Have you ever wondered how you can best serve older adults in your library? On this show, Suzanne LaPierre, Virginiana Specialist Librarian for the Fairfax County Public Library, discusses ways to serve older adults and provide exemplary access as our communities age.
Transcript
This is Adriane Herrick Juarez. You’re listening to Library Leadership Podcast where we talk about libraries and leadership, and speak with guests who share their ideas, innovations, and strategic insights in the profession.
Have you ever wondered how you can best serve older adults in your library? On this show, Suzanne LaPierre, Virginiana Specialist Librarian for the Fairfax County Public Library, discusses ways to serve older adults and provide exemplary access as our communities age. Enjoy the show!
Suzanne, welcome to the show.
Suzanne LaPierre:
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #1: Thank you for being here. Today we are talking about creating online programs for older adults. There’s a myth that older adults aren’t interested in technology. Can you share why people think this and the importance of overcoming this myth. 00:48
Suzanne LaPierre:
Well, just as with any group of people, it’s best to avoid broad stereotypes. There are, of course, some older adults who may be less familiar with technology that they didn’t grow up using. But there’s also many older adults who are very tech savvy and keep up with trends. In fact, we’ve had older librarians who are among our most tech savvy staff members. The people that you would go to when you had a problem with your equipment, when nobody else could figure it out—that kind of thing. Many of our online programs for adults are attended primarily by older adults, even when we don’t advertise the program that way.
I work in the history and genealogy part of the library system. Some of the online programs that we have are author talks, we have a regular local history book club, we have sometimes some genealogy tips, programs, history talks. For example, my coworker and I co-authored a book about the desegregation of libraries in Northern Virginia. We’ve done over thirty talks on that—some online, some hybrid, some in-person. Usually our talks are primarily attended by older adults, even if again, we don’t advertise it that way. So, older adults are really interested in history—local history in particular.
During the pandemic we had a project where we had, and we were briefly closed for about three months—we had a digital archive for people to submit material exploring their experiences with the Covid-19 pandemic. They could be drawings. They could be photographs. They could be, you know, written diary entries, that kind of thing. We had a very large response from older adults for that project as well.
We certainly can’t make the assumption that older adults are not tech savvy or not interested in technology. In fact, the pandemic illuminated how many older adults were keenly interested in our online programming. When we do history programs, especially our program about the desegregation of public libraries in Virginia, often most of our attendees— whether the program is in person or virtual, are over 65. They have been a huge asset to our programs because they often remember the events that we’re talking about, and in some cases, they even know the individuals that we’re talking about and are even relatives of those individuals. We’ve had people who say, Oh, I’m actually the niece of Josie Murray, and we’re like, Wow. The younger audience members are often amazed to hear what the older participants remember and what they’ve actually endured, especially when it comes to segregation.
For example, we’ve had participants in our program about the desegregation of libraries who remember not being able to use their local library. We have other people who used segregated libraries and grew up using them and just never realized they were segregated, which is interesting. Even people, as I mentioned, who knew some of the people that we’re talking about, and were even related to them—they often have new information about those people, and especially if they’re related to those people, to add to our research.
So, it’s been really great, and we have learned from them at least as much as they learned from us. Yeah, yeah, these people remember parts of history that we’ve only read about in books. Sometimes we think, Oh, that was so long ago—segregation. No, it wasn’t that long ago. These people are still alive who remember this. That’s important for us to know as librarians. I think that’s why we have to be so careful about making our spaces welcoming and inclusive, and making sure that we treat everyone equally because there are a lot of people who remember not being able to use the library at all.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #1: Who are older adults. 04:44
Suzanne LaPierre:
If we’re talking numbers, the definitions vary. Some entities, such as the AARP and county senior centers, define older adults as fifty-plus. The ALA in the past has defined older adults as sixty-plus, but currently they have a newly formed task force within the ALA called the Elder Justice Task Force that focuses on people sixty-five and up.
