Responding to Families’ Ideas for Programming
Engagement | Raise Up | David & Joyce Milne Public Library
A group of parents with young children approached the David & Joyce Milne Public Library in Williamstown (MA) about providing a bilingual story time. The librarians knew they did not have the resources, particularly a Spanish-speaking librarian, to do this, but they listened seriously to the parents’ request.
After a few discussions, the librarians gave the parents the go-ahead to take charge of creating and running a new bilingual story time program. Today, the library has a highly successful — and very well attended — Spanish story time, run almost completely by parents in the community.
The program has resulted in some unintended, but welcome, consequences: Spanish-speaking families in the community who had never felt the library had relevant programming for their families have begun to participate.
One librarian says, “It’s great that when we don’t have the skills and resources, [parents] can make it happen and bring brand-new families into the library.”
| See Next Idea |
Like the Living IDEABOOK? Be sure to follow for updates and more! To learn more about how library leaders Raise Up and other Engagement strategies, download the IDEABOOK.
