Big Talk From Small Libraries 2023: Programming Opportunities for Adults with Disabilities
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The document outlines the implementation of a weekly story time program called 'Page Turners' for adults with disabilities at the Jersey Shore Public Library, initiated due to the lack of programming opportunities for this demographic. Through consultations with participants, the library planned engaging activities, including crafts and discussions centered around picture books, while fundraising efforts were carried out to support the program. Emphasizing flexibility, the initiative is designed to be inclusive and responsive to the needs and interests of the participants, aiming to expand into regular programming.
Big Talk From Small Libraries 2023: Programming Opportunities for Adults with Disabilities
- 1. Programming Opportunities for Adults with Disabilities Sarina Bower Jersey Shore Public Library Jersey Shore, PA
- 2. Jersey Shore Public Library Located in Central PA Part of the Lycoming County Library System 1 full time staff (Director) 4 part time staff Serves a population of 5,694
- 3. Jersey Shore Public Library
- 4. Jersey Shore Public Library
- 5. What we did Weekly “story time” for adults with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities Why we did it A local organization, Clinton County Community Connections, started bringing some of their clients into the library on a weekly basis – after talking to some of the staff and getting to know the clients, we realized that there are not many programming opportunities or activities in our community for these adults
- 6. Pre-Planning Step 1 - Find out what the patrons want Talk to them! Before anything else, I spent several weeks talking to the clients and their staff when they were in the library. I asked if they would be interested in a program just for them. Then I asked what they wanted to do, what kind of books they wanted to read, and what kind of crafts they wanted to do. We had an overwhelming response that YES, this type of programming was wanted.
- 7. Pre-Planning Step 2 – Put it down on paper After talking to the patrons, take your notes and put it all down on paper. I wanted to plan a 1 hour story time which included a craft or sensory activity each week.
- 8. Pre-Planning Step 2 continued During summer reading, I also do preschool story time. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REINVENT THE WHEEL! I took my “lesson plans” for my preschool story time, and adapted them for my adult group. Most of the adults that I talked to, wanted fun picture books and after talking to the staff, I knew that we needed simple crafts but I wanted crafts that would be useful or something that an adult would be excited to make. We will talk about those later.
- 9. Pitching the idea Meet with your director Nothing like this had ever been done before at our library I met with our director and pitched my idea Draft of a calendar Printouts of the crafts that I wanted to make and an estimated cost An idea on how to raise the funds to cover the cost of materials We have very limited staff so we had to plan carefully to make sure we had coverage on the circulation desk.
- 10. Now, what do we call it? I wanted to come up with a name for the program that didn’t call attention to the fact that it was a program for adult with disabilities. After doing some research I decided to call it Page Turners. We advertised it as Page Turners; a weekly story and craft time designed specifically for adults with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities.
- 11. MAKING IT HAPPEN
- 12. Fundraising Small library = small budget I wanted to take on the responsibility to raise the funds for this program because I was the one to propose the idea and I did not want to take funding away from any of our other programs. Think about what type of fundraising is successful in your area. I wanted something that wouldn’t take up too much time or resources. We also have many sports teams and clubs doing fundraising ALL THE TIME so I wanted something different. We decided on doing a Paint Night fundraiser, which would be held at the library.
- 13. Fundraising Paint Night Fundraiser Ordered acrylic paint and 11x14 canvases on Amazon Advertised on social media Created a PayPal link for people to register online You CAN do this! I promise you can do this, reach out to me at sbower@jvbrown.edu if you need help!
- 15. Weekly Calendar Weekly schedule posted in the library and online Smaller handouts were given out at the library to those interested in attending Samples of the crafts were also displayed to create excitement This year we started making a summer reading calendar with weekly themes that each program – Preschool, Children and Teens – would all follow the same theme each week to make the programming more cohesive.
- 16. Weekly Planning Plan activity and books for each week • List all supplies needed • Choose books to go along with your theme • Place holds at least 2 weeks ahead of time • Have more available than you think you need • Read through books ahead of time – don’t read them the first time during the program
- 17. Weekly Planning Cont. Make a plan BUT be prepared to be flexible!!
