Home Library Working Group Meeting

Monday 6 May 2019 Campbelltown Library. Chair Rachel Vassallo. Minutes Vickey Foggin.

• Caryl Collins - Penrith
• Georgia Lewsley - Blue Mountains
• Mary Anderson - Northern Beaches
• Eileen Smith - Wollongong
• Keith Stalling - Canterbury Bankstown
• JulieAnne Jones - Penrith
• Bee Edwards- Sydney
• Stephen Peacock - Sutherland
• Vickey Foggin - Ryde
• Rachel Vassallo - Woollahra
• Ali Kim - Lithgow
• Jacqueline Talbor - Lane Cove
• Angelina Myatt - Inner West
• Kay Pisel - Newcastle
• Robert Swan - Campbelltown
• Bernadette Stephenson - Campbelltown
• Jane Moffatt - Randwick
• Ricardo Gomes - Wollongong

• Peter Green - Sydney
• Margot Zaba - ?
• Annette Chapman -Camden
• Mary Ryder - Hornsby

• Each branch had separate RFID systsems before refurb & unification.
• System has 4 libraries, 160,000 residents in area and 95,000 borrowers.
• Have recently shifted from 3-4 monthly adult programs to 20+.
• Removed massive front desk to create a more welcoming space.
• Campbelltown has 125 HLS clients, with fortnightly deliveries.
• Will be switching nursing homes to monthly deliveries.
• 2 staff in HLS. One does 5 days and one does 4 days.
• Have a traineeship student who downloads Libby/Borrowbox files to ipads for clients.
• Staff also load up and swap out SD cards for Navigators for 5 clients.
• Meals on Wheels volunteers do all deliveries to all individuals and HLS staff deliver to nursing homes.
• HLS staff did not previously work on the library floor but are starting to do 4 hours a week each.
• Individual borrowers are limited to 10 items each but nursing homes get more.
• Having trouble recruiting and retaining volunteers.
• A nursing home in the area recently closed so they lost many clients.
• 1 month delivery closure over christmas period and staff do 1 on 1 visits with clients in that time.
• On first visit, both team members visit client together to do reference interview and risk assessment.
• They have their own HLS collection inherited from the closed Minto Library
• Also have specific magazines and copies of popular items just for HLS that are not visible in the opac.
• HLS borrowers can only reserve the HLS copy of a popular item.

• Ricardo is acting HLS officer for 6 month and is reviewing digital options.
• Discovered a free app called Homer Player.
• Very simple app designed for the designer's elderly mother who had vision issues.
• Works on Android phones and tablets which are much cheaper than iPads or Navigators - you can get 10 simple Android tablets for the price of 2 Navigators.
• Homer Player in Google Play Store
• Very simple high contrast user interface.
• The app will read menus to you, including the titles of your files.
• You can lock the tablet into Kiosk mode so ONLY the Homer Player app is available.
• You can download files directly to the app using BorrowBox or Libby, or you can load to an SD card - Ricardo recommends loading the MP3s into a file titled "audiobooks".

• Rachel downloads BorrowBox and Libby MP3s to SD cards she can then use in Navigators.
• She has created a Word doc with full instructions which will be added here soon.
• These instructions help interested families and carers get involved.
• Loans and returns each title for each client to get accurate usage statistics.
• Note, Navigators can be used without the Navigator catalogue. Avoiding the Navigator catalogue saved $5,000.
• Rachel maintains spreadsheets listing previous loans for each clients.
• Is trialling having Lenovo tablets for loan. Tablets have an accessibility feature which will read options to you.

• Available on State Library website at Living Learning Libraries 7th Edition
• Section G19: Home Library Services is particularly relevant. It has been part of the document since 2008 but not everyone knows that.
• The listed standards were developed from the work of this Home Library Service Working Group.
• The document includes population-based cohorts for easier comparison between services.
• * The LLL website at Living Learning Libraries lists which libraries/councils are in which cohorts.
• LLL also considers multicultural needs and regional layout.
• No numerical benchmarks are set for HLS services because it fluctuates and is demand driven.

• Everything relevant has been migrated to this new Beta Wiki
• Membership is now open so please join.
• If you have anything to add, please do.

None

• Woollahra did some Tech Savvy Seniors sessions at nursing homes and taught residents how to reserve items through the OPAC.
• Woollahra showed the movie "Pianoforte".
• Woolahra hosted an intergenerational storytime.
• Penrith did an HLS letterbox drop at retirement villages in their area.
• Penrith organised a morning tea and info session about how to use the library and invited nursing homes and retirement villages.
• Someone had a home library service ad printed on the side of their local Meals on Wheels van. This generated a lot of interest.
• NRMA offers Safe Driving training and many services put their volunteers through the training.
• Randwick has a special program called Randwick Recollects which combines services from Local Studies, Senior Services, Marketing and IT. Did a podcast about local memories.
• Someone participated in the Word Travels Poetry Slams Word Travels organised by Miles Merrill. Hosted poetry workshops and then an event where people could perform their works. It was very funny and people brought their grandkids.

• Vision Australia will now accept referrals from Home Library Service officers.
• Northern Beaches just had Manual Handling training for volunteers and staff, following a significant incident.
• Penrith unfortunately had volunteers find that an HLS client had passed away.
• As a result, developed a procedure of what to do in this situation and in what order. She will see if she can share it with the group.
• An important part of this procedure was to debrief with all staff involved.
• Less than a month later, had a similar incident and knew what to do.
• JulieAnne from Penrith also wants to recommend a portable speaker that will play files from USB. It's louder than a Navigator and has better sound quality. She will bring it next time.
• Woolahra has a goal to have 300 members, currently have 200. They have had many new members join from their Double Bay branch because it is so accessible. In preparation, they now have a volunteer go out with each driver due to parking issues. The volunteer runs to the door while the driver waits in the van.

• Dementia Friendly Communities
• CALD Grandparents
• Strategies for Multilingual Clients
• Will the Marrakesh Treaty allow us to do ILL requests for items in other libraries' ebook collections?