On the Same Page: Outreach services at Reedsburg Public Library

As you get together with loved ones over the holidays, Reedsburg Public Library staff would like to remind the community of outreach materials and programs that might be of interest to you and yours, to connect with each other, spend quality time together, and to provide your relatives with reading material when you are not able to be with them.

Thanks to the Friends of the Library, RPL has a circulating collection of Memory Kits that are useful in communicating and connecting with people who are elderly or who have suffered memory loss. Each kit contains a book, “memory cards,” and a tactile object on a particular theme that can facilitate discussion. For instance the Farming and Seasons Kit contains a photographic book about the seasons, a video about Wisconsin barns, pictures with memory prompts about farm life, and two farm related lacing cards. Other memory kit themes include Fun and Games, Cars and Tools, Nature, and Colors. Kits can be checked out for two weeks and are located just beyond the puzzles around the corner from the main desk.

If you have a family member who lives in a Reedsburg area nursing home or assisted living facility, RPL may already have placed a book cart of large print titles there for residents to peruse and to select reading materials from. Library staff and volunteers replace the books on the cart once a month. There is no need for residents to check out the books individually, they may simply read and return to the cart. Currently the library has book carts at the Reedsburg Senior Life Center, the Sauk County Health Care Center, Casa de Oakes, Our House on Mack Drive, the Fusch Center and the Historic Senior Apartments. Please ask at the facility where the cart is located.

Finally, for several years the library has offered a Home Service in Reedsburg to those who are elderly or may have disabilities that prevent them from coming to the library. To receive home service, a library card application must be filled out, which also contains a survey of reading preferences. The survey asks what genre of books is preferred – mystery, thriller, romance, etc., and also if there are any favorite authors to be considered. An RPL librarian will choose books for the home service client each month based on this survey, and a volunteer will deliver the books. People who live in residential facilities are also eligible for this service. Those who live outside of Reedsburg city limits may qualify to receive books through the mail.

If you have questions about any of these RPL outreach services, call the library at 608-768-READ (7323) or email info@reedsburglibrary.org. As a reminder the library will be closed on Tuesday, Dec. 24, and Wednesday, Dec. 25, but will be open for regular hours the rest of the week.