- 18. The Evolution of Your Plan Your group will likely consist of individuals with varying abilities and attention spans, it may take a couple of weeks to “feel it out.” THAT’S OK! Take your cues from the participants and let them lead the discussions. Sometimes it’s really fun to spend a half hour talking about how an octopus can fit through a drain pipe! If you are excited and show interest, they will also be excited and interested.
- 19. Weekly “Box” I kept all of the materials that I needed for my program that week in a milk crate. All staff knew that this was MY summer reading box and not to touch it. Sign in sheet, pens, my books, craft supplies, anything else that I thought I might need went in this box ahead of time then I just had to grab it and go. Everything was right at hand and ready to go. I am famous for rolling back into the library 10 minutes before my evening preschool program starts, just grabbing my box and going to the children’s room. Proper preparation makes life easier.
- 20. The Books
- 21. What we read After talking with library visitors about this program and finding out there was an interest, I started asking those that wanted to participate in the program what THEY wanted to do and what kinds of books they wanted to read. I presented it as an open ended question “What kinds of books would you like to read for the program?” and if needed provided options such as picture books, nonfiction books, chapter books, a chapter out of a book each week… Everyone wanted picture books or “books that I can understand”.
- 22. What we read cont. We focused mostly on reading picture books. But I also added in some non-fiction and even poetry. Again, I was “double dipping” and planning programming for my adultsThursday morningsand my preschoolers on Thursday evenings, I didn’t want to add a bunch of extra work for myself so I chose books that would work for both groups.
- 23. What we read cont. Admittedly, it can feel weird reading picture books to a room full of adults. In reality, the person doing the reading is probably the only person that thinks it’s weird. Acknowledge the feeling and move on. I specifically chose books that would be fun to “story tell” and that would lend themselves to side conversations that we could have while reading.
- 24. It’s not what you read… It’s HOW you read it Draw them in Make things interactive – ask questions during the story “What do you think is going to happen next? “Do you think that’s a good idea?” “How many of you have been to the beach? What was your favorite thing?” Sometimes just a quick comment is all it takes “Hmmmmm, I wonder what he will try to do next…”
- 25. It’s not what you read… It’s HOW you read it My favorite – share a personal story “Yep, I tried snorkeling one time and we saw a moray eel. It looked like a big, fat snake and that thing opened its mouth so big…I screamed right through my snorkel!” (True story!) This will often open the door for them to share something, let them! This is their time and they want to be involved and heard. If you only get through 2 of your 3 books, so what?
- 26. It’s not what you read… It’s HOW you read it Another approach Some of the books I would ask them to pay special attention because I wanted to get their thoughts on the book to see if my evening group would like it or not. They really liked being the “test audience” to new books and it gave them a great way to provide feedback on what we were reading.
- 27. Activities
- 28. Tip Make each of your crafts ahead of time for two reasons: 1. So you know how long it will take and if it actually works. 2. You can display each craft with the summer reading calendar and get participants excited about what they will make that week. This will work for any age group!
- 29. Magnet Boards Multi-week activity Made using Dollar Store pizza pans and acrylic paint • Each got to paint their own coral and bubbles • We made the shark magnets another week • They all got their picture taken which I photoshopped into the scuba diver another week • Last I put hangers on them and they got to take them home to use for notes and pictures
- 30. How many sharks can we name? This was a chance to get loud! We started off our time this week looking through non-fiction books and reading about different species of sharks. Then we had a challenge to see how many species we could name. My record visiting the elementary schools was a class that could name 12, they wanted to beat that. They named 26! We kept the books out and then went through and looked up the sharks we were interested in learning more about.
