Tag: libraries

Desperate Times

I was reading a thread the other day about the increase in shoplifting that’s going on and how the uptick is mainly food, baby formula, and diapers. So many people are hungry and desperate it’s absolutely heartbreaking. The ban on evictions ends January 1st and there is likely to be a tidal wave of homelessness just a week after Christmas. Most people commenting were sympathetic to those resorting to theft out of necessity but there were some who drew an unyielding line: Stealing Is Wrong and no one should ever resort to it. *sigh I don’t think I’ll ever understand that thinking. One commenter had seen a teen arrested for stealing a loaf of bread priced at under $1. They offered to pay for it but the store insisted the teen be arrested for such a heinous crime. Absolutely heartless.

Loads of stores of all types draw a hard line when it comes to theft. I mean, obviously, if people just take stuff all the time it a major freaking problem, I get it. But we’re living in desperate times. If you’re lucky enough to have held onto your job, managed not to catch, or have someone close to you catch Covid 19, if you are able to access food, water, shelter, etc…. so far, well that’s awesome. Seriously, those of us who are still employed, healthy, and managing to keep up with our bills, are so lucky. Maybe every time you’ve lost a job you’ve been able to scramble and find another one before starvation and homelessness occured. Maybe every time you’ve needed it the safety net has caught you or you’ve got enough family, friends, and/or strong community that has been there to help so that it never came to you becoming desperate enough to steal food. Not everyone is so lucky.

What if you didn’t have all of that luck? all those connections? What if when you lost your job, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t get another one? What if that stayed true until unemployment ran out? What if the safety net of food-stamps/EBT card/WIC/Fuel assistance, etc wasn’t there when you needed it? What if so many in your community were unable to feed their families that you’d spent 7 hours in line to get food from the food pantry but before you got to head of the line the food ran out? What if your friends and family were all in the same boat as you and unable to help you? How many days could you watch your kids go hungry before you tried begging strangers to help? How many days without food would it take before you started to reason: “I’ll just take exactly what I need, just a little bit of food, and I’ll pay the store back as soon as I can.”

Access to food, water and shelter should not be dependant on having enough money to pay for it. The basics of life should be provided for those who fall on hard times by a safety net. Any decent safety net should include help with job searches, access to training/education, and so on. We want to live in a strong, healthy society, right? We want to build our communities up and prosper all together, don’t we? I don’t want anyone left out or left behind. I want everyone to be fed, clothed, sheltered, and have access to medical care and education. I want everyone to feel secure and safe. There is enough for all our needs to be met so why don’t we mould our society to provide for everyone? Right now, a tiny minority of people avariciously hoard most of the resources while many, many people go hungry, suffer homelessness, lack medical care and shelter, that is insane.

Where can people go to find help? To get food? There are still places people can contact to try to get help:

These are some that I found with a quick google search. I believe these are orgs that are active nationally or maybe regionally, and there are likely more local resources in any given area. Local churches, temples, and so on may provide access to food or clothing. Some schools and colleges have food pantries or “free closets” as well. Some restaurants or grocery stores, especially small, local places may off leftover food to folks in need. I work in a Public Library and in addition to offering free access to books, movies, and craft activities (in a bag during Covid) we also have appointments available so people can use computers/internet and printers. Your local librarian can help connect you to local resources. We often have flyers from local orgs or hear about resources in the community. Public Libraries may also offer free wifi inside the library or even out into the parking lot. Some libraries provide free wifi during business hours and some may provide wifi around the clock.

We all need to be kind to each other and help where we can. These are crazy times we’re living in and we all need help now and then.

Day 53

I need to get outside. Does anyone know how to ruthlessly murder a million ticks without poison? Everytime I go out into my yard, even just to walk the dog I come back with at least one tick on me. It’s horrifying and I hate it. Those things really squick me out! Yeah, I’m probably not going to go outside. But it’s so gorgeous out there… and I should.

Had meetings all day, on Zoom, Meet Up, etc. It looks like summer programming will all be virtual. My state just got another 3 week extension on lock down, which is good, not enough probably, but something. So, now I need to scramble to come up with programming that can all be done online that is engaging, valuable, accessable, etc. We’re looking at how to reach patrons who don’t have internet access. We can do mailings somehow I guess. This new world we’re in is tricky and stressful. I need to work on my stress relief. I don’t know if I will be back working in the library this summer, I don’t know if patrons will be allowed in or not, I don’t know how we can serve our patrons well if they can’t come in to use the computers and printers.

