By Danielle Ray
Landmark correspondent
PAXTON — Richards Memorial Library recently announced it has been selected as one of 240 libraries in the U.S. to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities. The program is an American Library Association initiative that provides community engagement and accessibility resources to small and rural libraries to help them better serve people with disabilities.
According to a press release, the competitive award comes with a $20,000 national grant that will help the library create a sensory room for children with disabilities.
“We are so proud to be chosen for this amazing opportunity,” Pam Chenevert, director of Richards Memorial Library, said in the release. “This grant will allow our library to get to know our residents with disabilities better. It will help us improve our services to ensure this population feels welcome and comfortable in our space.”
Chenevert went on to say that the library’s “overarching goal for engaging this audience with our children’s sensory room is to offer a calming and appropriately engaging to our environment.”
The sensory room will expand the usable space of the library by utilizing existing space. The intended audience for the sensory room includes “high needs” children, children with Sensory Processing Disorder, children with disabilities, and “any child in the community in need of a sensory and calming space.”
As part of the grant process, Chenevert will hold a series of conversations directly with interested family members of children who are part of their intended audience. Individuals interested in taking part in the conversation this summer may contact her at richards@cwmars.org or visit www.rmlpaxton.org for more information and project updates.
Since 2014, ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative has reimagined the role libraries play in supporting communities. Libraries of all types have utilized free dialogue and deliberation training and resources to lead community and campus forums; take part in anti-violence activities; provide a space for residents to come together and discuss challenging topics; and have productive conversations with civic leaders, library trustees and staff.
Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities is an initiative of the ALA in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries.
