Fresno County Librarians Hit the Road

Read in a recent article from the Fresno Bee, Fresno County librarians have a new way of reaching out to their community – in a Prius! Fresno County Library has started a new program to reach out to business owners and organizations to promote the free services offered through the library system. The program is called Library Without Walls (WoW!) and has been up and running for about nine months.  The program came about as a way to revamp the library’s connection to the community citing a 46% drop in reference questions from 2005 to 2012 and overall low usage rates by county residents (35%). One challenge to the librarians was learning new ways of social outreach. One librarian noted that communications and social outreach are not skills taught in library school. Cataloging, research skills, and program organizing are the focus, but little emphasis is placed on social outreach. It took a while for the librarians to feel comfortable in their new roles, which include additional training sessions, but they are starting to see positive results. Read the full article here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/11/27/4257990/fresno-county-librarians-leave.html.