report from WLA

I wanted to share a little bit about WLA, which I had the privilege of attending and presenting at last week. I was a presenter on the panel “Outreach in the Libraries: A win-win for Staff and Patrons”. This was a presentation about FoodShare outreach in the public libraries, which is what I do for one of my jobs. We had a great turn-out, probably about 50 attendees (including Cindy, thank you for coming!) I was really excited about the high level of participation from the librarians. During the presentation, I asked them what types of questions they were getting about basic needs from their patrons. They told me they get questions about how to feed their children, get transportation to work, get help for domestic violence, and much more. Most were very eager to find out how to better answer these myriad of questions. Although my specific job at this point is to just help people sign up for government benefits (food stamps, health care and child care), I do many referrals to other programs and services. I would love to see more libraries have lists compiled on these programs in their area, I hope to compile one for Dane County libraries in the near future. Most librarians seemed to have no resentment for their additional role of being a social worker, and they had great questions about how to provide specific help. I felt like a lot of good, solid information was exchanged, and I think the end result will be that we can help more people who come in to the libraries.
I also attended a panel on teaching basic computer and job-searching skills to patrons. The panelists had similar experiences as myself- they often work with people who have rarely used a computer and have to be taught how to use the mouse and the keyboard before they can even think about setting up email or creating an online resume. There are many things that I can take for granted that other people don’t have- I am not the best typist nor am I the most tech-savvy person, but I do know the basics, and just with that, I am already way ahead of some of the population. I liked how we talked about this at WLA because I think it’s important to raise awareness about this population group. I am very concerned that they are falling behind and there won’t be good opportunities for them. One panelist also teaches her computer classes in Spanish. This reminded me that learning Spanish really needs to get bumped-up on my to-do list. At least once every couple weeks at work I really wished I knew Spanish, but I currently only know a few words (mostly: no hablo Espanol. Lo siento!”) So sometime in-between work, school and family/friends commitments, I need to learn Spanish!
Anyway, it was fun to be at WLA and I hope to spend more time there in the future. I will be presenting again at the Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries May, so if anyone wants to come or has questions about it, let me know. It’s in the Bahamas this year…just kidding, it’s actually in Madison. See you in class!