- 31. Ocean Trivia Game Another chance to get loud! • We did not keep score • Everyone had a chance to pick a color and a number if they wanted to • The person that picked the question got to try to answer first, if they didn’t know we opened it up to everyone else • Each question card had the answer plus a fun fact relating to the question
- 32. Sensory Activities Sand Kiddie pool filled with sand with buried jewels and coins to “dig for treasure” Kinetic Sand Low sided container with kinetic sand and tools to “dig for treasure” Shaving Cream Cookie trays or low sided containers filled with shaving cream Painting with shaving cream Water Beads Clear storage bins filled with several inches of water beads - dropped pearls (beads) in for them to “dive” for – many of them just loved playing in them
- 33. Digging for treasure Sand and Moon Sand Buried pirate coins and “jewels” in both play sand and moon sand We got to dig up the treasures which they then traded in for prizes out of the treasure chest
- 34. Mini Aquariums Materials Needed: Glass jars Water Beads Aquarium Gravel Aquarium plants Plastic fish Pitchers of water Tons of paper towels
- 35. Notes on water beads SUPERVISION IS REQUIRED These are very, very bad for anyone to eat/put in nose or ears – if you have anyone that you think may try to eat these or put them where they don’t belong, you should probably skip these They need to be soaked at least 48 hours so plan ahead They start tiny but expand many times larger than you expect – plan your container accordingly These are very bad for the sewer system so do not rinse them down the drain They can be dried out and reused over and over – they take weeks to dry Playing in them is extremely addicting – hide them from your coworkers or else you will have none left for your program
- 36. Diving for Pearls This was SO much fun! “Pearls” (beads) were dropped into the bins and mixed in with the water beads. It was harder than you think to find them and pick them out. We then used them to make bracelets. Most fun was had just playing in the water beads! (Have plenty of paper towels handy!)
- 37. Under the Sea Dance Party Summer Reading Wrap-up
- 38. Dance Party The last week of our program we hosted a dance party to celebrate. Our community room was decorated with the summer reading decorations I had in the lobby AND I found a disco ball in our storage closet. We played the beach boys and other beachy themed music (Teen Beach Movie soundtrack) We had snacks (cookies and goldfish crackers) and drinks (juice boxes and bottled water) I got right in the mix and danced with everyone, it was the highlight of our summer
- 39. Surveys At the beginning of the dance party I passed out surveys to get everyone’s thoughts about the program. I had simple yes/no questions as well as some that allowed people to write in an answer. I wanted to ask if the program was enjoyed, if they liked the books, liked the crafts and if there was anything we should do differently. I collected these at the end and reviewed them so we can use the feedback when planning future programs.
- 40. What are we doing now?
- 41. Pop Up Story Time We are currently meeting once a month with themed story time and activities. I hope to be able to expand this and offer it as regular weekly programming.
- 42. Wrap-Up
- 43. How to make it happen Identify a need Get it “director approved” Find funding (if needed) Make a plan Get the word out Implement your plan Get feedback
- 44. Remember BE FLEXIBLE Have a plan but be prepared for it to change and evolve as you go You may have all different levels of abilities and attention spans Make sure EVERYONE is included if they want to be Be positive and have fun
- 45. Additional Notes Be aware that disabilities come in all shapes and sizes, some visible and some not. I always had at least one table, if not two or three set up on the perimeter of the room in case an individual was not comfortable being part of the group – someone may want to watch from standing in the doorway, this allows them to step out if things get overwhelming or to decide to join in later.
- 46. Additional Notes Cont. You may have individuals with visual or hearing impairments. For our summer reading program we had a woman join our group every week who was blind. When reading stories we stopped before turning the page, or whenever was appropriate, and described what was illustrated on the pages. As a group we tried to paint a mental picture for her. Ex. Next week we will be reading Three Ways to Trap a Leprechaun and I might describe the one scene like this: “Remember that Leprechaun trap that they kids just set up? Well, our friend, the Leprechaun, is now leaning up against the stick that’s holding up the end of the clothesbasket and in his left hand he is holding a pair of scissors- can you all see what he is doing with those scissors? Yes! He’s CUTTING the string that is tied to the stick and the gold coin. Uh oh…by the glint in his eyes and that cheesy smile we can tell he is up to no good.” It might feel silly at first but don’t give up, doing this little bit of extra just might be something that makes his or her day. And usually the rest of the group enjoys it too.
- 47. Additional Notes Cont. Just remember, do not assume anything. Help only when asked. If you see someone struggling, you can ask if they’d like help but don’t just jump in. If someone has a service dog, IGNORE THE DOG. If someone wants to share a story, let them. Listen, ask questions but don’t try to finish sentences for them.
- 48. Questions