The End of Summer Reading—Now What?

Poster created by Sarah McIntyre

As a fairly new librarian serving an underserved community where making ends meet supersedes the Library’s stance, the nearing of the end of Summer Reading has stimulated several questions such as: “How do I keep the momentum going and continue to motivate children and adults to read? How do I intertwine the Library’s resources with the needs of the community? How do I attempt to close the new digital divide where Internet access is no longer an issue, but how the Internet is being used poses the problem?”

I know that understanding the needs of the community where the Library resides is paramount and there are several resources available both in print and online that will provide insight on how to put community knowledge to use. One resource in particular that I recently found and plan on putting to use is the American Library Association’s Outreach to Underserved Populations Resource. This site targets many underserved groups and provides several resources that specifically address the issues within these groups. The site also provides a wide range of resources from blogs to organizations that focus on issues that plague underserved groups.

For more information on how you can serve an underserved group in your Library’s Community, visit http://www.ala.org/advocacy/diversity/outreachtounderservedpopulations.

Karnecia Williams
Inglenook Library