by Kathleen Mayo

Whether elders are isolated in their own homes or living in a residential setting, public libraries have found ways to provide these older adults with access to a full range of library services. Libraries house important resources for elders, including skilled staff, public computer centers, an amazing array of print and electronic materials, outreach services and meeting rooms. When library customers have limited transportation or mobility, they often connect with the library through home delivery, mail, mobile libraries, and telephone and online services.

Books and Information

Books-by-mail programs -- like the ones offered by the Miami-Dade Public Library System in Florida and the Arrowhead Library System in Minnesota -- are a boon for active readers who have difficulty getting to a library, usually due to medical or physical disabilities. Individuals contact the library by mail, phone or e-mail and receive their requested items through the mail. Many libraries will send out any item in their collection, while others limit the selection to large-print books and audio materials. Locally produced catalogs and newsletters keep readers informed of the latest titles.

Some libraries find that delivering materials to their elder residents is the best way to provide personalized service. They employ staff or volunteers to make regular deliveries to customers’ homes, which also gives the deliverer a chance to chat with the elder face to face. In Minnesota, the Hennepin County Library System’s At Home by Volunteer program adds another layer of service by sending its home-delivery customers a bimonthly newsletter, the At Home Reader.

Mobile libraries are another way to reach isolated elders. Communities serve older adults from specially equipped vehicles with large collections of popular audio books, DVDs, large-print materials and music. These vehicles can include computer labs, foreign-language collections and other features that reflect local community interests. The mobile libraries often have low floors or wheelchair lifts.

Information services are easily accessible for individuals who cannot physically come to the library and must use the telephone or e-mail. Librarians find answers for queries that range from the mundane to the esoteric without ever seeing their customers face to face. In fact, many Ask a Librarian e-mail reference services are statewide, 24-hour projects engaging librarians who participate from remote locations.

Working in Group Settings

Public libraries have extensive experience in taking programs and services to older adults in group settings such as senior residential facilities and mobile home communities, congregate meal sites, adult daycare centers, faith-based organizations and senior centers. Typically, libraries provide rotating collections of large-print books and programming materials to these settings on a regular schedule. The Lee County, Fla., library system has designated a senior outreach liaison at each library to work with activity coordinators in senior services to plan programs and help select a wide array of library resources to use in themed activities.

Many libraries, like the Library Links With Seniors program at the Plano Public Library System in Plano, Texas, have staff and volunteers who visit groups of older adults to offer planned activities. The activities might include memoir-writing workshops, reminiscence-based programs, book discussion groups, Wii and other gaming programs, performers, reader’s theater, computer instruction and other activities that engage the mind and stimulate discussions. Santa Cruz Public Libraries in Santa Cruz, Calif., offers We Have Stories to Tell, an intergenerational writing program that brings together homeless children and elders from a residential program.

Libraries are most effective in serving isolated elders when they partner with organizations to leverage the benefits of their combined knowledge, contacts and experience. They welcome partnerships with organizations such as humanities councils, literacy programs, writing groups, lifelong learning centers, financial institutions, computer clubs, gardening centers, museums, law enforcement agencies and cultural centers.

Kathleen Mayo is the outreach services manager for the Lee County Library System in Fort Myers, Fla. Contact her at kmayo@leegov.com.

Copyright © 2009 American Society on Aging; all rights reserved. This article may not be duplicated or distributed in any form without written permission from the publisher: American Society on Aging, 71 Stevenson St., Suite 1450, San Francisco, CA 94105-2938; e-mail: permissions@asaging.org.