The San José Public Library is committed to connecting and listening to San Jose residents. One way we do this is by visiting public events and talking to residents and neighbors. Here is what we've been hearing from some of our 25 library locations during our Summer Community Events.
Bascom |Edenvale |Rose Garden |Santa Teresa |Seven Trees
Bascom Branch Library
Yesenia Ortega from the Bascom Branch Library gave the following account of her engagement with her community:
I attended a Resource Fair held by Campbell Adult and Community Education (CACE) on April 23rd. The event was held by CACE to connect students with various community organizations including several nonprofits and SJPL. The event boasted an attendance of over 300 people, 263 of who stopped by our table for information on library programs, resources, and fun giveaways, including SJPL swag and free books. Because CACE caters primarily to adult English Language Learners, the programs that drew the most interest were our ELL Conversation Club as well as a few family programs that several people seemed excited to bring their children to.
I also had a particularly enlightening conversation with one person who made note of a lack of events for Spanish speaking adults in the community. While she was appreciative that bilingual programming was available for children, she noted that there was a lack of programs for adults to take advantage of outside of ELL/Digital Literacy. She expressed that it would be nice if the library offered more recreational programming that provided opportunities for community members to meet and get to know each other. This sentiment was further echoed through some of the casual conversations that I had with people throughout the night. To address this, I am looking to introduce a recreational program for adult Spanish speakers within this fiscal year.
Edenvale Branch Library
Agueda Beteran, from the Edenvale Branch Library attended Summer Lunch hours at Edenvale Elementary School:
The end of the school year brings many opportunities to attend events at our local schools and as a librarian team we attended three in one night. Our community seeks our participation in their events and we are ready to support them. This summer we had more opportunities to visit our schools in the summer to continue to promote Summer Learning and connect with the community. One of the many events we attended was the summer lunch hour at Edenvale Elementary School.
This was a fast-paced hour since Summer school was being released, a Summer camp was starting, and Summer lunch was being offered all at the same time. Of course, this was a great opportunity to meet many community members and connect people to the library and its resources. Many of the kids that stopped by expressed their love for reading and shock when I told them the books on the table were free to take if they wanted one.
One of the greatest outcomes of this outreach effort was connecting not only with the community but with school staff and building a relationship with them. We definitely look forward to working closely with our schools and strengthening our bond with our community.
Rose Garden Branch Library
Rose Garden Branch Library staff talked with parents and students from their their neighboring schools:
With the end of the school year fast approaching, the Rose Garden Branch Library reached out to its after-school crowd of regular students. Reponses came from a variety of age groups, with students ranging from Meritt Trace Elementary School, Herbert Hoover Middle School, and Abraham Lincoln High School.
Data was gathered at the library information desk, as students passed by to go to the Internet Café or Teen Room. In exchange for a snack, Librarian Priscilla Chan asked students the 4 ASK Questions, with the 4th question asking what kinds of programs they would like to see in the library. She was assisted by page Andrew Each. The answers for the questions were written on post its and posted on the Community Engagement poster.
It was interesting to view the responses from the youth standpoint. For the first question (ideal community), many replied wanting a more accepting, nicer community where people are safe and happy. One student responded, “a nice community where everyone is friendly.” This differed from what they see now in that people can be rude, unhappy, and unaccepting. They also see a lot of litter, crime, and “lots of hate, especially on the news.”
For the third question, they found that the library could assist by continuing to be a safe space where people can find what they need. However, some were worried about strangers approaching youth spaces. Their suggestions for the library (forth question) included: more water fountains, a gaming club, more paper activities, parking spaces, and Dog Man books.
We will aim to provide what we can here at the Rose Garden Branch Library, such as passive activities they can engage in after school. There has been discussion on a possible gaming club in the afternoons as well. We also aim to continue our partnerships with all of our neighboring schools to provide the best resources and services we can to the students.
Santa Teresa Branch Library
Santa Teresa Library staff polled its teen population using the ASK questions, and this is what we discovered. They want to be part of a fun, cool community. That’s different from the present, which they did not go into specifics or elaborate. They want to see the library provide a spring festival with games, more resources for studying, a larger Teen space with more seating, cheaper snacks available from the vending machine, and an Anime Club at the Santa Teresa branch library. They liked the crafts we run, our vending machine, the free WiFi, and the policy that permits some foods in the library. They complimented the quiet, peaceful atmosphere in the library as well.
Seven Trees Branch Library
Seven Trees Library staff visited their local school, Lairon College Preparatory Academy, multiple times over the spring. They had noticed that when asked by a simple show of hands, most of the students did not visit the library even though the Seven Trees Library was located just two blocks away from the school. They wanted to target this group of students with community questions as they are a vital part of the Seven Trees community that were not seeing inside the Seven Trees Library. Three classes were scheduled for class visits at the beginning of June from the 4th and 5th grades. After their regular class visit tour, staff gave the students a scavenger hunt sheet and on the bottom were two questions for each student to answer. “What would you like to see at the library?” and “If you could change one thing about the library, what would it be?” One of the classes, were also given sticky notes where they could answer the question, “What kind of community do you want to be a part of?”
The students overwhelmingly loved the library and most wrote down that the library was pretty perfect the way it was. A few students wanted even more books, more Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and they had about ten students that wanted access to video games at the library. As a library team, staff were excited to receive feedback asking for more video games in the library. They felt the library's new video game program that was debuting that Summer would be well received by the Lairon College Preparatory Academy student community. The feedback from the sticky notes indicated that most students wanted to be a part of a “kind community” with nine out of the twelve student stickies writing this. Other answers included, “a non-boring community,” and one “with activities.” One student also reported wanting a “quiet community.”
With the feedback they received the library team is planning on ramping up their video game programming from once a month to weekly. The librarian in charge of juvenile collections is actively increasing the number of books on the shelves. Staff also realized that students very much felt the need for kindness in daily interactions and so staff have further committed to upholding our current library policy of providing inviting and safe spaces for our child patrons.
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