LIBRARY DELIVERY SERVICE 2
Library Delivery Service for Limited-Travel Individuals
in the Seaford Library Community
Rosemarie Harrison
Drexel University
Library Delivery Service for Limited-Travel Individuals
in the Seaford Library Community
Executive Summary
The Seaford Library, of Seaford, Delaware, proposes to provide a Library Delivery Service to expand library service to individuals who are effectively excluded from receiving library services because they cannot travel to the library. The proposed Library Delivery Service program employs a dedicated Library Outreach Assistant who will serve as liaison to partnering agencies that provide services to individuals unable to visit the library themselves. This individual is responsible to identify and interview outreach patrons and to provide library materials that will meet their information needs. Though this service will not be restricted by age, the initial focus is on contacting and providing delivery service to the elderly who have travel limitations that preclude library visits. This initiative is supported by a partnership with the 800-member Nanticoke Senior Center, which will provide both a central pickup location and home delivery to their meal-delivery clients. A 66% positive response rate to an initial survey indicates that the Library Delivery Service is a needed service for and would be appreciated by limited-travel individuals in our service area. Although project implementation is restricted to the Seaford Library’s service area, it will provide an example to other libraries to engage in innovative partnerships which enable the identification of and provision of library services to unserved populations. The library requests your generous support in the amount of $7476 for the period of January to June of 2011 to launch the Library Delivery Service which will enable those who cannot come to the library to fill their information needs by having library materials delivered to them.
Setting
Seaford is the largest city in rural southwestern Delaware. Though this town is small by most standards, it has much to offer its residents. The Nanticoke River runs through town giving residents and visitors a beautiful place to enjoy recreational activities. The Seaford Historical Society’s museum offers a guided tour through the areas history. The Ross Mansion recalls the days when we lived with slavery. Seaford hosts two major festivals: the Eastern Shore AFRAM festival in mid-August and the Nanticoke Riverfest in early July. Both festivals draw people from throughout the eastern seaboard.
Seaford is less than an hour’s drive from several popular Atlantic Ocean beach resort towns. Major metropolitan areas such as Washington, D. C. and Philadelphia are within a two-hour drive. These nearby attractions, in addition to all Seaford has to offer make it a popular retirement location. Within the city of Seaford, 22 percent of the population is age 65 and older (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000b).
The Seaford Library’s Tradition of Service
The Seaford Library is proud of its long tradition of service to the city of Seaford and the surrounding community. The independent library was established in 1902 by a group of women seeking to improve their community. This tradition of community service is reflected in the library’s mission statement:
The Seaford Library in its efforts to enhance the quality of life in the community provides free access to a variety of materials, programs and services in a friendly and welcoming environment through traditional and emerging technologies. Special emphasis is placed on providing materials on current topics and titles of high interest in a variety of formats for patrons of all ages. The library encourages lifelong learning and a love of books in any form.
The Seaford Library currently provides free access to an in-house collection of 45,000 items, including books in various formats, magazines, music, and movies. For those with vision limitations, the library’s collection includes over 3,000 large print books, 1,200 audio books, and 100 Braille books. Through membership in the Delaware Library Catalog, a state-wide consortium of 47 libraries, the library’s access to materials is much greater. The library’s collection is supplemented by public access to electronic resources either through one of our 21 public-access computers or over the Internet. In addition, the library’s current building has four meeting rooms that are available for library- and public-sponsored programs and meetings.
The Seaford Library is a busy small library that has been recognized for its excellent service. The service area of the Seaford Library includes the city of Seaford and the surrounding rural area comprising the 19973 zip code and had a patron base of 21,416 in 2000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). The library’s value to its community can be seen through usage statistics. The Seaford Library had 102,761 patron visits during the 2010 fiscal year. There were 94,554 items circulated to patrons and 9,801 people attended 463 events at the library during the same period. In 1985 the Seaford Library was given the Delaware Library Association Outstanding Award of Merit for distinctive programming and service to the community.
The library currently employs 19 individuals, three of whom hold library science graduate degrees or doctorates: the Director, Outreach Librarian, and Reference Librarian. Other staff include the Deputy Director, Director of Facilities and Operations, Assistant Director of Operations, Technical Services Librarian, Public Services Librarian, Acquisitions Librarian, Children’s Librarian, Young Adult Librarian, Adult Services Librarian, Bookkeeper, Custodian, two Circulation Clerks, and three Pages. The Board of Trustees consists of five volunteer members with a combined 37 years of service to the library. A complete list of staff is presented as Appendix A. The resume of the Outreach Librarian is supplied as Appendix B.
Statement of Need
According to U. S. Bureau of the Census, Census 2000 figures, 41.6% of the city of Seaford’s noninstitutionalized population aged 65 and over has a disability. Of those aged 21 to 64 years, 30.5 percent have a disability. Of those aged 5 to 20 years, 14.2 percent have a disability (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000b). The percentages are comparable for the service area of the Seaford Library. According to Census 2000 figures, 4,658 individuals (23.8 percent) of the population age 5 and older have a disability (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000a).
Fortunately, most of the elderly and the disabled are able, if they are so inclined, to come to the library themselves to locate and checkout materials of interest to them. However, for others with travel limitations, local travel may be limited to the minimum necessary for medical attention. These individuals rely on their caretakers for their daily needs. Some have caretakers who are willing to provide for their informational needs, either by visiting the library or through other means. For others, it is difficult to request that their caregivers provide “extras” such as access to the informational and entertainment materials of their choice. Limited-travel individuals who do not have caregivers who can either transport them to the library or retrieve books and other materials for them are in effect excluded from library service.
