Library Services for a New Age: Transforming Libraries into Centers for Boomer Learning and Community

Diantha Schull writes:

On October 1, I was delighted to work with Susan Irving, 2006 Lifelong Access Fellow, and Hagar Shirman, LFF’s Massachusetts EqualAccess Program Manager, to offer a preconference on Library Services for a New Age: Transforming Libraries into Centers for Boomer Learning and Community at the National Diversity in Libraries Conference co-sponsored by the Kentucky Library Association, KSMA, SELA, and the Association of Research Libraries.   Held in Louisvile, Kentucky,  the preconference attracted a diverse and motivated group, including adult program specialists, branch managers, library trustees, public reference librarians and academic librarians from such locations as Baton Rouge, Louisville, Atlanta, Lexington and Scott County Library in Georgetown, Kentucky.   Participants contributed throughout the session, discussing the need for new approaches to working with active older adults and exchanging ideas for programs, partnerships and “branding.”

Lifelong Access Fellow Susan Irving gave an exceptional presentation on the work she has lead in Louisville as Manager of the St. Matthews Eline Library.   She described the beginnings of the program, when she attended her first meeting of the Kentucky Elder Readiness Initiative and her participation in the 2006 Lifelong Access Institute.  From there, she worked with leaders of 4 local organizations that were already using the library on a regular basis, to design and experiment with programs that would engage older adults from across the community.    She outlined the programming philosophy—innovate, inform, involve—and showed examples of the program series that have evolved over two years, including “Aging Well” Programs, “Community Conversations,” “Puzzle Play” and “Want to Talk About It?”.   Each program involves a partner organization.  According to Susan, the library now has more partners than it can accommodate, and a waiting list besides.   She believes that programming for boomers has given her library and her community “an anchor” that continues to grow.

We know many other Lifelong Access Fellows are organizing programs to inform colleagues about Lifelong Access.  Please let us know if you are presenting or participating in workshops about 50+ services!

Second Annual Positive Aging Conference: 11/12/08

The Second Annual National Positive Aging Conference will be held Nov. 12, 2008, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and will focus on “Achieving Purpose, Meaning and Vitality in the Second Half of Life.”

The conference, co-sponsored by AARP, will be broadcast online in order to promote community conversations at affiliated sites across the country. Participants will be encouraged to respond to speaker remarks and discuss strategies to promote positive aging in their respective communities. Organizations are welcome to host an online site broadcast to engage their community in this discussion.

The 2nd Annual Positive Aging conference will feature Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute?; Richard Leider, author of Something to Live For and founder of The Purpose Project; Harry R. Moody, Director of Academic Affairs for AARP; and Dan Buettner, explorer, educator, and author of The Blue Zone: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who Live the Longest.

For more information about attending the Positive Aging conference, hosting a site, or sponsorship opportunities, go to this web page or contact Beth Somerville at somer012@umn.edu.

Lifelong Access Ideas in Action in Fayetteville, AR

2008 Lifelong Access Fellow Michele Raine, Manager of Reference Services at the Fayetteville Public Library, writes:

It’s been two months since we were in Chapel Hill together, and I can say that I’ve thought about something we learned there at least once a week since then.  I’m not much of a blogger, but I wanted to share some of what’s happened at the Fayetteville Public Library based on our experiences at the LFF Lifelong Access Institute.

The first change after the LFF Institute was that the library began partnering with the Arkansas Yoga Center to offer free yoga classes at the library. (If you read Vogue magazine, you might have seen the article about the Arkansas Yoga Center in the September 2008 issue.)  We now offer three classes a month, and they are filled through November!  Dr. Nussbaum’s program on brain health was a call to action for me, not only for physical activity, but mental activity.

The second big change in my department since LFF has been my attitude toward roles for volunteers.  I don’t know if you remember my reaction to Jill Friedman Fixler’s discussion on developing meaningful experiences at the library for our volunteers.  Faced with expanding daily tasks and shrinking staff, I was resistant. I think I said something like, “but who will call the holds?”  However, I met with our volunteer manager and in September we began a program called “Reading Road Show for Adults.”  We already had one for kids that took storytime to Head Start centers, but now the Road Show book club meets at the Senior Center once a month.

The Road Show is completely organized and led by volunteers.  Library staff simply checks out a book club kit to volunteers, and off they go.  I also shopped the idea of a walking club organized and led by volunteers. Our library is across the street from the trailhead to one of the city’s walking trails and two blocks from the historic square, which seem like nice walking destinations. I’ll keep you posted on both initiatives.

Finally, we won a PBS grant for a series of programs on social entrepreneurship that will take place in November.  We’ve invited a former winner of the Purpose Prize, Jose-Pablo Fernandez, to come and be the keynote speaker for that series, and I wouldn’t have heard of the Purpose Prize without LFF!

Hope all are enjoying a healthy and productive fall.

