After School Mobile Literacy by Melissa McDonald

TIPS ANDTACTICS

after school

mobile literacy: serving youth in underserved neighborhoods BRINGING LITERARY SERVICES TO COMMUNITIES OBILE LIBRARIES HAVE STATES. BEEN AROUND SINCE AGO, 1905, ACROSS THE UNITED TWO YEARS THE MONROVIA PUBLIC LIBRARY, CA, LAUNCHED AN AFTER SCHOOL MOBILE LITERACY AND RECREATION PROGRAM. THE GOAL FOR THE PROGRAM WAS TO PROVIDE A VARIETY OF LITERACY AND RECREATION PROGRAMS TO YOUTH IN THE UNDERSERVED NEIGHBORHOODS OF OUR COMMUNITY. Program activities included tutoring for youth and adults, active and passive games, arts and crafts, as well as story times, and we provided access to health and wellness information by distributing pamphlets and conducting presentations through local nutrition and mental health agencies. To manage the activities, a team of librarians and recreation specialists served as program staff. DO NOT ASSUME...KIDS ARE INDIVIDUALS TOO Working on a mobile van can be a rewarding yet challenging experience. Originally, we thought we would bring our established library programming to ,

the mobile van to engage our young participants. However, we learned that what worked at the library did not necessarily work on the mobile van. We realized that because our young people come from different backgrounds and have differing needs and abilities, we had to prepare to serve them as individuals. We also expected them to volun-

tarily come and voluntarily join us, but when they did not, we went door to door to invite them. We noticed some kids were enthusiastic and excited to participate in activities and others appeared uninterested or would say things like, "reading is boring" Others took more time to get used to us than others, and so we learned to consider personality traits and abilities when interacting with each child. In time, the kids began to trust and accept what we shared with them. CONNECTING WITH THE KIDS: BE FLEXIBLE In order to successfully connect with our youth, we needed to shift gears and figure out what would engage them. Since one of the most important things when working with young

In order to successfully connect with our youth, we needed to shift gears and figure out what would engage them. Since one of the most important things when working with young people is communication, we spent more time listening and observing than we did talking.

FEBRUARY 2009

New construction in the area also f6rCed us to relocate our program to a temporary location. Sadly gang activity threatened the safety of our participants and staff; however, after a collaborative response to reassure our participants and their families of their safety, which included knocking on doors, we continued to provide services. Despite the challenges, there has been considerable growth in our program, and not just in the number of participants, which has increased each year. Our participants have experienced better grades in school, increased physical exercise, less behavior problems, and are now willing readers. We tried to create an environment of tolerance so our young people would be willing to try new things, hoping they would feel free to make mistakes, and offer them opportunities to grow. We certainly made our share of mistakes, but the result has been wonderful.

Many of our participants do not venture out of their neighborhoods, so we were bringing the activities to them. We invited guest speakers to share about topics such as nutrition, pet care, music, art, nature, and skateboarding. We worked with other community agencies and transported them to community events, included them in our Summer Reading Club, and held a block party for the participants and their families. people is communication, we spent more time listening and observing than we did talking. We wanted the kids to keep coming back, so we showed them that we were interested in their ideas. First, as other library professionals had suggested, we redefined reading "so it's more than an activity with a book." (Gorman, 2008) British author Geraldine McCaughrean (2008) said in her acceptance speech for the 2008 Michael L Printz Award, "1 don't hugely mind if teenagers don't read books, if books are not their thing. So long as they maintain an inner world of the imagination." (2008) Therefore, we included magazines, audio books, graphic novels, comics, non-fiction, and paperbacks in our collection. We created a "design it yourself" program with art, science, and math activities. Our recreation specialists discovered that some of our kids struggled with gross motor skills, so they revisited some old-fashioned, simple games, such as four-square and tag football. Participants were more likely to engage in activities if we remained consistent, so we did not waver in our efforts.

youth were reluctant to take home their artwork, we created "portfolios" for them to store their work, and displayed their art at community events. We also learned that the more the kids engaged in new things, the more they shared about their own selfdiscovery. KEEP THE LIBRARY DOORS OPEN

CONCLUSION Now over to you. How can you profit 1from our experiences? We suggest getting a few caring professionals together and start brainstorming. Connect with us andlwith others like us through the networks available so Ă˝ve can share what works and what does not. Yes, it is trial and error and every neighborhood is different, but it is worth the journey.

Librarians with successful outreach skills have said that in order to encourage children to come to the library, you must go where they are, honor where they come from, and understand what they love. We invited our participants to the library and encouraged them to seek us out each time they visited. We informed other library staff of our efforts so the children would feel welcomed. It was an extremely rewarding experience for us to see the kids full of excitement visiting our library. It seemed having the mobile library made it easier for the children to decide to visit the brick and mortar building.

REFERENCES Gorman, M. (2008). An Extreme Makeover. School LibraryJournal. Vol. 54 (8) 21. McCaughrean, G. (2008). Printz Award Acceptance Speech. http://www.ala.org/ ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/ printzaward/previouswinners/PrintZO8. cfm

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT? STAY TRULY MOBILE Many of our participants do not venture out of their neighborhoods, so we were bringing the activities to them. We invited guest speakers to share on topics such as nutrition, pet care, music, art, nature, and skateboarding. We worked with other community agencies and transported them to community events, included them in our Summer Reading Club, and held a block party for the participants and their families. After discovering that some of our

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TEACHER LIBRARIAN

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Working with multi-age groups of kids requires patience, energy, a sense of humor, and most important, flexibility for the challenges that arise; we have had our share of challenges. Conducting a mobile outreach program is a physically draining job that requires set-up and tear down of tables, chairs, and street barricades, so we saw our share of scrapes and bruises. Further, we had to create a downsized version of our program and use a smaller vehicle for those days when we had mechanical problems.

Rebecca Diaz is a YDuth

Services M0nT0ViZ1

Librarian

fOT

Public Library in

Southern CllfifDrnia. She inay be reached at rdiazOy ci.monrovia.ca.Lis. 8

TITLE: After School Mobile Literacy: Serving Youth in Underserved Neighborhoods SOURCE: Teach Libr 36 no3 F 2009 The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited. To contact the publisher: http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/