Librarian Jane C. Daugherty and I presented The Brewer-Porch Children’s Center Library Initiative: Serving the Needs of a Specialized Community Through Communication and Collection Building at a poster session of the 2009 Alabama Library Association Annual Convention.
From the abstract:
In the fall of 2007, the Brewer-Porch Children’s Center did not have a circulating, client-accessible library; by fall of 2008, Brewer-Porch had a working library with a growing collection of children’s and young adult fiction, and Brewer-Porch’s clients were receiving library cards. This library project was conceptualized and implemented by a student of the University of Alabama’s School of Library and Information Studies and facilitated by the receptiveness of the administration at Brewer-Porch. The project included reclaiming a library space, setting up a cataloging system with internet access, assessing the outdated research-based collection, eventually changing collection development gears completely to build a fiction collection for the clients at Brewer-Porch, and cataloging as many items as possible—with no previous experience in any of these areas. Through the project, a mutually beneficial partnership with UA SLIS was forged, and the library is now maintained part-time by an intern from the library school. This poster session will inform you about those challenges, including learning about and becoming involved with a specialized community, adapting the library to the challenges and needs of that community, and utilizing space and time with maximum efficiency. We invite you to learn more about the inspirational story of the growth of the Brewer-Porch Children’s Center Library.
In its printed form, the poster is 78″ x 40″.