In 2023, the Child and Family Library Services department at Arapahoe Libraries developed an outreach strategy to engage Spanish-speaking families in early literacy services and library resources. In this presentation, we will discuss how the department took an existing outreach program, Begin with Books, and developed an outreach pilot program intended to connect with Spanish-speaking patrons that do not have easy access to a library location. By collaborating with other departments like language services and mobile library services, the pilot was implemented in fall of 2023. Currently in 2024, we are taking the feedback received and lessons-learned to inform our new approach to connecting with Spanish-speaking families. Based on community feedback, programs and services in languages other than English are a high need. Focusing our resources to try and meet this need is important because it aligns with our library district values of inclusivity and a growing community with shifting needs. We are excited to share our newfound best practices for reducing barriers and reaching underserved populations.
Learning Outcomes:- To explore the unique challenges in providing outreach services to communities who may have never used a library.
- To examine strategies to overcome challenges to library outreach based on our pilot program results.
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