Making the Case for Programming

Successful implementation of library programming to those with Alzheimer’s or related dementia requires planning. The information in this section has been designed to help you move through the planning process, which will vary for each library.

Mission Statement

Your library’s mission statement serves as the primary purpose for being and is used as a guide for all its decision-making. Understanding how providing library services to those with Alzheimer’s or related dementia best align with the mission of your library will help all involved see the importance of the service.

Things to Consider:

• Provides meaningful activities that honor the personhood of diagnosed persons
• Reconnects diagnosed persons with an important community resource
• Provides opportunities for entertainment and enjoyment
• Attempts to improve the quality of life for diagnosed persons
• Accepts individuals as full persons despite their diagnosis
• Focuses on what they can do, not on lost abilities
• Respects all individuals regarding ethnicity, language, race, religion or sexual orientation
  
  

Statistical & Demographic Information

While the need for providing services to this population is obvious to many, it may be necessary to obtain statistics and demographics to make the case for these services to your director and/or library board.

• Determine the number of individuals diagnosed in your community
• Alzheimer’s Association Facts & Figures, state fact sheets
• Federal Administration on Aging – Profile of Older Americans
• SIA/AAA Finder – 56 state units, 629 local AAA’s
• State and local AAA’s search AAA’s by county at state sites
• Determine the number of caregivers providing unpaid care in your community
• Determine number of residential and day care providers for this population
• National Alzheimer’s Association – Community Resource Finder
• Local chapters of the Alzheimer’s Association and related organizations
• State and local Area Agencies on Aging
• Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare
• Census data
• Caring.com Local Aging Resources
• National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA)

Review Community Resources

When planning programs for this population, it’s important to survey your community to get a sense of what programs and services are already being provided to those with Alzheimer’s or related dementia. Your library can fill the gap by offering programs that aren’t otherwise available.

Things to Consider:

• Reach out to caregiver support groups in your community
• Reach out to medical community in your area
• Contact local hospitals/universities that conduct research in dementia
• Conduct literature search of local newspapers for articles about dementia
• Pay attention to variety with this population with regard to ethnicities, languages, sexual orientation

Services Provided In Library

The American Library Association gives several important factors why libraries should provide programming. Libraries are many things to their communities. They offer practical information on various topics to help improve community member’s quality of life, but also something less tangible - nourishment for the spirit. Programs in the humanities encourage people to think and talk and are integral to the library’s mission.

Ideas to Consider:

• Provide individual appointments for diagnosed person and/or their caregivers to select personalized materials
• Create kits of appropriate materials for individual caregivers and/or care facilities to borrow for use with diagnosed persons
• Develop programs for early and/or mid-stage diagnosed persons to be held in the library
• Develop programs for caregivers to help them select materials appropriate for diagnosed persons
• Story Corps Memory Loss Initiative
• National Memory Screening

Outreach

Community outreach programs are a standard way for libraries to identify a certain specific need in its community and provide services to the people who need it. Outreach programs serve people who are often identified as at-risk or under served. Community members with Alzheimer’s or related dementia fit the under served classification.

Ideas to Consider:

• Develop programs for diagnosed persons that can be brought to residential care facilities as well as adult day-care programs in the community
• Visit caregiver support groups to explain how library resources can still benefit diagnosed persons
• Reading Partnerships – one-on-one visits by volunteer Brighton, NY Memorial Library
• Memory Cafes
• Homebound visits
• Deposit collections with appropriate materials