Librarystaff created STEM kits to distribute to youth and families in the Summer of2020. Kits included instructions and materials to create Oobleck Slime andBubble Lamps. At the Karen bookmobile stop, young patrons picking up the kitswere given a how-to demonstration. Two hundred and fifty three kits werecreated and distributed to families and youth at all bookmobile stops. Familiesserved through remote programming would drive to meet with the Liaisons at thissite to pick up learning materials or to follow-up on a previous lesson.

Theneeds and interests of the families informed staff about what materials,resources and programming would have the most impact and breadth. Staff wereable to successfully connect patrons to relevant materials and resources that they needed andsparked curiosity in learning more about the Library. 

KarenLiaisons prioritized creating high quality storytimes and literacy opportunitiesfor Karen families. These have been well-attended and are hugely popular. Totruly highlight the impact of their work during the pandemic, the numbers fromMarch 2020 – September 2020 compared to previous in-person programming actually increased by an average of 1.5attendees. Transportation and access to libraries had been a persistent issueand virtual programming allowed patrons who may not have been able to get tolibraries before, an opportunity to participate remotely.

Bythe last weekend of March, the liaisons began remote Storytime programming forfamilies. Students who had not seen their friends for weeks were excited tomeet virtually. The practice of meeting virtually set families up for asuccessful transition to remote learning when school resumed in the followingweeks. The popularity and success of remote Storytime grew by word of mouth,but liaisons had to cap the number of attendees due to the challenge ofonboarding families to remote meetings, technology troubleshooting, teaching participantsand caregivers remote meeting best practices and limiting attendees to amanageable level.

Thisgrant allowed the liaisons to increase their capacity to reaching out to morepatrons and families. The relationships and connections staff have been able tomake with patrons from this community has increased our learning andunderstanding of how to better support and reach families who need ourresources most as well as increasing our ideas of what library work and libraryspaces could look like. In-person programming is relevant – and so is virtualprogramming. Working with families and the community despite the pandemic hashighlighted how readily and fastidiously liaisons can pivot to continue toserve and meet the needs of our patrons in remote and borderless libraryspaces.