Welcome to Otis Library

This is a library for all our citizens, and one of our most important goals is creating environments where all residents feel safe, smart, and comfortable. These are estimable goals, but not as simple to achieve as the words may imply. As Annette DeFaveri noted in Breaking Barriers: Libraries and Socially Excluded Communities (Information for Social Change. 21, Summer 2005.) “For every person who finds the library safe and pleasant there is another person who feels uncomfortable and unwelcome." As she goes on to point out, this attitude is not limited to the most marginalized groups served by the library community -the homeless to cite one example-but also deters potential constituents based on class, origin, and age.

Apropos of our efforts to cultivate public interest in the library and diminish perceived barriers, the Young Adult department has developed a Teen Advisory Committee (TAC). An outgrowth of efforts to cultivate the next generation of library users and supporters, the TAC provides assistance on issues such as programming, material selection and procedures. The particular goals are:

• Making our young adult patrons part of  the decision-making process,
• Helping cultivate new library supporters,
• Introduce younger patrons to libraries and librarianship through active participation in programmatic planning.

Another reflection of the interest in the library is the increase in volunteer activity. Currently three new volunteers are working in the Children’s’ department, and three in the circulation department. In addition, two new part-time employees are working with us through funding provided by Eastern Family Services and the Norwich Department of Family Services.

This is our second year working with the program, and one of last year’s participants is now employed as a library staff member. This successful program can act as a model for, and a precursor to a library sponsored internship program for Young Adults designed to stimulate interest in librarianship as a career path.

While this development is worthy of approbation, there is more work to be done. Attention must be given to a full range of adult programs designed to acquaint potential patrons with the library’s role as a source of information and promoter of life long learning. Similarly, we need to more beyond the library walls and actively deliver services to those reluctant or unable to use the library. While these efforts will take time the planning has begun, and I look forward to reporting to you on these efforts.

Yours Sincerely,

Robert D. Farwell, Director

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