it really isn't something they should be asked to do in a legal sense.
ReplyDeleteWe do a volunteer "traveling Books' program where we read to preschoolers.
ReplyDeleteI also have given talks at the local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group and at a local private school.-Diane
Another thought would be to see if any parents would like to volunteer to do a library program at their child's school. The library could provide kits for volunteer's to take to the schools.
ReplyDeleteSo often libraries only see outreach as the book mobile. Your outreach efforts go further, and involving volunteers strengthens the effort.
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