With five branches newly reopened, the library system focuses on disparities in access and literacy highlighted by COVID-19
A fter more than a year of being closed to the public, the Multnomah County Library on June 1 reopened five branches — Capitol Hill, Gresham, Holgate, Kenton and Midland. This first phase in the reopening process will focus on computer access and staff availability to answer questions and help navigate resources, with time limits between 30 minutes to an hour.
Reopening is “about the geographic spread across the county and serving those most deeply impacted,” said Multnomah County Library communications manager Chelsea Bailey.
With Phase 1 of the library’s reopening plan in full swing and the next steps to reopening uncertain, all programming remains virtual, and services borne out of a COVID-era need will continue for the foreseeable future.
When the libraries closed last March, they left a huge hole in community services. In 2019, patrons visited the library more than 3.7 million times, and more than 112,000 children engaged in the library’s annual summer reading program.
As it became clear in late spring that COVID-19 wasn’t going away quickly, the library began to explore how to provide services safely. Staff hit the pavement, visiting apartment complexes, culturally specific food stores and community organizations’ events. They surveyed people about their needs, shared information about the library’s services and handed out free books.
“The main thing that came up at the very top of the list was access to computers and internet,” said Alonso Meléndez, digital equity and inclusion coordinator for the county library system. “And there was a piece that wasn’t spoken, but I think is important to recognize, is the knowledge to use technology and navigate the internet.”
According to a 2019 study by the Pew Research Center , more than 25% of low-income families don’t have a smartphone. More than 50% of low-income families, 58% percent of Black folks and 57% of Latinx folks don’t have a computer at home.
“Even if families have a child in school who gets technology from school, it might be just that one kid,” library youth services manager Jennifer Studebaker said. “And so that kid has a laptop or a tablet, and it’s kind of semi-locked down for school-type things, but then you still have other kids and other people in the family that would need access.”
“I do storytime in Spanish, and all they have, many times, is a small phone,” said bilingual library assistant Minerva Llerenas, who works at the Troutdale branch. “And that’s what they use to be able to connect, and to be able to see, and to be able to connect to some of the services that we are providing because they don’t have any other resource.”
The library has been working to support children and families in many different ways, including virtual programming, virtual storytimes in multiple languages, online literacy and kindergarten readiness programs for young children, and virtual tutoring for grades K-12.
Since March 2020, more than 42,000 people have attended virtual library programming, and the library has offered over 500 programs in languages other than English.
“It was a tough year for a lot of the families and for a lot of us,” Llerenas said. “Families rely many times on the older kids to support the younger ones. Families were so resilient; they were able to make it work no matter what.”
During the pandemic, technology has become the gateway to many services, including library programming. In order to increase technology access, the library started a free tech lending program, where patrons could check out a Chromebook and Wi-Fi hotspot for six months at a time. They also procured a mobile Wi-Fi unit, which could be driven to sites such as apartment complexes to provide free Wi-Fi for up to about 100 devices.
“The pandemic really highlighted some of the disproportionate impacts that people have experienced pre-pandemic,” Meléndez said. “In that marginalization, it caused a lot of people to experience exclusion of different forms and types, and discrimination and racism and sexism, and all these things that hurt people and make it difficult for people to have a good quality of life. … When we look at access, and we think about access in terms of applying for jobs, getting a good education in this kind of time and era, being able to see a doctor because so many things now are virtual and online. The lack of access to internet, the lack of access to technology, the lower rate of digital literacy in these communities, all these things are definitely highlighted in the pandemic and show that we need to provide more support and resources for those communities to be able to have a truly equitable society.”
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This lack of access impacts who can connect with library services, and even connect with the library in the first place.
The library also partnered with many community organizations not only to gather feedback, but also to promote and provide services and resources. One of these partnerships is with the Migrant Education Program in East Multnomah County, a federal program that provides services to children in families who move frequently due to their or their family’s work in agriculture, fishing or forestry.
Last year, the library provided book bags tailored to different grade levels for every student in the Migrant Education Program. Now, it is working on getting families Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots through the tech lending program since families had to turn in school technology for the summer.
“Right now, with everyone using so much more technology, even folks who maybe aren’t using it for work or school, we’re trying to find ways to direct our families to those services that already exist,” said Alyssa Walker-Keller, a Migrant Education Program school readiness specialist. “We could try to create some sort of opportunity to learn how to use Zoom or something like that, but it makes a lot more sense to plug into an already created service that the library’s offering, and our families will then know that resources are there in the future.”
Besides children and families, older adults have also been heavily affected by the pandemic, library staff said. Toan Lam-Sullivan, a bilingual regional librarian at three branches in Southeast Portland, works predominantly with Chinese elders, who often request technology support.
“The challenging part about providing services online or virtually, especially for elders, is they’re not accustomed to using technology,” he said.
Many seniors who live in facilities such as retirement centers have been isolated from family and friends during the pandemic, and technology may be their one avenue for connection.
“A lot of elders who came to the computer labs, maybe they want to learn about technology and also they want to have connections,” Lam-Sullivan said. “One of the main motivations is connecting with their families. Some of these elders, their families, their grandkids or friends may not be living in Portland, so by knowing technology, they are able to log into Facebook or WeChat, and by knowing that, they build connections.”
Besides technology support, the library provides outreach to people in retirement centers and programming based on their interests, such as a Tai chi club and a gardening club, where members can build virtual community.
“As an organization, we talk about our stakeholders and the folks that we are accountable to, but giving the community kind of a seat at the table and saying, ‘These are also our stakeholders; these are the folks we have to be held accountable to,’” Meléndez said.
“Which we’ve done in the past, but we’re doing it a little bit differently now. We’re doing it differently by not making assumptions about what the needs are and what the challenges are, what barriers exist. But being able to bring them to the table and have them voice things for themselves. And we’re currently looking for ways to circle back to those community members and say, ‘Hey, this is what we heard from you, this is what we’ve done, these are the changes we’re making.’”
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