Building Collections Based on Families’ Interests
Engagement | Raise Up | Milbridge Public Library
Milbridge is a small coastal town in rural Maine that in recent years has seen a growing Latino migrant labor population. Although families knew that the Milbridge Public Library was an important institution in the community, very few spent time there, mainly because there was a lack of books for adults and children in Spanish.
To fill this gap, parents who were part of the Comienza en Casa | It Starts at Home project, in collaboration with an AmeriCorps volunteer, organized a Children’s Day fundraiser for the library. Money from the fundraiser was used to purchase Spanish books and magazines that families wanted for children and adults.
Once the books arrived, the library threw a “processing party.” Ten Spanish-speaking families from the community came to the library and helped to sort the books by category, placed Dewey Decimal numbers on them, and entered them into the catalog system so that they could be ready for lending.
The process resulted in families feeling ownership over the collection and increased utilization of library books and services.
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