Locating Limited-Travel Individuals and Assessing Their Level of Interest
The obvious means of engaging individuals who have limited or no ability to travel locally is through services that are delivered to them. The Seaford Library determined that developing relationships with those service organizations would be an effective means of both offering the Library Delivery Service to limited-travel individuals and delivering library materials. Several local organizations were approached.
The Nanticoke Senior Center delivers daily meals to 75 homebound or limited-travel individuals each weekday. The senior center serves a mid-day meal at their facility to 20 to 50 members of the Seaford community every weekday. The senior center provides transportation to 14 of these individuals because they do not have another means of attending senior center events. The Nanticoke Senior Center agreed to become a partner with the library to enhance their client’s quality of life. This partnership includes allowing the library to use the senior center as a drop-off point for delivery of library materials to individuals able to attend senior center functions and allowing meal-delivery volunteers to transport library materials on their regular rounds. Thus, attempts to gauge interest were first made through senior center services.
The Seaford Library and Nanticoke Senior Center, distributed a preliminary survey (see AppendixC) to 25 individuals who receive home-delivered meals and 25 individuals who attended lunch and a presentation about the proposed delivery service at the Nanticoke Senior Center. For the meal-delivery clients, if the client expressed an interest in Library Delivery Service, a form was completed and returned to the senior center via the meal-delivery volunteer. Of those receiving home delivery, 13 responded that they would be interested in receiving materials from the library if such a service were offered. An additional 4 people responded that they had no need of this service, and 8 individuals did not respond to the survey. Of those attending the lunch at the senior center, 20 responded that they would be interested in receiving library materials if they were delivered to the senior center. Five said they had no need for this service. Between the two surveyed populations, there was a 66% positive response rate, which indicates that a library delivery service is both necessary and would be appreciated by the target audience.
Of those who desired library services, factors that prevented these individuals from accessing library materials included being unable to travel locally for pleasure due to mobility restrictions (81 percent), inability or unwillingness to place further burdens on caretakers for personal desires (72 percent), being unaware of alternatives to regular print such as large print or audio versions of books (27 percent), and being unaware of the range of materials the library offers in addition to printed books (84 percent). These figures illustrate the need for both the Library Delivery Service and information about what the library can offer to this population.
Proposed Service
The primary objective of the Library Delivery Service is to meet the lifelong learning needs of the individuals within the service area of the Seaford Library who have been effectively excluded from library service because they cannot travel to the library. A second objective is to increase the Seaford community’s familiarity with the library and the vast resources it offers. A third objective is to encourage other libraries to consider ways in which they can locate and serve individuals who cannot come to them.
Implementation of the program will begin by providing service through care providers, such as the Nanticoke Senior Center, who focus on providing services to the disabled elderly. Then, individuals will be approached through caregivers who deliver services to those with disability-related travel limitations regardless of age. Based upon the positive response rate to our initial survey, we expect to have over 100 participants in the Library Delivery Service program within the first 4 months.
Project Plan
During the initial phase of the Library Delivery Service, the Seaford Library will make use of our contacts and partnerships with local elder care organizations to target limited-travel seniors for Library Delivery Service. It will be necessary to hire a Library Outreach Assistant to provide intake interviews to assess qualifications and best mode of service, to assist in materials selection or provide requested materials, and to deliver library materials to the individual or collective drop-off locations for delivery by others. The Library Outreach Assistant will be trained by and report to the Seaford Library’s Outreach Librarian. A job description for the Library Outreach Assistant is included as Appendix D.
Intake and qualifications assessment will determine whether an individual will participate in this program or receive services through Delaware’s Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Individuals receiving library materials via the delivery service will have the option of having the Library Outreach Assistant select items for them based on the intake interview and subsequent contacts, ordering items via the Seaford Library catalog, or contacting the Library Outreach Assistant by telephone or e-mail to request specific items. Items will be delivered using one of three delivery methods. If the individual is able to attend functions at a centralized location and to transport the materials home with them, library materials will be brought to that collective drop-off point. If the participant receives regular in-home services through a partner organization, that organization will deliver the materials to the patrons home. If neither of these scenarios is feasible, the Library Outreach Assistant will deliver materials to the individuals home. To protect the privacy of a patron’s material selections, library items will be delivered in cloth transit bags. The bags will be made easy to open by the addition of key rings attached to the zipper pull tabs.
Marketing the Service to the Limited-Travel Individuals
Seaford has two residential facilities for limited-travel individuals. Seaford Center is a long- and short-term assisted living and skilled nursing facility. Methodist Manor has independent- and assisted-living suites and skilled nursing beds. Most of the over 300 residents of these two facilities are age 50 and older. Both Seaford Center and Methodist Manor management expressed in interest in the library providing delivery services to their residents and both have agreed to allow the library to present information at community gatherings.
In addition to the limited-travel seniors who receive services through the Nanticoke Senior Center, individuals who are not institutionalized or centrally located also receive services from home healthcare practitioners, and personal living assistants. Two local providers of in-home care are Home Helpers and Peninsula Home Care. Neither of these two service organizations restrict their clientele by age. The directors of both organizations expressed a willingness to distribute material describing the Library Delivery Service to their clients. To protect the privacy of service recipients, care providers will deliver promotional materials and discuss the service with their clients. If the client desires contact with the library, the care provider or individual will provide contact information to the Library Outreach Assistant.
Other avenues to locate individuals unable to travel to the library include caregiver support groups, doctor’s offices and hospitals, and home-school teachers. These groups will be formally approached during the second six months. The inclusion of these groups will further expand the age range of those served by the program.