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September 12, 2013

Have We Got a Story for You!

With an average of 700 to 1,000 people having to wait in line every day for various social services at the Eastmont Town Center in East Oakland - many with children in tow - Sylvia Soublet, Director of Public Affairs for the Alameda County Social Services Agency (SSA), decided to do something about it.  A lifelong reader who still recalls the childhood thrill of the bookmobile coming to her neighborhood, Soublet set out to transform the crowded waiting room into a reading circle under an experimental program called "Read While You Wait."

Responding to the call for help, Amy Martin, Children's Librarian at Oakland Public Library's Eastmont Branch, began bringing books to the Town Center several times a month and reading to children.  At another social service headquarters in downtown Oakland, librarian Laurie Willhalm of the Oakland Public Library did the same. It's a wonderful story you can read (or listen to) yourself at Kalw.org. A similar partnership pairs Hayward Public Libraries with SSA's Hayward Self-Sufficiency Center.  

A Partnership in Service

Amy Martin had previous experience entertaining children in waiting rooms as part of a partnership between First 5 Alameda County and Women, Infants and Children (WIC).  This experience gave her a good idea of what would work.  "I remembered that the waiting room hadn't been a good place for a traditional story time, since people were always coming and going," she recalled.  "Kids loved looking at board books and puppets I had brought, and they loved when I read to them one on one. I also remembered that parents in the waiting room seemed relieved that their kids were being entertained within their sight, since most of them were trying to fill out paperwork." It was because of her experience with First 5's Neighborhood Partnership Program that Martin felt confident about saying yes immediately to Sylvia Soublet's call.

Once a Reader Always a Reader?

Everyone associated with this innovative program spoke about the enthusiasm children express over reading while they wait.  There seems to be some lasting impacts as well.  "I'm happily amazed at the number of people I see at the SSA who then come into the library later on," Amy Martin observed. "We're right upstairs, and some of them come in after their appointment." Martin estimates that she'll see up to 90% of the children from the reading circle back at the library.

There's a lot in the program for parents too, as you will see when you read this wonderful story.   

For more information about Read While You Wait, contact Sylvia Soublet,  or Nina Lindsay, Supervising Librarian for Children's Services, (510) 238-6706.