Utilizing our Community Resources: The Public Library

The public library in Troy where I work is amazing.   They offer many different youth programs and have an abundant selection of resources from books, media, to online reources.  Not every community is as fortunate as we are to have such resources available to them.  Whiile brainstorming ways to reach out to our immigrant families, it dawned on me that some families in our district may not be aware of how useful our library is.  They may have visited but never had a tour to see the available resources. To reach out to our families, the library has agreed to host a family night.

I am excited about this.  This is a very cost effective way to reach out to families.  Most public libraries will offer similiar services at no charge.  What a great idea for those on a tight budget.  As we know, most of our schools are these days.  We need to utilize our resources.  Plus it promotes literacy and it's a great parent outreach opportunity.

The evening is still in the making but I have secured the date and the details are in the works.  Our vision is to separate the parents and children.  The parents will receive an adult resource tour of the library and the children will enjoy story time in our children's library.  At the end of the evening families can receive a library card and check out materials.  

For those of us who are born and raised in a community with a public library, this event may seem like a waste of your time, but for many families who are new to our country, this event will be very valuable and exciting as they become aware of the new opportunites available to them at no charge.  

I have a little over a month until this event.  This will provide me plenty of time to get prepared.  I wiil need to invite familes and hire a few translators for our non-English speaking families.  As it gets closer I will update on further details made.