Regardless of the exact starting point for the age range, I think we can all agree that since people can live to be over 100, that’s a huge age range, and we’re talking about many very active adults who are still working full-time and raising their kids. We’re talking about sandwich generation people who are putting their kids through college while also caring for their own parents who are older. And, we’re talking also about people who might be experiencing physical challenges or memory issues and needing assistance.
The ALA used to use the term frail elders to refer to those people who might be in residential care homes. If we use the sixty-five-and-up definition, where statistically a majority of people over sixty-five in the US are retired—we’re looking at people who might have an increased desire for socialization and enrichment activities.
This is also how we gain many of our invaluable volunteers—our Friends of the Library group members, our regular library volunteers. Many of us just could not run our libraries the way we do without these volunteers, who are mostly older adults and retired adults. In fact, the average age of librarians is 47.5. So, many of us librarians are older adults as well. However, I do think we need to still be cognizant of the fact that it is true that our odds of having mobility or vision or hearing challenges do increase as we get older. When we’re talking about services to older adults, accessibility is a big part of that.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #2: The Covid-19 pandemic taught us that libraries can serve older adults differently. What ideas did it bring forward that we can learn from today? 06:39
Suzanne LaPierre:
Well, certainly online programs for all ages increased during the pandemic. In my library we found that many seniors enjoyed the option of online programming. Some of them said to me that they really appreciated not having to drive at night, and that a lot of our adult programs had been at night to accommodate people who work during the day, but they found that they preferred not to drive at night, and they really appreciated it when we had an online or hybrid program that they could participate in from home. I think a lot of libraries have found that our online programs and hybrid programs were so popular during the pandemic that, I think, most libraries have kept these options in place as part of our regular repertoire.
I also think we learned during the pandemic how isolated some of our fellow citizens feel. Feelings of isolation can increase during retirement. People with physical and memory challenges and people in residential care homes can become especially isolated if we don’t make the effort in outreach. Many older adults who live in care homes don’t drive anymore, and some of them also don’t have access to high speed wireless internet, so some of them can’t come into the library very easily and also can’t access our online resources. So those are folks who are falling through the cracks.
Many of them were avid library users and perhaps volunteers in their younger years and are now falling into the underserved part of our community. So, I would really love to see more outreach to those folks in care homes in terms of book clubs, read aloud storytimes, library guest speakers who can serve these people where they live. We can use online options to do that, or we can also have in-person programming—I think is really important, too, for that segment of our community. Just like we go into schools and we book—I was a youth services librarian for ten years. I mean, we do so much with the schools. We go into the schools and we book-talk the summer reading program, and that’s great. I would just love to see the same attention given to our older community members—especially those who might need extra care and help. I would love to see—this is my dream thing, I would love to see a tech mobile visit assisted living and care homes to help residents get set up with talking books through the Library of Congress, to help them troubleshoot their devices and to introduce library resources.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #3: Do you have any tips for getting started for librarians who have never tried online programs? 09:09
Suzanne LaPierre:
You might start by adding a hybrid option to an existing in-person program that’s really popular. For example, chair yoga is always a program that is so popular that people are just, you know, fighting to get in and there’s not enough in-person seating. But, that’s something that people could also do at home. If there was a hybrid option there, I think that would be great.
Also, it would be good to team up with somebody more experienced with online programming, so you can learn from them the first couple of times. I recommend starting with whatever programs are most interesting and comfortable to you. Like go with your passion because passion is contagious. When trying something new like starting with a topic that you love most, whether it’s your book club or a fascinating theme or idea, will make you feel more confident the first time.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #4: What ways can we specifically serve people with memory issues?09:58
Suzanne LaPierre:
Memory programs can be targeted towards people experiencing dementia or simply older adults who enjoy reminiscing. There’s a wonderful group called Tales & Travel Memories that was founded by a retired librarian named Mary Beth Riedner. This program focuses on remaining strengths instead of losses. I believe this came out during the pandemic—she put out a virtual version Tales & Travel Memories.com on YouTube. It’s a series of videos called Let’s Visit. They visit different states and countries like, Let’s Visit Chicago, Let’s Visit London. It’s a great program offering virtual trips to various states and countries.
