Brief description:
During this summer visits free lunch distribution sites, underserved parts of the county on a weekly van route
How-to for this program:
The van project is designed to bring a mini version of the library to the community this summer since the buildings are closed or on limited hours. Service will focus on low-income areas and areas that don't have Internet access.
The idea for this came about as it's known that COVID-19 is less contagious outside, many in Defiance County are on the wrong side of the digital divide, the libraries aren't serving about 45% of the Defiance County community, the buildings are closed or on limited hours, we weren't running any in-person summer programs and we had an older utility van wrapped with the library system name/logo that wasn't used much.
This has been a team effort.
- One of our Branch Managers who grew up here and loves outreach is the coordinating point person for the van project, and created the van route.
- A volunteer who's a woodworker refitted the van with removable shelving
- Our IT subcontractor helped us set it up with scavenged circulation equipment and new wifi equipment/service supporting multiple users.
- Our CFO helped with the contract for the wifi service.
- Our Head of Adult Services worked with SEO to designate the van a branch with a small, non-requestable collection using duplicates we already owned.
- Our Head of Children's services has integrated information about the van into the online summer reading program.
The Trustees got very excited about the idea, and the Friends from each of the library locations (we have 3) each donated $1,000 to cover the cost of the wifi equipment and service, incidentals and gas.
The van will be on the road Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the end of August. A librarian and a library associate will be staffing the van while it's in the community.
We've partnered with Northwest Ohio Community Action Commission (NOCAC) to be at their free lunch sites and the van route targets low income and no-Internet portions of the County.
I (the library director) have been asked if the van could also be at the weekly farmer's markets. I told them I couldn't guarantee we could staff the van, but we could at least park it there and provide open, free wifi to the market area.
Most of my public-service staff was laid off as of May 1. I've called two employees back on a part-time basis (so they can continue to be on partial unemployment and receive CARES money) to staff the van and be fresh eyes to look at the it and figure out what we've missed. I have a COVID-19 safety protocol for them to follow based on the PHASE 3 document issued by OLC.
The van itself is schedule to be on the road starting June 15, and I've hired a communications coordinator that starts June 8 who will help us publicize the service to the general community and targeted audiences. Don't have any publicity for it yet but stay tuned.
I know a number of unique opportunities came together for us to do this and it's not going to be easily replicable, but am sharing it in the hopes that it might inspire a new idea for someone else. Not just like what we're doing, but something that would fit your resources and community.
Contact person:
Cara Potter
cpotter@defiancelibrary.org
Defiance Public Library