Public Libraries in rural areas like ours provide access to the internet, computers, printers, scanners, fax machines, etc. Some libraries also have 3D printers and other fancy stuff. In our area the library is often the only place some people can use computers or the internet and we get people rushing in at closing time desperate not to miss some deadline, caught between their work schedule, the bus schedule, and our hours. If they make it before we shut the computers down entirely we will try to help them, much as we like to go home at the end of the day, it usually isn’t their fault they couldn’t get to us sooner. (not that I’m super invested in “fault”) Public Libraries everywhere are a safe warm or cool space for people experiencing homelessness to go during the day. We have restrooms, clean water, sometimes even tea available for a donation. If anyone asks me what the donation is I let them know it can be any amount, if they still seem unsure I let them know there is no one policing our tea supply, the Director and staff basically donate it all. The horrid Keurig plastic pollution machine costs $1 cup for whatever one chooses; coffee, tea, cocoa, but there is no one acting as the police of that transaction either. So it’s not nothing that library doors are closed now and I wonder how we will find ways to continue to help our patrons access what they need. We don’t have a supply of loaner laptops or mobile hotspots like some other libraries do. I know we’re working on all this, I just wish I could know what’s coming, I wish I could prepare.

Will I have a job when the pandemic releases us all from our house arrest? I don’t know. I’m seeing a lot of pain coming for a LOT of people, and while I know Public Libraries are a cost-effective way to provide vital services to communities, I also know that they often end up threatened by the chopping block. So right now I am working extra hard to become the best librarian I can be. My online classes are turning me from a whimsical chick who comes up with cool crafts for the kids to do into a kickass librarian who provides more value to the tweens & teens of our community by planning programs built around specific learning outcomes. The great thing is, if I do it right, the kids will learn things that make them think and help them grow and all they’ll notice is the fun and creativity.

Lessons from the Summer

Summer Reading is over. This year was my first attempt at running a Summer Reading Program. I became a teen librarian in December and felt like I started out several paces behind where I needed to be. It’s been pretty challenging managing the collection and running the teen programs. The first couple of months I barely managed to run the Teen Advisory Board and a craft or two. The YA writer’s group, which had run for a couple of years, was the first casualty of my inexperience. We floundered for a couple of months but couldn’t make it work. I think it might be something that could be started up again at some point.

I thought I was prepared for Summer Reading. I’d helped manage an SRP before as a Library Assistant but being in charge was a whole other thing. The theme this year was Space, more specifically it was: “A Universe of Stories.” So I made a schedule of six sci-fi movies showing one a week during Summer Reading. I also planned six craft workshops, roughly one a week as well. The movies were an abject failure. Virtually no one came to any of them. I think Friday was a bad choice of day and 6pm was an even worse choice of time. Four of my craft workshops were very successful and two were an adventure in frustration and disappointment. The two that failed were knitting and crochet. Tons of kids signed up, and they were very well attended but they were still failures. The kids did NOT learn to knit or crochet. If I ever try either again I will hire a professional instructor and block out more time. OOF. Four workshops went well, 2 of these I hired outside instructors for and 2 I ran myself.

I had a woman come in and teach some hand sewing to which I added suggestions for decorative touches that the kids were very enthusiastic about. We had some neat projects come out of that. The other instructor taught the kids to make some artistic sorts of books and the kids did amazing work. Heads down, working away, making beautiful art. I ran the Galaxy Ts and Space Mug workshops and it was fun, the kids were creative, they left with wearable art and everyone asked for more programming like that. Yay.

Next up I’ve got Harry Potter crafts for August and December, some computer coding workshops run by Holyoke Codes coming up in September and October, also in October I hope to have a sleepover at the library for Halloween. November is a bit up in the air still. I might take it easy and just have a board game night. In December I’m planning on showing the first Harry Potter movie and serving butterbeer. Then 2020 will be upon us. I have been working on it, just a little bit, for months!

Next summer’s theme is “Imagine Your Story” a fairy tale theme. This will be much more of a hit than space/sci-fi with our local teens. Learning from my mistakes this summer, I am not going to have weekly movies, instead I am going to have monthly movies starting in January. Every month I will show a fairy tale themed movie and sort of extend the theme all year long. Also starting in January will be “Book Boot Camp” where we will read a different genre every month and get together to talk about what we liked and didn’t like about it, it’s basically just to challenge the teens to read outside their comfort zones. I’m planning a fairy tale writing contest for the summer as well as a themed escape room and a series of at least five crafts. (NO KNITTING OR CROCHET)

I’ve already written a “How to Write a Fairy Tale” brochure and almost finished my SRP flyer and write ups. I just need an actual schedule of events, and approval for all of it, and I can finish writing it and start working on organizing it. I am not going to be doing anything in a state of last minute panic next summer.