Issue 22 Autumn 1996 Newry Library Promoting Equal Access for the Under-Fives Eirian McKay	Collections under which this       article appears:       Libraries Related Articles or Resources

Newry is a frontier town, situated near the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. In its time, it has seen more than its fair share of the 'Troubles'. It is a market town, serving the rural catchment area of Newry and Mourne in an area of high unemployment. The local community is predominantly working-class and, whilst parents may not be highly educated themselves, many have high aspirations for their children. Newry Library, opened in 1987, is a custom-built, computerised Branch Library, well-sited in a busy shopping area. Judging by the issue figures, the Branch Library is serving the community with some considerable success, currently issuing a third of a million items annually to borrowers. Library membership stands at 25,000 out of a total population of 82,943, and geographically extends as far as Co. Louth in the Republic.

In comparison with the mainland, Northern Ireland has a young population with one-third of the total population under twenty-one. Children under the age of fourteen make up approximately 7,000 of the total library membership. The Primary School population in the area (including Special Schools) totals approximately 3,300. Post-primary Schools' pupils total approximately 8,080.

The usual structured class visits by local Primary Schools are arranged by the Branch Librarian, Christina Sloan, and myself. We also offer introductory visits and Reference Workshops to schools and FE students. The study facilities are excellent and we have just acquired our first CD-ROM.

In October 1995, in common with teachers, librarians and playgroup leaders, I attended a special interest meeting of the Developing Early Listening and Talking Abilities (DELTA) Programme. Also attending the meeting were social workers, health workers and members of Community groups working with families and pre-school children. The DELTA Programme aims to promote dialogue between parent or carer and their pre-school children. The objectives are to develop parenting skills, especially in relation to early listening and talking, and to raise confidence and awareness among parents. Teachers are, of course, extremely interested in this as the more learning skills children can acquire before beginning school, the better. Parents are informed of the resources and support available to them within their community and one of these resources is - you guessed it! - their local library.

Some of the parents attending these courses may not be all that literate themselves. Certainly, it is a fair assumption that many of them are unaware of the facilities offered to their children by their Branch Library. Possibly many of them think the library is a place where children have to remain silent. They may wonder why under-fives should be offered books at all when the book may be damaged and torn by sticky fingers.

Although talks had been given to parents by Schools Librarians on the value of introducing books to children early, strangely none of these talks had been held at the Branch Library. It was obvious that there was an important role for Branch Libraries to play which had been overlooked.

The first step was to inform Liz Jones, the DELTA Programme Development Officer, who was based at the Teachers' Centre, that the library was willing to show parents and children around the Branch and to dispel any fears they may have about coming into the library.

The more I talked to teachers and librarians in the area, the more significant this gap in provision appeared to be. Christina Sloan and I came up with some ideas on how to publicise our service to the under-fives. In December, with the help of library assistants, we began an Outreach Programme to the local playschools, creches and nurseries. We put together a session of action rhymes, riddles, stories and nursery rhymes which would provide an entertaining half-hour for toddlers and pre-schoolers. As we grew in confidence we progressed to puppet shows and signing rhymes in order to increase the children's attention spans and to let them participate in the Storytimes. Staff raided their attics for old puppets and toys which could be used as props to make stories more interesting to children. Each of us had favourite picture-books and these produced lively discussion. Stories were enlarged or improvised upon in order to gain maximum impact on audiences of children in groups of between 8 and 26.

At this time, we were helped immeasurably by my attendance at a Storytelling weekend in Donegal, organised by celebrity storytellers Liz Weir and Billy Teare from the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry. Over the course of two weekends, I learned storytelling techniques and sources, memory training and confidence building. The main personal benefit, however, was that I gained a belief in the value of storytelling as a form of entertainment and enlightenment.

The Divisional Librarian, Janet Blair, has also asked Ann-Marie Quinn and myself to pass on the content of the Storytelling course to the Branch Librarians of the seven Branch Libraries within her division at a Staff Meeting to be held in May, and we will also look at the possibility of having a professional Storyteller visit the libraries over the summer holidays for the annual children's activities.

The material gained from the workshop and the course content were passed on to the Branch staff who found it of great value and, together with Ann-Marie Quinn from Warrenpoint Library, we produced a thirty-four page document on Storytelling for the edification of other librarians.

We are now visiting eight pre-school centres and each time we visit, there are more enquiries regarding further visits or suggestions of other playschools that "could do with a visit". The response surpassed any expectations we may have had. The demand for increased contact with the library is tremendous. This in turn has led to an increased demand for Playschool collections from the Schools Library Service. As the visits continued, so our confidence grew. I informed Liz Jones of the Outreach Programme and she was delighted. We now hope to invite the English Adviser to SELM, Ms Kate O'Hanlon, to give a talk at the Branch in connection with the promotion of the library and the DELTA Programme, to playschool workers, teachers, parents and library staff.

