Nonpro t
BY ELLE BENT
Dripping Springs library creates accessible space for senior citizens Dripping Springs Community Library o cials have been making strides toward a recent goal— making library materials more accessible to seniors. Two-minute impact DSCL Capital Campaign Manager Sarah Rose said after school-age children, senior citizens are the library’s biggest demographic. About 12% of Hays County’s population is age 65 or older, and seniors make up about 17% of the Dripping Springs population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “I’ve tried really hard to think about what barriers we have in place for di erent subsets and cohorts of our members,” DSCL Director Mindy Laird said. “And so, in doing some thoughtful processing, one of the things that I thought about was our seniors, especially ones that are at either the independent living or assisted living centers.” Laird began her outreach this year at Ledgestone Senior Living, where she hosted a library card drive, where residents could sign up for a library card, and has been personally delivering books to residents. She refers to this as “like a personal library experience.” Laird o ers recommendations for books and has helped residents by checking out and delivering the materials to them personally. Another change Laird found that just delivering books didn’t break down every barrier the aging population faces. “When I visited one of the residents, a family
Mindy Laird (not pictured), the Dripping Springs Community Library director, is working toward making the library and materials more accessible to the senior population in Hays County and Dripping Springs.
COURTESY DRIPPING SPRINGS COMMUNITY LIBRARY
member had brought her a disc player and books on CD, and she said, ‘I have this, but I don’t know how to use this,’” Laird said. So Laird applied for DSCL to become a demon- stration site for the Talking Book Program, a pro- gram o ered through the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The program o ers services to those with visual or physical impairments that make reading more di cult. The program o ers a “talking book machine,” which includes cartridges with books on it, and large buttons that, when pressed, tell the user what it does. “It’s very user friendly,” Laird said.
Going forward Laird is also setting up DSCL as an ongoing destination for nonpro t Chariot, which provides transportation services to seniors who don’t drive. Additionally, Laird is seeking to fund Stay Sharp Kits for the library, which include activities that improve memory and cognition in older adults. Seniors can also attend a new class at the library to get questions answered about using any device, such as their phone or laptop. “The library’s the great connector,” Rose said. “So it’s about, ‘How do we better connect to those senior citizens?’”
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