Ok, all you small libraries out there: listen up! I know how hard it is to get excited about one more program.  As you think of all the time and effort it will take to get it moving, you think:  "Where is all that time and effort supposed to come from?"  You of course!

My name is Janna Streibel, and I am the director of the Lizard Butte Library in Marsing.   We are a small rural library without a big staff.  So how do I expect to add in more programming? How do you do it?  The one thing I’ve really learned is to look for help and stop trying to do everything by myself.  People in your community want to help; it is just a matter of finding the right fit for them.  I had this experience when we wanted to start a beginning computer class.

We had been getting a lot of requests to have a very beginner’s computer class.  Those requesting the class wanted to start from the very beginning as they had not had a lot of experience with the computer.  My concern was not having enough time or knowledge to put this class together.  I had really been putting it off for a long time.  After I finished the Transforming Life After 50 Fellowship last year I decided  it was time to get going on this request.  So I went looking for a teacher.  One of our former board members has taught computer classes; I thought just for kids.  I asked him if he had any idea of who could teach this type of class for adults.  As they say it is all about networking.  Amazingly he himself had taught this type of class before and was willing to teach it here at the library.  The fun part of this class was that they got to take a computer apart.  This really helps to cut down on the confusion and the mystery of the computer.   The participants get to see what a hard drive is and where the memory is and what most of the parts of the computer do.  As they move forward into the class, turning on the computer and saving documents is not so scary. 

Once we had the teacher and the class dates set up the only thing I had to do was advertise and sign up the participants.  There was a small fee for the class paid to the teacher.  We tried to set it up more as a community education class so that the participants had buy-in to the class.  We may change how we handle the payment issue going forward as it is easier for the library employees to request money for someone else than it sometimes is for the teacher.

The classes were held after hours here at the library so that the participants felt more comfortable asking questions and being a little bit loud.  I was here a few times during their classes, and it seemed that they had a great time and learned a lot.  We even had class participants coming in during library hours to practice what they had been taught.  The teacher told me that many of the people in the class did not want it to end they were learning so much and having so much fun.

This is not a weekly class as that is beyond what we can offer.  However, we are listening to and responding to what the members of our community are requesting.  Every little piece we can add helps to enrich the lives of our patrons.  Move forward a little at a time, and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.