The Next Chapter: A 50+ Resource Fair in NYC

2007 Lifelong Access Fellow Brigid Cahalan, Older Adult Services Specialist at the New York Public Library, writes:

Since participating as a Fellow in the 2007 Lifelong Access Institute, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the question of how libraries can contribute to enhancing the lives of active older adults in the community. What tools can we provide to promote civic engagement, healthy aging, and creativity and growth throughout the lifespan?

The New York Public Library has been in a process of transformation, and as part of the changes I’ve been appointed to a newly-created position–Older Adults Services Specialist. I was delighted to learn of my new role, and look forward to putting into practice many of the lessons from the Institute, as well as learning from the experiences of other Fellows–past, present, and future.

NYPL’s Mid-Manhattan Library will be hosting a resource fair entitled The Next Chapter: A 50+ Resource Fair on Saturday, September 27, 2008 from 10 A.M.-3 P.M.  (Click here to see the flyer – PDF, 1 pg).  Seventeen organizations that focus on volunteering and education for New York City’s 50+ population will be sending literature and staffing resource tables. In an adjoining room, representatives from each will have 10 minutes each to speak about the opportunities they can provide.

And yes, there will  be Wii! A library page will be present to give attendees an opportunity to try some of the sports-related Nintendo Wii game products such as bowling, golf and tennis.

Take a look at the flyer to see which organizations will be coming and, of course, if you’re in New York City that day, stop by!

Fellow Spotlight: Abigail Elder

2007 Fellow and 2008 Stories from the Field presenter, Abigail Elder, is the new “library boss” at Tualatin Public Library . See this article from yesterday’s Oregonian for more about Abigail and her new position.

Congratulations, Abigail, and best of luck with this new adventure!

3 Minute Overview from Virginia Beach, VA

Carolyn Caywood, 2008 Lifelong Fellow and librarian at the Bayside Special Services Library in Virginia Beach, prepared this 3-minute overview of her Lifelong Libraries project for the Virginia Beach Public Library management team:

Senior Services Plan

Slide 1
Image: Whistler’s Mother at 67

• What assumptions do we have about “seniors”? [feedback from audience]
• We need to get past these assumptions and explore possibilities, see positive aspects of aging. What can we as library users hope for, as we grow older?

Slide 2
Image: Westminster Canterbury Calendar

• Life after 65 has changed. Boomers are better educated, more diverse, and more likely to live through their 70s than any previous generation. But Boomers will not use libraries and reading in the same ways that their parents did.
• Life for older adults can be a time of liberation, creativity, wisdom, and community-building. Libraries are uniquely qualified to facilitate these positive aspects of aging.
• The large population who will “age in place” in Virginia Beach will drive public policy decisions about land use, transportation, and tax revenues.We must engage these older adults in support of City services rather than in competition with other service needs.
• Boomers are predicted to work in retirement and we need to adapt our expectations of volunteering and part time jobs to take advantage of their expertise. We need to support “re-careering” aspirations in addition to leisure reading and lifelong learning.
• BUT, if this continuing-to-work prediction is wrong, tax revenues will drop while demands on government services will rise, leaving little money for libraries. And many aging Boomers will live in or near poverty.
• The actions proposed in this plan require time, attention and commitment more than expenditures. Bayside and Special Services Library will use an advisory group of citizens as a sounding-board to evaluate actions. Generally BASS will pilot the action and evaluate it.

Welcome back to the Lifelong Libraries Blog!

Building on the excitement generated by this summer’s Lifelong Institute, I will be working with Steve Ristau, Hagar Shirman and all of you Lifelong Access Fellows- some 75 of you have participated in one of three national Institutes- to renew this blog and to make it a useful forum for information exchange among you. Our plan is to organize it around fundamental questions or issues that address your efforts to transform community librarianship as it relates to adult services for baby boomers and other active older adults.

Your stories, advice, and support are essential to enrich the growing community of Lifelong Access leaders. To begin. . .

We ended the 2008 Institute with Fellows sharing their “elevator pitches” to key stakeholder groups- their management and staff, advisory or governing bodies, and to boomers themselves. Here is what we heard from the 2008 class:

Making the case to the community:
“Public libraries are essential in helping individuals and communities navigate an ever more complex culture with less and less social social services. If we can successfully engage boomers, they can help ensure that libraries evolve in relevant and cost effective ways for future generations to come and sustain a democratic society of informed, engaged and skilled citizens. Can we count on you to support our library initiative?”

Making the case to potential partners:
“You know we have health information. And because we’re neutral ground and have trained librarians, the information can be trusted. But, did you know the library is also a brain health center? We stimulate minds, connect generations and collect legacies of wisdom. We can reduce unnecessary emergency room visits with information, by reducing loneliness and keeping minds active. Let’s talk about how we can partner.”

Making the case to colleagues and/or the board:
“We’re reaching out to a new and expanded population.This group has high expectations for themselves and for what library services they feel they should be offered. We have such a strong infrastructure for youth services, and we should be bringing an equally strong commitment to our adults as well. This advocacy is important because it has long-term implications due to longer life spans. This is a way to cultivate a powerful advocacy through votes, money, and influence.”

