On the Road with Outreach

Submitted by Karina Segura

Our Bookmobile stops for the second Saturday of the month were unfortunately canceled in the month of March due to inclement weather. As you may all recall, that was the day we had snow flurries in most parts of the county. Lorraine and I were eager for these stops, especially since we just started visiting Chattahoochee Elementary back in February and have already started building such great relationships with our patrons there. With such strong winds, however, we had to think about safety on the road and made the difficult call. It turned into an office day full of checking off items from our to-do lists – it was like a blessing in disguise! Throughout the morning, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that patrons were calling the branches about the Chattahoochee Elementary stop, and that made us happy.

One month later and the weekend stops were here once again! Although the weather was cold and a little dreary, Lorraine and I felt safe to go out on the Bookmobile. As we arrived to Chattahoochee and started getting set up, a maintenance worker came over to us and asked us to move from our usual parking spot. (We were parked next to the school’s sign that he had to clean that morning.) We quickly put our heads together and looked for the best route to maneuver the parking lot in order to find a new spot. We finished setting up, and eagerly waited for our patrons to stop by.

About 15 minutes later, we had our first visitor, Juan. This gentleman was here to return books from his visit back in February and look for new items for himself and his family. After doing a little reader’s advisory with him about his daughter, I was able to help him find the perfect books to take home. We started conversing a little more, and I learned that Juan was from Guatemala. He shared with me that he grew up speaking a dialect and didn’t start learning Spanish till just a few years ago. (I found this hard to believe because his Spanish was excellent!) This quickly turned into one of the best patron interactions I’ve ever had. Juan went on to explain that ever since he started reading library books his confidence in speaking Spanish has just skyrocketed! He said that he’s always read news articles, magazines, and other content online, but that nothing compares to physical books. The excitement and passion that he expressed was just heartwarming. It took everything I had to stop from bursting into tears right in front of him. (Ask Lorraine, she will tell you.) I was just elated with his story and feel extremely grateful to be a part of it.

Our second patron was a sweet mom named Edith. Right away, Lorraine and I could tell that she was a frequent library user because she had just the perfect questions to ask. We learned that her eldest son will be a volunTEEN this summer and they’re both excited to see what that will be like. Edith continued to ask about other programs and opportunities for her children, so we talked up Summer Reading and branch programs. We also mentioned Conversational English for her and she appreciated that we were able to clarify how the program works. She was concerned that since she hadn’t joined from the very beginning, she couldn’t just pop in mid-series, but we assured her that that was not an issue – we just want her to attend!

Although we only had two patrons stop by to see us at our Chattahoochee Elementary stop on Saturday, April 9^th, they were the best patrons we could have asked for. Not only were their needs met with our ever-growing collection, but they also left the Bookmobile feeling heard and valued. And that right there is why we love what we do here in Outreach.