SHOEBOX LIBRARIES

Since its inception in 2007, the outreach services of the Friends’ Shoebox Libraries Project have continued to expand within the Knoxville community. Chartered to provide reading material to those that cannot access a traditional library, Shoebox Library materials can now be found in various locations throughout the area: senior towers, convalescent/nursing homes, the Ben Atchley Veteran's Center, detention centers, the Children's Defense Fund summer school, the Lee J. Williams Tenant Association, and recently, in the court system waiting rooms in a joint project with the Unmet Needs of Children Committee of the Knox Bar Association.

Materials are chosen specifically to meet the needs of the location in which they are to be placed. This specificity is exemplified in providing audio books and large print books to senior centers where residents can no longer read normal print easily. Some retirement facilities have requested and received books on history and other themes, recognizing that for some residents, long term memory is still quite viable. In addition to selecting and delivering reading materials, volunteers continually visit to ‘weed’ and upgrade the Shoebox Library collections.TO VOLUNTEER FOR THIS IMPORTANT PROGRAM, E-MAIL DOTTIE STAMPER OR CALL THE FOL OFFICE (215-8775.)

Shoebox Update GUY B. LOVE TOWERS: 4/1/11 This was a second delivery, of about 20 titles. Shoebox volunteer Chloie will deliver and shelve the books, and reports that since the collection was cleaned up and refurbished/refreshed, there is much more interest in reading exhibited by residents. Friends of the KCPL Sort Team member Mary Ellen Smethels was a great help in selecting books that will be read at the tower- as always, materials pulled were done so to reflect the reading interests of the residents. This delivery also included about a dozen craft magazines which had been requested by a resident.

Shoebox Update BEAN CENTER: Upon request by Dottie Stamper (Chair, Shoebox Libraries) Scholastic Publications donated materials that were integrated into the existing library at the Bean Detention Center. The Friends of the Knox County Public Library added to the Scholastic donations to afford the juvenile detainees access to appealing and age-appropriate reading materials.

Shoebox Update RICHARD YOAKLEY: Ms. Stamper updated the Shoebox Library at Richard Yoakley Continuation School in November of 2010, and the collection was catalogued by Katie Britt, a young woman working on the highest badge awarded by the Girl Scouts. The collection is now much easier for teachers and students to access, and serves as a tribute to Miss Katie Britt's efforts.

Shoebox Update KNOXVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION: Shoebox Libraries Project has expanded to include a new partnership with the Knox Bar Association's Unmet Needs of Children Committee as of November 2010. Recognizing that many children accompany their parents to legal proceedings in the courthouse, the Knoxville Bar Association created this committee to address ways in which children could be kept occupied and entertained while waiting during often protracted legal proceedings. It was within this context that the Friends were asked to assist the KBA through donating age-appropriate (preschool through 5th grade,) books to be included in activity bags that are handed out by the court clerks. The initial delivery of books was turned over to the KBA in mid-November. It is expected that this partnership will be ongoing throughout 2011 and forward.

Shoebox Update HILLCREST NORTH: thanks to the used book resources of the Friends, and help from Sort Team-ster Mary Ellen Smethels, Dottie Stamper was able to make a well chosen gift of videos and books to the activities director at Hillcrest North Convalescent/Rehab facility 12/2/10. Materials were specifically chosen to meet the interests of the residents: "prairie books, Christmas videos, and books by Jan Karon and Mary Higgins Clark,” among others.
 

Headstart Schools Partnership

The volunteer readers who visit Head Start classrooms quickly discover what parents and librarians have always known—reading aloud to children is still a delight!

"Studies show that 50 percent of a person’s mental capacity is in place by the age of four,” says Fredda Williams, Knox County children’s librarian. “Reading to young children expands vocabulary, increases attention span and stimulates imagination. What we now invest in our children will have long-term benefits for them and for our community.”

The Friends' investment in school readiness and early childhood literacy began in 1995, when we launched a program to assist the Head Start Schools. This program provides volunteers to read to children at local Head Start centers. The weekly sessions are held for six weeks, every fall and spring.

Farragut Branch librarian Marilyn Jones sets up the reading program and trains the volunteer readers. Volunteers read from six-book sets of popular children’s books, put together from the Knox County Public Library collection. At the completion of a session, the three to five year olds who make up the listening audience receive a special gift from the Friends- a new book, chosen from the readings!

For more information on the Head Start program or to volunteer as a reader, contact FOL Headstart Committee Chair Janet Oakes, or the Friends office at 215-8775/ info@knoxfriends.org.