If you have had the opportunity to “make your case” to colleagues, the board, or the community, what were the most effective discussion tools for you? (Fellows from 2006 and 2007 as well may recall how they made their case when they returned home.)

Please click on “add comment” to share your ideas, experiences and stories about both challenges and successes in communicating the importance of new approaches to older adult services.

And, don’t forget to:

• Look at the curriculum materials from the 2008 Institute posted on the website
• Send us your recommendations for new resources to add to the website, and
• Let us know your successes and challenges as you develop your Lifelong Access Library.

The work you are all doing to create new models for older adult services is timely, important and “in the air.” We applaud your groundbreaking efforts.

Diantha D. Schull
Consulting Director, Lifelong Access Libraries

 

Dismiss that “Senior Moment” As a Literal Paraphasia, An Older Brain Can Be a Wiser Brain

I was not at all surprised to read in The New York Times article, “Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain,” May 20, 2008, that research finds, instead of brainpower declining with age, “the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit.” I’ve often thought this when conversing with my 90 year old friend who continues to paint, read, volunteer and speak (wisely) in front of an audience whenever she has a chance. According to Dr. Hasher, quoted in this article, “A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more about a situation and the indirect message of what’s going on than their younger peers.”

While Alzheimer is a reality, striking “13 percent of Americans 65 and older,” the remaining 87 percent do not necessarily suffer the fate of declining brainpower. Keeping active is often said to be the key to maintaining mental agility. Jane E. Brody wrote about this in her column titled “Mental Reserves Keep Brains Agile,” published December 11, 2007 (also previously blogged about here). Sources for this article include Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, author of the book Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife. In researching her book, Ms. Ramin found that new mental challenges were crucial to providing stimulation for the aging brain. “So,” Ms Brody suggests, “if you knit, challenge yourself with more than simply stitched scarves. Try a complicated pattern or garment. Listening to opera is lovely, but learning the libretto (available in most libraries) stimulates more neurons…”

Thank you, Ms. Brody, for suggesting a visit to the library. A library, indeed, is the place to go to look up a more challenging knitting pattern, or the libretto to that lovely opera. But, a skeptic wonders, what about looking things up on the Web? For those not so versed, the library offers courses, and librarians are often available for a little individual training.

However, a minor setback to the optimistic news about the resiliency of an aging brain can be an awareness of a “senior moment.” In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, “Behind ‘senior moments’,” May 27, 2008, I learned about an unscientific name for a variety of mental glitches, — literal paraphasia . Perhaps the most common “literal paraphasias” are a temporary inability to recall a name, number, or even what you were about to do. Seems to me, you don’t have to be an aging adult to experience a momentary mental glitch. Why not forgo the negative associations that come with the term “senior moment” and instead come to terms with an occasional literal paraphasia?

Guest Blogger: Iris Finkel
MLS Student, Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science

The Senior Center Steps Lively? The Library is Lively Already.

The need for innovation in senior centers continues to be a rallying point for administrations throughout the United States. This topic is addressed in The New York Times article,  “Its Appeal Slipping, the Senior Center Steps Livelier,” March 25, 2008. Competition to attract an aging baby boomer population anticipated by experts as unwilling to visit outdated senior centers has resulted in the necessity to revamp these centers. New services are being offered — including fitness activities, continuing education, volunteer and work opportunities for those not ready for retirement, and more — all in an accommodating environment, without looking institutional.

Libraries, too, are in the process of being revamped to meet the needs of an aging population. Yet, many of the services being discussed have been provided by libraries all along. Library programs and events such as training courses, book clubs and movies, are offered to educate and entertain, independent research is encouraged and supported, and resources for volunteer and work opportunities are readily available. Libraries should, and often do, serve as community centers. Shouldn’t libraries be tapped into more to provide guidance for, and alternatives to, the new models of senior centers being devised? Furthermore, libraries may be better positioned to come up with more palatable nomenclature for an aging baby boomer population who would rather not see themselves as such.

The Pierce County Library System in Washington and the Cumberland County Public Library in North Carolina are examples of libraries working to serve this population in innovative ways.

Guest Blogger: Iris Finkel
MLS Student, Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science
 

HP’s Older Volunteer Corps – Lessons for the Library?

 

As talk of civic engagement, re-careering, and volunteerism continue to dominate the current retirement debate, libraries and social service agencies continue to seek out model programs. 

A recent article in the New York Times entitled “Going to the Company Elders for Help” highlights how Hewlett-Packard has retained a significant number of retirees as sales volunteers in various retail outlets.  The article credits the company’s former commitment to employees and its family-like atmosphere, one which has changed in recent years.  Their successful mobilization of retired volunteers has not come without criticism.  Some challenge HP for not paying retired workers for their PR and sales expertise, while HP argues that it is simply a way for former employees to continue to participate in the HP community without a need for payment.

Libraries have used volunteers for support on programs and daily operations, but have not created a full scale volunteer corps based on the the patron loyalty which libraries have developed over the years.  How can older volunteers be utilized as library advocates similar to HP’s model?  Should retired volunteers be paid, similar to the model which the organization ReServe is successfully implementing?