Reaching out to the community in new ways

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we are adaptable. When we went home nearly a year ago, I don’t think we had any understanding of how we would be translating our services from in-person to online. And yet, we have done just that with so many of our programs. We have discovered new ways to reach out and engage the community. We altered our programs, bought tripods and ring lights, and maybe even learned how to edit videos. Within the Outreach Department, we took our existing programs and made them accessible to the public while everyone cozied up at home. After all, what’s better than donning sweatpants while listening to or watching a good story?

The joy and beauty of a book club is the connection between its members. It provides a forum for meaningful discussion, personal connection and self-exploration. Transitioning book clubs from in-person to online has opened new ways to interact while reading and discussing a published work.

For my fifth graders at Berryhill, it means a lot more comments but typed rather than spoken. It also allows for immediate reactions to the text as I read. This type of response to the text allows for a unique interaction, since I as the reader can glance occasionally at the chat to see how students are responding to the narrative. It serves as a stream of consciousness that students feel safe to express, where they otherwise may not. When we do take breaks, I am able to refer back to those comments to generate discussion or follow-up responses, building on the conversation. I’ve found online book clubs to be a unique and engaging experience for students and that’s definitely something to chat about.

Translating a sensory program to an online format is certainly not easy, but with some creativity and effort, it’s possible. For Amrita Patel, Library outreach coordinator, it meant working with a range of adults ages 18-50 and conducting a variety of engaging activities, which she’s been doing since June of 2020.

“Truth be told,” Amrita says, “they seem more vested in the Library than ever before!” Her most recent program was in honor of Read Across America Day, where participants listened to a read-aloud of Yertle the Turtle and then engaged in discussions and activities relating to the book. It may have taken some time to get into a rhythm of sensory online programming, but this program isn’t toppling any time soon.

In the wake of quarantine, the Library pivoted fairly quickly to Facebook and other platforms as a means to conduct storytimes with our community. At an April 2020 Cable Access board meeting, Pamela McCarter, Library outreach coordinator, shared the success of these online programs with board members and pitched the idea of producing a show to air live on Access 21. John Rocco, the executive director, provided space to the Library for exactly that. The idea initially was that members of the community without access to the internet could also enjoy these storytimes. The show has since grown and engaged all parts of the community since its start.

While Library at Home is an outreach-led initiative, it now involves staff from across the system. We have taken live storytimes, edited and trimmed, and condensed them into perfectly cable-worthy 27-minute segments. The next step for the program is to use the platform to engage older adults that still may be experiencing isolation.

If you’d like to tune in, Library at Home airs Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in English and 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. in Spanish. ¡Es la hora del show.

A year later and here we are with amazing programs adapted, altered and entirely focused on reaching every pocket of our community. The pandemic has changed the direction of our work and our lives and in many ways has forced us to grow and adapt. And nothing says “self-reflection” like watching ourselves on video and seeing every single idiosyncratic thing we do. My advice, though? Embrace them all. From what I’ve seen, we translate great to 1s and 0s.

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This blog was written by Clay Freeman, outreach coordinator, at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library