Member Spotlight: Brenda Stanley and the Enosburgh Public Library

Posted by benniefinch on February 26th, 2024 Posted in: Blog

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Brenda Stanley, Library Director of the Enosburgh Public Library, shares about her library’s experience as a recipient of the NNLM Technology Improvement Award and other interesting library programming. This interview took place in December 2023.

The NNLM visited the Enosburgh Public Library in September of 2022 in northern Vermont as part of our Focused Outreach work in the northern four counties of Vermont near the Canadian border. During that time, we learned of some of their amazing library events and some of the ways they were serving their community. During COVID shutdowns, the Enosburgh Public Library used grant funding to add benches outside, installed outdoor electrical outlets, and boosted their WIFI so that patrons could still access WIFI and library resources while the physical library was closed to the public.

We also learned that the library had hosted a few meetings to learn about what types of programming older adults would like to have in the library, which informed the development of a health series for older adults, but also a committed space for older adults in their community room every Wednesday morning.  Brenda also talked about her goals of being able to help older adults feel more comfortable accessing health information online and using computers for telehealth appointments.

Enosburgh Public Library applied for a Technology Award for the 2023-2024 funding year to fund their project Community Empowerment in Health: Increase Access Via Technology. They used the award to purchase 5 desktop computers and 2 laptop computers for patron use.  Brenda reports that there has been huge growth in the number of people coming in to use computers since adding the new technology. She reports the computers are often used to apply for health services, patrons looking for jobs and other assistance. There are 2 laptops available with headphones that patrons can bring to a private space for telehealth appointments. She says the computers have had a real impact and have been a “blessing to the community”.  There are times when all 5 desktop computers and a laptop are in use at the same time. She reports that only now are they finding the need to limit time.

Brenda contributes success to patrons knowing the computers are reliable. Library staff have been trained to troubleshoot issues with the computers. They also have software installed that prevents patrons from adding anything to the hard drive and clears the computer memory upon shutdown. On Wednesdays patrons can reserve a librarian for ½ hour for computer assistance.

Enosburgh Public Library is in a rural area, but they are seeing 18,000 library visits per year which is almost back to pre-COVID levels. The library is open 56 hours per week, so there is lots of time available to make use of the resources of the library.

Are there other things going on in the library that you are excited about?

Operation Happy – is a children’s wish tree. The Knights of Columbus also donated free coats and ski pants for children in the community. They have a hat and mitten tree which patrons add to and take as needed with over 100 new pairs this year.

Health and Safety – When we visited in 2022, we also learned about how the library had partnered locally with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to host the Hunter Safety Course for youth in the library.

Recently, the library was contacted by the county sheriff’s office to partner on a program to provide free gun locks to the community. Gunlocks are placed on a table (by the free COVID tests) and patrons are able to take what they need. They have already distributed over 600 gunlocks in the community and plan to get more. When the Department of Fish and Wildlife provided the hunter safety class this year, they were pleased to learn about this offering and were able to demonstrate how to use the gunlocks.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your library?

We were rated one of America’s Star Libraries awarded by Library Journal!

The NNLM Region 7 is so happy to have learned about the great work of the Enosburgh Public Library. We are also excited about how they have used NNLM funding to support health and wellbeing in their community.