I think it would be great to combine it with an in-person event as well so there could be food, music and crafts to go with the theme, if you have access to that, to the in-person program as well. My mother-in-law is in an assisted living home, and every month they have a country that they highlight and they have food from that country, and they watch movies that take place in that country, and crafts, and music, and everything. I just think that’s a great idea. The Travel Tales & Memories videos would be a great tie-in with that.
Many people with dementia still read. One program idea is having a read-aloud story cafe where participants take turns reading short stories, or folktales, or poetry out loud. Memory cafes can also be cozier programs within a library setting. So, you have a room that’s less overwhelming than your big, ginormous library and have coffee, and tea, and conversation, and music. The Effingham Public library in Illinois is doing this. They call it the Forget Me Not Resource Center.
They have memory cafes that are online as well. Every week they have a virtual memory cafe via zoom, using activities like sing-along, gentle movement with music, art, and show-and-tell. I think that’s a great idea for again, I talked about earlier, for feelings of isolation. It’s a chance for these people to get out, go to a social event. Again, you have it in one of your cozier meeting rooms and create a more friendly, cozier environment for these folks.
Browsing through richly illustrated nonfiction books about favorite topics like military vehicles, or sports, or wild animals can be a great activity for people who maybe aren’t reading anymore—or maybe they are, but they might still enjoy looking through these richly illustrated books.
Some libraries have kits that people can check out with books or stories that can be read out loud, also tactile objects, or music to go along with the theme so that you’re using many of your senses. The themes could be cooking, handyman skills, or winter winter games, winter holidays, winter sports, you know, winter memories, things like that.
I think that’s a great idea to get families to connect with their family members who might be experiencing memory issues. If many participants have grown up in the area, maybe you have a rural library where a lot of folks in the area have grown up there. A lot of folks enjoy looking through old yearbooks and archival materials from the time that they were young and talking about those things, and those times. So yeah, those are just a few ideas. Books and reading can be important tools to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #5: Do you recommend any helpful tech tool adaptations for serving older adults? 13:24
Suzanne LaPierre:
Well, there are some older adults who have not had as much experience with current technology and maybe need more coaching to get up to speed. The Public Library Association has a great resource called DigitalLearn.org—that has video tutorials on everything from learning how to use a computer for the first time, learning how to use a mouse, to more intermediate topics like video conferencing, and applying for jobs online. That’s a great resource for older folks who want to get up to speed more with their tech skills, but also for librarians who want to get some ideas like, How can I best teach these skills to people in my community?
I recommend that libraries partner with their Access Services branch, or whatever you call that in your library system. We call it Access Services—to make sure that all the staff and all the branches know how to help customers who might want to sign up for talking books via the Library of Congress. Librarians are now among the professionals who can certify someone as being eligible for the Talking Books program, and think about ways that you can make your branch more user-friendly for people who might be having vision challenges and hearing challenges and other disabilities. Have tools like lighted page magnifiers. Somebody might have forgotten their reading glasses, or they might have a vision disability. I would like to see all of our branches have resources. People should be able to walk into any branch and use the resources and services of that branch, and not be told to, Go to Access Services if you need this accommodation, that kind of thing, because that’s a barrier that we’re putting up if we say that. Also, think about your websites and whether they are accessibility-friendly. That can mean using fonts or color combinations that are easier for people with vision challenges to read on social media, use alt text to describe visual images, and that helps people using screen readers to enjoy those images, too.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #6: Is there anything else you’d like to share? 15:22
Suzanne LaPierre:
Well, I just can’t emphasize enough that many people in residential care facilities, which includes many older adults, but also people with disabilities, could really benefit from library services. I feel like there’s a gap where people who have physical limitations that prevent them from coming into the library and also have difficulty accessing technology and high-speed wireless to participate in online programs are being left out of our library services. I really feel like that is a greatly underserved portion of our community.
