Home delivery keeps library patrons connected
Oak Lawn Public Library offers service to readers who struggle to make the trek to get books
It’s 4 p.m. on a Monday when Meghan Moran carries her bag of books onto Carmen Pedroza’s porch and rings the bell.
Pedroza loves to read, but sometimes health issues prevent her from making a trip to the Oak Lawn Public Library. So the library comes to her. Pedroza works closely with library staffer Moran to set dates when a new stash of books, magazines and movies can be exchanged for the ones already enjoyed.
During the visit, Moran sits at Pedroza’s dining room table and the two chat about authors, plots and new releases.
“If the weather’s good and I’m having a good day, I’ll go to the library,” said Pedroza, who likes to attend events at the facility.
“But if I can’t get there, Meghan comes here,” she said.
Home delivery is all the rage as people choose to have everything from lunch and groceries to dog grooming services brought to them. It is not necessarily a new service for libraries, but it is experiencing a rebirth as officials realize the literary and social benefits that home-bound patrons derive from staying connected to people and resources in their community.
It was offered five years ago when Tippi Price started working at Oak Lawn Library.
But, the head of customer service said, it recently has been rebranded, and Oak Lawn, like several other local libraries including New Lenox and Midlothian, is now eager to get the word out that it’s available.
“We always delivered books,” Price said. “But now the service is more of an extension of the library.”
Where offered, the service is typically available to cardholding village residents. Some libraries offer it only to disabled patrons, others make it available to anyone who requests it.
Price said she’d like to see busy moms, homebound seniors and anyone recovering from a temporary setback, such as a broken ankle, to sign up.
“We can bring out materials if, say, you’re homeschooling your son and you want to supplement his curriculum or if you have someone going through dementia who needs memory care,” Price said.
“We try to take our outreach skills and help people use the library services where they need them — in their homes,” she said. Other available services include helping patrons set up electronic readers such as Kindles, downloading apps and navigating technology, she said.
“We even have over 30 hot spots in this library that we circulate specifically for people who don’t have the technology,” she said.
So far most of the people registered for free delivery are elderly, Price said.
“I’m hoping to get more people to take advantage of it when life throws them a curve,” she said. “They can reach out to for help for a month or six months and we can deliver whatever the library has to offer.”
Moran, who also works the circulation desk, delivers to six or seven patrons regularly.
“Some want weekly delivery, some monthly, some sporadically,” she said.
Sue Mountford, program coordinator at the New Lenox Public Library, said that facility also has recently begun promoting the service.
“We’re trying to get more people from the community … involved with homebound delivery,” she said.
When they sign up, New Lenox residents are asked about their reading interests, favorite authors and materials preferences, Mountford said.
She calls each of the current 14 participants monthly to get their picks. On the second Wednesday of the month, volunteers pick up the bags of materials and drop them off.
“Some people want, for example, the new James Patterson book. Some just want magazines,” she said. They can request movies but new releases that have holds on them might not be readily available.
Public libraries in Frankfort, Midlothian and Tinley Park also offer home delivery. To sign up, residents of those towns can go to the facility’s website.
Tinley Park Public Library also expects to introduce a new bookmobile in the spring, library spokesperson Wendy Babjak said. It will make stops at senior centers, parks and neighborhoods.
Midlothian Public Library began offering delivery service in April of 2018, director Jennifer Cottrill said.
Residents of Midlothian who are permanently or temporarily confined to their homes are eligible to have books and other library materials delivered to them by library staff, she said.
Cottrill said Midlothian was among several local libraries that recently received a $12,000 grant from AgeOptions a local agency that administers senior services, to improve their services to older adults.
Kim McCahill, director of planning, program design and grants management at Age Options, said the agency offered stipends to several suburban Cook County libraries to address social isolationism through home bound services or community services.
“It’s kind of the new national concern — to get people out, active and engaged in society,” she said.
Not only does Moran supply Pedroza with requested reading materials, she often makes book suggestions.
“I’ve developed a rapport with Meghan. She knows different authors I like to read,” Pedroza said. “Sometimes she’ll get me books that the Oak Lawn Library may not have but the other libraries do.”
Pedroza is a member of the reading club at St. Gerald Church.
“I’ll get a notice of the book for the month and contact Meghan and she’ll get the book for me,” she said.
“It just makes it really easy for me, especially if the weather is bad,” Pedroza said. “It makes a world of difference. It really does help.”