Meanwhile requests for more visits are pouring in and in a few weeks time printed letters will be sent out to Playschools to be delivered to parents, informing them of the benefits of library membership for their children and pointing out, of course, that the service is still FREE.

A measure of the success of the Programme has been seen in the letters which have been written to us, thanking us for our visits.

"Many thanks for your very enjoyable talks and storytelling sessions today. It is delightful to observe other people working so effectively with the children and relating so well to them. I'm sure all the children went home today with very positive attitudes towards reading and the library service."
Veronica Quinn, Principal, Ashgrove Nursery School.

Some of the benefits of the Programme have been unexpected. A major benefit has been a heightened sense of teamwork and a higher level of motivation among library staff in fulfilling one of the main aims of the library service. There is no division between professional and non-professional staff. We all share the same objectives.

Library work is indisputably female-dominated. Many of the part-time staff have made a conscious decision to put their families before their career and they may consequently see their contribution to the service as minimal. Sometimes management goals can be foreign to them. However, by using their talents and experience with young children in this way, they have gained a sense of achievement and grasped one of the main objectives of the organisation. Lifelong readers themselves, they have instilled in their own children a love of reading and books. Now they are doing the same for children in their local community. Some quotes from library staff:

• "You could not have told me a few months ago that I would be telling stories in front of adults."
• "The Playgroup leader said as I was leaving, 'Can you come back tomorrow?'"
• "A child who never participated in anything, stood up and recited a nursery rhyme. The teacher could not believe it."

As a Public Relations exercise alone, this Programme was worthwhile. However, other benefits worth noting have been the increased confidence and skills of the playschool workers in their own storytelling techniques and their increased knowledge of the materials available. We have been able to get posters for their Book Corners and give advice, without encroaching on the territory of the Schools Library Service who have been asked to give a Booktalk on picture books and early reading skills to Branch staff. The more we can learn the better.

The YLG course, 'Investing in Children', confirmed that we were moving in a positive direction. The publication, Kids First, reiterated the role of the Public Library as we approach the twenty-first century 1.

Right now, one of the biggest shares of the pre-school education market is owned by public libraries, though few public libraries have moved to serve this market as aggressively as they should ... research shows that kids don't need 'schooling' at an early age. What they do need are the kinds of learning resources (books, tapes, videos) that the public library can provide, along with stimulating programmes to encourage the use of these resources ... This means much more than the typical fare served up by most public libraries: the picked over selection of aging rag-tag books and the once a week storytime catering mostly to middle-class parents that have the time and ability to take their kids to the library on weekdays.
Serving this market means large, fresh collections of well-displayed books and media, a wide range of programmes for different age groups, presented both in and out of the library, and perhaps most importantly, a massive outreach programme that attempts to reach every pre-schooler in the community ... the public library can also own a major share of the education market for school-aged children and youth, if it moves aggressively to develop this market ...

Through our increased contact with children in the community, we became aware of the disparity of provision of resources in different areas. We realised that there were some children who, had we not gone out to visit them, would not have had the chance to use the library. We therefore decided to organise an event in the library in order to draw these children into the library environment. A Teddy Bears' Picnic was organised and advertised in all the pre-school centres _ not very exciting to you or I perhaps, but this was to be the Teddy Bears' Picnic to end all Picnics! Playschool leaders rounded up busloads of their children to come over to the library with their teddies. Staff organised food, drink, games, a video, songs, rhymes and stories. A good time was had by all and we were overwhelmed by the size of the audience. Looking round the sea of little faces, it was a great feeling to know that some of those children would never have visited the library had it not been for our efforts. Although in the future they will be dependent on Mum or Dad to bring them to the library _ never underestimate PESTER POWER!

As one Dad said as he was leaving:

"Every time these kids walk past the library now, they will associate it with the great time they had."

Playschools can differ widely in terms of children's attention spans which can range from 15 minutes to nearly an hour. We have become adept at thinking on our feet and gauging audience reactions. We can change our repertoire at a moment's notice. As I said to one of the staff:

"The big test is whether you feel confident enough to put on a storytelling session when a teacher telephones and says she is bringing a class down in the next half hour."

We feel extremely positive about the contribution that the library is making. We can see the response on the faces of the children when their pupils dilate and their mouths drop open at yet another adventure of some rascally character.

We know that these children will be coming back to the library for more when they are older, because to them the library is a very exciting place.

We have made it so.

With thanks to Liz Jones of DELTA, who started the ball rolling!

Notes
1. Schepke, J. "Kids First: How Public Libraries can Survive and Thrive in the 21st Century". The Bottom Line 7(3/4) (Winter/Spring 1994) Back to text

Eirian McKay is Principal Library Assistant, Newry Library.