$20K grant to help JKPL work with kids with disabilities

Team JKPL pose in the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library as an award recipient from the American Library Association Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities. (JKPL)

The Joeten-Kiyu Public Library has been selected as one of 240 libraries to participate in an American Library Association initiative that help small libraries better serve people with disabilities.

The initiative is called Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities. This award comes with a $20,000 grant that will help JKPL purchase sensory and disability equipment and provide training for JKPL staff and families with special needs children.

“On behalf of the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, we are incredibly honored to be chosen for this amazing opportunity,” said library director Erlinda C. Naputi. “This grant will allow the library to get to know our residents with disabilities better. It will help us improve our services to ensure this population feels welcome and comfortable in our space.”

As part of the grant, JKPL staff will take an online course on how to lead conversations, a skill vital to library work today. Staff will then host a community conversation about disability programming for libraries and use the grant funds to help convert the Children of Our Homeland Center (the Children’s Library) into a Discovery Wonderland filled with stationary activities, learning to-go packages, activated technology assistance devices, painting, etc.

“We plan to rent a claw machine to capture toys for the kids. Have a children’s tech day with Nintendo Switch available. For one day every week, we plan to extend our library hours of operations from 5pm to 7pm to cater to children with autism. We will plan to host classes taught by certified SPED instructors, Yoga instructors, music making classes for children with autism, and so much more! We will host community conversations and distribute surveys to families to gather information how we can best serve their families. Some incentives can include sponsoring movie days at the local theatre specifically for family groups, or provide swimming sessions to teach families who have children with autism how to swim, or offer free first aid and CPR classes for families with autistic children,” states a JKPL news release.

Libraries have a responsibility, based on the tenets of the Library Bill of Rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act, to welcome children with special needs and their families, and to provide them with the highest level of service. “In order to do this, we need to know more about what library programs would truly benefit these patrons and what they want out of their experience at the library. Our goal is increasing services for children with autism and other disabilities. (PR)