Outreach to Children

There’s been some discussion on ys_talk about library outreach programs to children. The subject of outreach is addressed by the American Library Association in its Competencies for Librarians Serving Children in Public Libraries. 

• Under Knowledge of Client Group it states that the youth librarian “assesses the diverse needs, preferences, and resources of the community on a regular and systematic basis.”
  
• Under Programming Skills, we are to “provide library outreach programs which meet community needs and library goals and objectives.”

The goal of most of us is to turn children into lifelong readers, but we have to reach them first. 

Some libraries are making attempts to reach children who don’t use the library. Story hours and craft programs and summer reading clubs serve their purpose by encouraging children to read, but most children who come to the programs we spend so much time planning don’t need encouragement to read.  Mostly they are brought by parents who already read to them at home and who would probably come to the library anyway (though maybe not so regularly.)

If we want to help stem the growth of illiteracy and convert alliterates, especially children who are at risk, we need to reach all the children. To do this, we have to go out to those children who don’t come to us - we have to go out into the community.

Many parents are laid off right now, but in the overall picture, daycare attendance in Iowa continues to increase.  Because of transportation issues, many young children are unable to come to the library. Children enrolled in day care or preschool centers have additional problems. Because seat belts are mandated, and because most centers have limited modes of transportation, trips to the library by preschool groups may be few or not at all.  Librarians and professional organizations have recognized this and some have started preschool literacy initiatives. However, visits to elementary school classrooms or day-care-centers are often initiated by the teacher or an aide who is familiar with the library. The same day-care center is visited over and over again.

Think about what centers and what children are being missed.

A growing amount of research shows that the greater access a young child has to books and language, the richer more greatly developed and varied their own language will be. Learning to read becomes easier for them as well as the acquisition of knowledge expected of them at school. It has even been proved that a magic borderline runs at four years of age. The brain is most receptive and develops its linguistic ability, with all that implies, during the first four years of a child’s life. As we get ready for summer reading we need to remember children of working parents attend day care centers or are with babysitters. We need to figure out a way to take our program to them.