LMU Library Day of Service at Children’s Institute, Inc.

On July 13th, staff from the William H. Hannon Library visited the library at the headquarters of Children’s Institute, Inc. on Temple Street in Los Angeles to help catalog and process recent additions to the institute’s library. Children’s Institute, Inc. (CII) provides a variety of services to children and families who are victims of violence, abuse, neglect, and poverty. Zully Chan, Director of Community Services at CII, contacted us to describe their need and ask for our help. The CII library, an important resource for their community, is currently unable to hire a full-time librarian. Although the library remains open with the help and expertise of dedicated CII staff, there is no one on staff with the experience necessary to catalog new books.

Well, we know how to do that! After assessing the project’s scope, we planned a day of service. With the generous support of the Dean of the Library, Kristine Brancolini, eleven library staff members visited CII on July 13th. We cataloged approximately 170 new books that had been kept in a closet for over a year! We prepared the books for circulation by adding barcodes and wrapping the dust jackets in shiny mylar.

The books are now ready to be read and checked out by children and their parents! Additionally, books will be shared by CII staff for their summer program promoting literacy, awareness of cultures around the world, and fun with books.

As librarians and library staff, we enjoyed spending time together in a different setting doing something outside our regular responsibilities. Most importantly, we had the opportunity to use our skill sets to help others. All of us truly enjoyed the experience and we hope to plan another day of service in the future.

The William H. Hannon Library, in partnership with the LMU Children’s Center and others, also supports CII through an annual book drive in late Fall semester when we collect new and gently used children’s books. If you would like to donate books for children (infants to 10 years old), please contact Carol Raby or check back here on LMU Library News for more details in November!

Aisha, Angie, Rachel, and Ron at Children's Institute
Library staff add mylar and labels to books

 

Library book face
Library “book face” fun at the Children’s Institute, Inc.