One for
the books STEVENSON LIBRARY FINDS NEW WAYS TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY
Under normal circumstances, Monica Davis’ biggest concern as the director of the Stevenson Library is putting the right books on the shelf. With the library’s limited budget, she can’t afford to buy books that will go unread. But when the library shut its doors to comply with coronavirus guidelines, her priority quickly shifted to finding other ways she could serve the community. “I was thinking about what I could do to help, and the idea of a food bank kept coming up,” she says. Along with another friend on the library’s board of directors, Davis reached out to Stevenson Mayor Rickey Steele about running a food bank out of the library, and they began asking for donations through social media. “Now we go grocery shopping about 6 JUNE 2020
four times a week with the money people have donated, which comes entirely from the community,” Davis says. “Every time we start running out of money, someone shows up with more.” Just five weeks into the drive, Davis estimated the Stevenson Library Food Bank was able to raise more than $7,000 to feed about 75 people each week. Even while running the food bank, Davis and her co-workers have still managed to bring the joy of reading to local kids remotely. A few times a week, they stop to stream storytime over Facebook Live, with some older “kids” also tuning in from time to time. “It’s mostly something we do for the young kids. But every time I go through the bank drive-thru, the tellers say they listen to the stories and really enjoy it,”
Davis says. “So I think it’s something that brings everyone a little relief.”
Remote reading
Digital storytime isn’t the only way the library expanded its programs to reach people remotely. Through August, anyone can access the full TumbleBook library for free through the Stevenson Library. The TumbleBook library includes over 1,100 digital titles in e-book, audiobook and graphic novel formats perfect for young readers, teens and adults. Davis hopes the expanded collection of digital books will encourage local students to continue reading even when they aren’t going to school. “The most important thing to remember is when a child goes without reading they can lose entire grade levels of speed www.alabamaliving.coop
