This document discusses various outreach strategies used by libraries. It describes how bookmobiles bring library resources to underserved communities like rural areas. Special needs populations are reached through programs like storytimes and crafts. Students are engaged through school visits, after-school activities, and summer reading programs. Social media is used to connect users to library events and services. Challenges of urban outreach include low literacy, lack of relatable collections, and access barriers for homeless populations. Strategies proposed are community engagement, collaborations, appealing collections, and a welcoming atmosphere.

1. Outreach and Community
Involvement in the Library
Team 10
Laura Doutsas, Crystal Gleason, Jaclyn Hirschfield, Ryan
Moniz, and Heather Stern

2. Outreach with Bookmobiles
Laura Doutsas

3. Why Bookmobiles?
• Bookmobiles, and their precursor
the traveling library, bring library
resources to:
• Rural areas
• The homebound
• Prisons
• Anyone without ready access to a
public library
Image Source:
http://www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/bookmobiles-racial-and-
cultural-battlegrounds.html

4. Today’s Bookmobiles: How
• Consult professional guidelines to plan bookmobile services
• ABOS National Bookmobile Guidelines (2008)
• Identify target community and evaluate their needs
• Offer a wide range of library materials
• Make Internet access a priority

5. Bookmobiles: When
• Careful selection of routes and stops
• Appropriate hours of service
• Minimum duration of ½ hour per stop
• Ongoing evaluation to allow for schedule changes as needed
• Can be achieved through a very specific set schedule, or a flexible schedule
that changes from week to week

6. Example: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library
Bookmobile Cybermobile
(Outreach Services, 2014)

7. Outreach with Special Needs
Populations
Crystal Gleason

8. Why Special Needs?
• There are many adults in our communities with special needs
• They often come to the library

9. Who We are Trying to Reach
• Adults with mental disabilities in our communities
• Children with mental disabilities and developmental delays

10. How We are Reaching Them
• Storytimes
• Craft programs
• Healthy eating programs
• Zumba classes

11. Outreach for Students
Jaclyn Hirschfield

12. Why Outreach for Students?
• Public librarians want to provide assistance and support to all students
• Different outreach programs can have a positive effect on student learning
and achievement in school
• These programs can help in developing lifelong readers and learners
• Public librarians can provide additional support and learning to make sure
students maintain their literacy skills, even when they’re not in school

13. How to Reach Students
• With new technologies constantly emerging, libraries and librarians are
finding different ways to get students involved and engaged in the library and
reading
• Some libraries host events at places such as a shopping mall – here they
provide information about the services offered at their library, read stories to
children, make fun crafts to go along with the stories, and more

14. How to Reach Students
• School visits are a popular way for librarians to get connected to students
• Public librarians can visit schools for book talks, storytimes, homework help, and more
• After-school activities are also advantageous to students
• These can be held at the public library or at schools
• Public librarians can work with teachers to make sure they are supporting the curriculum through
different activities
• Programs can take place during the school year to support classroom instruction
• Many programs take place during the summer months to help maintain and increase
academic skills

15. Examples of Outreach Programs to Students
Program
• An elementary school and public library in
Virginia teamed up for a program called One
School, One Book.
• All students read the same book during a specific
month
• Teachers assigned homework based on the book
• Public librarians offered read-aloud times after
school
Results
• This program was very successful and
increased student test scores.
• After running the program for three
years it was found that students
averaged a 90% or better on state
reading tests (Leitaq, Barratt-Pugh,
Anderson, Barblett, & Haig, 2015)

16. Outreach Through Social Media
Connecting Users with Libraries
Ryan Moniz

17. Outreach through Social Media: is it Necessary?
• 75% of teens use social networking sites on a daily basis
• This is a sought after population group as many are not typical library users
• Not all members of the community can visit library branches
• How can they be informed about services the library offers?

18. Doing it Right
Bad Tweets
@mpl
Come to our program tonight at the
Angus Glen Branch
@mpl
We have many new books added to our
collection daily
Good Tweets
In order for libraries to be successful in using
social media as a form of outreach we should
be sharing fun entertainment based
information, but always finding a way to
connect the tweet back to the library
@mpl
Attention #LEGO lovers @mpl is hosting a
#LEGOrobotics demo this Saturday at our
Angus Glen branch 11-1pm!

19. Common Issues
• Lacking timely responses
• Failure to respond to community tweets will make followers less likely to engage
with your social media accounts
• No personalization
• Why should people follow your account?
• Inappropriate/Irrelevant material is shared
• Tweeting about a program the day after it happens

20. Plan for Success
• Create a strategy and clearly define goals for all social media channels
• How many Tweets will be sent daily?
• Establish a team to run the social media accounts
• Who will have access to account information?
• Develop a mandate to connect and communicate with customers through social media
• What information will be shared through the account?
• Track usage and engagement levels using analytics and insights.
• How many retweets or follows does your account get?
(King, 2015)

21. Outreach in Urban Populations
Heather Stern

22. Why Urban Outreach: the Importance
• Low literacy levels in urban areas
• Libraries often lacking in relatable and minority-specific collections
• Equity of access
• The homeless often face barriers in terms of access to library resources

23. Why Urban Outreach: Literacy and Relativity
Literacy
“Nearly a quarter of California’s adult
population lacks prose literacy skills.”
Libraries have an opportunity to take
action and make a difference through
outreach programs.
(Kong, 2013)
Relativity
Although nearly ½ of the U.S. population is
comprised of people of color, in 2013, “less
than one third of one percent of childrens’
books published in the United States were about
people of color.”
This is a huge issue when it comes to creating a
collection that everyone can relate to - especially
in an urban setting with a diverse population.
(Garcia, 2014)

24. Equity of Access
Current Issues
• Requirement of permanent home address
• Fines or fees that give perception that
library use costs money
• Lack of transportation to library
• Unaccommodating library hours
• Limited library promotion at homeless
centers, etc.
Many of these issues can be
resolved with a boost in
community engagement &
outreach and staff education.

25. How: Taking Action
• Get out & ask people what they want from the library
• Talk to patrons and potential patrons in comfortable, community spaces
• Build community & institutional support
• Work in collaboration with ongoing organizations to get the word out
• Food banks, after-school programs, shelters, etc.
• Update the library’s image
• Appeal to the people who you want the library to attract
• Create an approachable and accepting atmosphere
• Cater to the target audience
• Purchase materials that patrons can directly relate to - universally relatable as well as minority-specific