Today, I did a presentation at Touchstone Place about our services. I began the presentation with;
1. How a resident can get a library card
2. Distributed posters, handouts and flyer's
3. Rules and regulations for computer use
4. Social network and gatherings
5. Demonstration of Overdrive ebooks (Project Gutenberg)
6. The posed the question, 'Why is the library organizing FASD Gathering on September 9?'
The response from my particpants was, 'Library is reaching out. That's great. We like it.'
My audience was 10-12 people with a above average IQ. The participants shared with me information about different types of mental health conditions. The members shared with me the different places they had traveled in their life. Some were from BC and some from Alberta. They told me about their past work. Some had traveled to Japan, Florida, and Jamaica. A person had taught English language as a volunteer for more than 25 years. This participant told me that he tried to teach the language with the things the student is familar with and told me about 'pinjiri.' This a traditional dish cooked in northern India with whole wheat, nuts, many healthy ingredients cooked in ghee.
We all had lunch together and I had an opportunity to tour the place. I was informed about their mandate, funding, board, and members. It helped me understand my community and the framework in which this organization operates and ways in which I can help the library fit-in the life of the members of Touchstone Place. I was impressed with the support network.
The participants asked many interesting questions such as, 'Which are the libraries who are part of our regional network? How to access ebooks?' Some participants would like to come for some of the events at the library and told me to remind them by telephone on the day of the event.
The question is: 'Who was educating whom?' It was a mutually respectful sharing experience. I plan to take some resources once a month and maybe start a discussion group.
Manisha
