Out & About with Outreach

Submitted by Lorraine Lane

Relationships in the community are the foundation of the Outreach department. Our team enjoys working with a variety of individuals throughout the county at bookmobile visits, senior living and children's programs  We recently had the privilege to partner with Headstart. Below is Kandy's recap of her experience:

While participating at Headstart's Open House, I lost count of how many families told me they had never visited the library before and I can fully understand why. The concept of libraries in the U.S is very different from other countries. I was very happy to tell them that libraries are so much more than books. We had over 68 people stop by the library's table and we issued 19 library cards. 

A father with his 5-year-old son signed up for a library card. I asked the child for his name twice and he didn't answer, his father shared with me that he couldn't speak. He will start receiving speech therapy at Headstart. A lady shared with me that she had never heard of the children's programs before and said she was looking for activities to do with her children during the summer.

Ms. Martita, a sweet and kind lady said, "Thank you for bringing so much joy here, I will tell everyone about the library." She downloaded an eBook from Libby for the first time, she also checked out a Chromebook and was very interested in the Conversational English classes.  

The children at Headstart are also participating in 1000 Books Before Kindergarten. Katie DeLuc painted the 1000 Books logo which is proudly displayed in the entry hallway of the school. The teachers are reading to their classrooms and tracking the books on the bulletin board for the families.