The Bloomington Public Library is partnering with the Multicultural Leadership Program to spread the word about services the library offers.
Library staff and volunteers from the MCLP will team up Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to have door-to-door conversations with Bloomington residents.
Rhonda Massie, the library’s marketing manager, said she hopes the conversations will share information about the library’s online resources. It’s also an opportunity to issue library cards to those who don’t already have one.
“We have a lot of online resources I’m not sure people are fully aware of,” Massie said. “For instance, we have a subscription to Mango Languages, so if you have a library card, you can (go online) and learn a foreign language through Mango Languages. They teach (over 70) different languages.”
Massie said the library also gives cardholders access to online courses on a variety of subjects, such as how to knit or fix your car.
The door-to-door campaign will take place in the neighborhood surrounding Miller Park. They chose that neighborhood because it's close to the library, very walkable, and the canvasing may bring new insights to the library about the low usage of last year’s Miller Park Bookmobile stop which lead to its cancellation.
Massie said this initial campaign could pave the way for future efforts.
“We’re definitely treating this as a pilot,” Massie said. “We want to see how it goes. If it goes well (and) … if we got enough good information to consider and make some decisions, I definitely think it’ll happen again in the future.”
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