These people are community members who deserve to be part of our information and enrichment services that libraries offer as much as anyone else. I think that outreach is critical for this segment of our public. Taking our programs and services into these residential care homes whenever possible, in the form of programs, monthly book clubs, reading or tech help just would be a great thing.
There are challenges that come with that, I understand, because I myself have tried calling assisted living and senior homes and been told that like, Well, we already have our own program—coordinator, so we don’t really need to do—or our folks are very active they can drive to the library if they want to. You might try, and you might get some no’s, but we certainly get some yeses, too. We have some of our public libraries in our system that go on a monthly basis and take donated books of interest to seniors so that they can just have them and keep them and not have to worry about returning them, and things like that.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #7: Do you have any favorite leadership books or resources you’d like to share and why? 16:49
Suzanne LaPierre:
I’d like to encourage people to check out Public Libraries Online. It’s an online publication of the Public Library Association. Unlike a lot of library publications, you’ll find all kinds of voices there. For example, people working from the perspective of circulation staff or youth services assistants—people who have a lot of one-on-one face-time with our customers and community members. As an online publication, they can be very flexible to current events. FYI podcast by the Public Library Association is also really good. Kathleen Hughes does a great job with that one. The librarian Linkover podcast for folks who like library podcasts, that’s it’s a little bit different. Lorene Kennard hosts that, and it’s about librarians who are using their library skills in other fields. Not that I’m encouraging anyone to leave the library field, [laughter] but some of us have side gigs, or some of us might want to have a second career after we retire that utilizes our library skills. It’s just interesting to see how librarians are using their transferable skills.
It’s also important to highlight the transitional skills that librarians have and to counteract the stereotypes that we just read all day, or we stamp dates on books or something. [laughter] We have a lot of transferable tech skills, transferable people skills, and customer service skills. So, if you’ve ever thought about opening a bookstore, or going into business as a video game designer, or writing a book, or being a consultant, that podcast will have episodes that you might be interested in.
I also write a column for Computers in Libraries magazine. I have a column called BiblioTech. I think that’s a great magazine if you’re interested in library technology, it’s all library technology-related material. It’s all libraries—school libraries, academic libraries, public libraries, special libraries—just all different aspects of library technology.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #8: Suzanne, in closing, what do libraries mean to you personally? 18:45
Suzanne LaPierre:
Libraries mean access to reliable information as well as personal enrichment. Today that information aspect is really critical because we have so much disinformation coming at us. The majority of U.S. adults of all age groups now report getting most of their news from social media. We all know social media content can range from reliable sources to propaganda, and even dangerous disinformation. This is going to be the challenge of our times, I believe. But, librarians are among the people that I trust most to keep the best interests of our public in mind as a priority and move us in the right direction.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with dozens of fellow librarians over the years, and our profession is just full of people who are intelligent and educated, but also people who really care about our communities and about humanity at large, and about access to books and information and all its forms. We’re needed today more than ever, and I encourage others to keep up the good fight, even when it seems overwhelming.
One of my library science professors, Dr. Clayton Copeland at the University of South Carolina Library’s information program—she used to assign these really big semester-long projects. When the students got overwhelmed, like, Oh my God, how am I ever going to finish this? She would say, Well, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I think that’s a good motto for our times—one bite at a time, one day at a time. But, keep doing the good work because we’re needed now more than ever.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #9: Yes, keep doing the good work because we are needed more than ever. And, it is definitely good work providing resources for older adults. You mentioned that there’s a lot of life between the time people retire, and possibly live into their 80s 90s or longer. So serving this population is vital for our communities. You’ve given us great things to think about when doing this, so thank you very much for sharing all of this and for being on the show. 20:22
Suzanne LaPierre:
Thank you so much for sharing this important topic.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
You’ve been listening to Library Leadership podcast. This is Adriane Herrick Juarez. For more episodes, tune into LibraryLeadershipPodcast.com, where you can now subscribe to get episodes delivered right into your email inbox. Our producer is Nathan Sinclair Vineyard. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time.
The opinions expressed on this show are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily reflect the views of LibraryLeadershipPodcast or our sponsors.