Stories are a hit with kids, readers

Lois Penick’s theme was teddy bears. Hungry bears, big bears, lost bears and baby bears. Her audience – seven toddlers and 10 preschoolers – was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her, cushioned in their mothers’ laps or crawling in between rows of chairs. The children laughed the hardest while listening to “The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear” at Indian Trail Library.

It was 5-year-old Tyler Holzimer’s favorite book.

“I like the part when he ate the strawberry,” Holzimer said with a giggle.

It was Penick’s first time reading to the toddlers and preschoolers at Indian Trail. She is one of eight volunteers conducting story time at the three smaller branches of the Spokane Public Libraries.

“I’ve worked in preschools before,” said Penick, “and I think it’s worthwhile and really important introducing kids to books and getting them in a library.”

The volunteer storytelling program is a result of the library’s bounce back from a $1 million budget cut in January 2005. Sally Chilson, youth services librarian for all six branches, created the volunteer program after a shortage in youth services librarians prevented consistent storytelling sessions at all the Spokane libraries.

“There was one story time in the morning, which wasn’t a big problem for the smaller branches, but it was a problem for larger branches like Shadle,” said Chilson. But Dennis Bergstrom, branch manager for Indian Trail Library, said that despite having a story time session in the morning, it was never well attended.

“We had pretty limited hours. We were only open on Wednesday and Friday.”

Last year the three smaller branches (Indian Trail, Hillyard and East Side) were open for eight hours per day for two days a week. The downtown library was open for five days a week but with sporadic hours – three eight-hour days and two 10-hour days. Shadle and South Hill were open for three eight-hour days.

Pat Partovi, library director, said that last year’s hours were unsuccessful and hectic.

“The staff from the larger libraries fanned out and worked two days at another library,” she said. “Last year’s hours were not adequate at all – they still aren’t, but they are a lot better now.”

With the help of a voter-approved levy last fall, the Spokane Public Library has been able to increase hours and keep library doors open for five days a week. The increase in hours left the smaller libraries with one youth services librarian to manage story time at all three branches. Chris LeMieux, youth services librarian for the three smaller branches, was hired in February because the libraries were shifting from a two-day-a-week operation to a five-day-a-week operation.

“I think it’s great that we are getting the community involved,” she said. In the spring, LeMieux was conducting story time in a three-week shift at each of the small branch libraries. Her rotation left certain libraries without a storyteller for three weeks at a time. “It was rough, skipping around,” she said. “It was really hard getting the word out that there was still a story time.”

Indian Trail, Hillyard and East Side now have one morning story time session during the week, and Shadle, Downtown and South Hill have two morning story time sessions during the week.

“It is a big deal for the community. A lot of the time it’s a child’s first group activity; they are learning how to be a part of a group,” said Chilson.

Volunteers went through four weeks of training and have a yearlong commitment to read to the toddlers and preschoolers. Training included keeping the young audience engaged, picking the right children’s books and even learning how to read sideways since the volunteers are holding the book at an awkward angle.

“A lot of what we did was talk about what makes a good picture book,” said Chilson, who headed up the training program. Volunteers also conduct ‘finger plays,’ sing songs with the children and use a felt board to tell stories.

Partovi said it was vital to maintain story time in all of the branches of the library.

“The library’s mission is to promote reading and learning,” she said. “It’s important for us to create readers in our society, we consider it an important part of our mission.”

Partovi said that it is better to begin reading to children at a younger age and story time is also a tradition of libraries everywhere that she would hate to see go.

“When we think of the library’s story time, we think of when we were kids,” she said.

Dave Liezen, a volunteer reader said that reading was always a part of his childhood, and he wants to share that with kids today.

“Libraries have been huge throughout my life. When the libraries cut back on their hours, I wasn’t really happy about it,” he said. Liezen recalled when the Shadle Library was open only three days a week, “There would be at least 200 people standing outside waiting for it to open. It didn’t cut down the clientele at all.”