• Home
  • Library Info
    • About >
      • Our Mission
      • Our History
      • Meet Our Staff
      • The Friends
    • Policies and Procedures
    • Services >
      • General
      • Technology
      • Historical Research
      • Requests and Recs
    • Calendar
    • FAQ
  • Departments
    • Children
    • Young Adults
    • Adults
  • Search the Catalog
  • News
  • Feasibility Study
  • Links
  Syracuse Public Library

SPL News

SPL Has Embraced Outreach Opportunities

4/6/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

By Katie Moran

When I was a kid, we would walk down to the local Carnegie library once a week. We would wander the stacks of books and wheel a wagon full of them back home. We would take part in Summer Reading Program every summer (which consisted of tracking books and programs in the library's basement). I have some very fond memories of doing so. 
Looking back, however, I think about how a library now would have helped our family that much more.
Now the libraries do programs throughout the year, and not just during the summer. My mom taught us through elementary school, and we would have loved a homeschool program at the local library. We didn’t come from much money and relied on the resources around us. The fact that our library now provides free Internet access is amazing for families who need it.

The library has changed since I was a child, and even more so in the past couple of years with the pandemic and changing world. The needs of our community changes with time and the library works hard to meet those needs. Part of that change is recognizing not everyone can come to our library, especially during our open hours.

Four years ago, I learned there were several of our patrons who couldn’t make it into our library for a variety of reasons. I spoke with Kim, our director, and she agreed that starting a homebound program was needed for our library. The number of patrons using this program has varied throughout the years, but we’ve been able to deliver books, audiobooks, movies, etc. to patrons consistently. They must live within Turkey Creek Township, have a specific reason they can’t come to the library, and be willing to be flexible with the person making the deliveries. We have a system in place where patrons can either choose their own materials or have one of us at the library choose the materials for them. There are deliveries every two weeks to their homes to give them materials. 
Everyone in this township is paying taxes toward this library so it makes sense to provide service to everyone we feasibly can.
That ties into my other outreach idea. This idea came about after the pandemic when we were still occasionally being asked about curbside pickup but also hearing comments about our open hours. People in the community were busy, working, out of town, etc. during our open hours. A director of a library in southern Indiana gave a talk on pickup lockers. I fell in love with the idea for our community, and, thankfully, our director did as well. Once again, I was able to ask about the program, and she gave the green light.
​
After almost a year of back orders and other delays, the curbside pickup lockers were installed. These can be used by any of our patrons regardless of if they are sick, busy, etc. Anyone can call asking for a book from our library (or if they’ve had a hold from another library come in), and we will place it in a locker for them. We say which locker is yours and the combination on the lock is always the last four digits of the library card. This is another way in which the library has changed/added its services to, hopefully, better serve our community.

Katie Moran

Katie is the Syracuse-Turkey Creek Township Public Library's assistant director. She catalogs and helps choose adult new materials, all while being the go-to person for help with all technology problems at the library (patrons and library workers, alike).

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021

    Categories

    All
    Adult Programming
    Children's Books
    Children's Department
    Children's Programming
    Closings
    Digital Resources
    Feasibility Study
    FOL News
    Libby
    National Library Week
    New Materials
    OverDrive
    Picture Books
    Programming
    Reading Challenge
    SPL News
    Staff Picks
    Teen Programming
    Volunteer
    YA Books

    RSS Feed

    Sign Up for Our E-Newsletter

    Click here to subscribe to our weekly and/or monthly e-newsletter.

    News From the Stacks

    spl_jan_2023.pdf
    File Size: 2739 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    spl_dec_2022.pdf
    File Size: 2841 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

    spl_nov_2022.pdf
    File Size: 1609 kb
    File Type: pdf
    Download File

Syracuse-Turkey Creek Township Public Library
115 East Main Street
Syracuse, IN

Hours

Monday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Tuesday: 12-8 p.m.
Wednesday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Thursday: 12-8 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Sunday: Closed

Contact Us

Phone: (574) 457-3022
​Fax: (574) 457-8971

Quick Links

My Account
Get a Card/Card Policies
FAQ
Technology
Meet the Staff
​Calendar
​News


Follow Us

Syracuse Public Library Sailboat Logo
  • Home
  • Library Info
    • About >
      • Our Mission
      • Our History
      • Meet Our Staff
      • The Friends
    • Policies and Procedures
    • Services >
      • General
      • Technology
      • Historical Research
      • Requests and Recs
    • Calendar
    • FAQ
  • Departments
    • Children
    • Young Adults
    • Adults
  • Search the Catalog
  • News
  • Feasibility Study
  • Links