[Music] the national medal for Museum and
Library Services is the nation's highest honor for libraries and museums that are
serving their communities in exceptional ways Pierce County Library System
executive director Neil Park and Community member Joe Cruz traveled to
Washington DC from Tacoma Washington to receive the national medal and spoke to
imls about how the library impacts the community well I think Pierce County
library system as wanting to be making a difference in our community and where
one of the things in our overall vision statement is to create a community where
knowledge grows but to also to make a difference one person at a time and what
we want to be able to do also is to focus on the needs of the particular
community and what is it that they value and what they care about and also for
particular populations in the community we pay attention to who is out there and
what the needs are so for instance when the econ economy turned down we suddenly
had droves of people coming into the library looking for jobs and so we paid
attention and we figured out what it was that they needed and then we worked to
provide it when we were noticing that there were a large number of people who
spoke Spanish and Korean in the community and that the population was
growing we actually got a grant and we researched working with the community
what was their what were their needs one of the things that I am the most
passionate about is early learning I was a children's librarian and I always say
to everybody that the library is the only free place in the community for
children under the age of five and I think that this is a place where we have
the opportunity to make a difference I have a home daycare
business so there is amazing amount of resources for um what I'm trying trying
to build curriculum for my little ones uh lots of books that I have every week
and um to read and for them to ask me questions about so that we can study it
further um also uh there's classes there that you can take as a as a um child
care provider that are free from the library and they help
you understand early literacy they help you um
um they help you teach children in a kid-friendly way now we know that the
first five years of life are the most important years in the development of a
child's brain and we knew that that was a time to make an impact if you want to
help young children develop their brains and their parents get them pre- ready
you've got to go where the child is and you've got to help the people that are
actually working with the child so you know we work we work with schools at the
older level but it's extremely important for child care providers because most of
them have not gone to college and they actually need certification on a regular
basis so teaching them classes and having giving them that certification
that credit is really really important so it really was a way of saying if we
want to help get children School ready the only way we're going to be able to
do that is through a child care provider the Pierce County Library has this
toolbox that they've given um to I believe it was I want to say 10 daycare
providers and in this toolbox it was a big tub full of things like musical
instruments and whiteboards and puppets and
blocks and um all of these things were put out in the in the
playroom along with books and along with the games that they provide you in the
newsletters and this is how we teach the children how to read and how to write by
fishing for letters the kind I mean what Joe is telling you is really what is
what the situation is for many family child care providers Joe's at home alone
with his children and can't get out and so it's really really important to be
able to support them the early Achievers program is a program that encourages
daycare providers teaches daycare providers mentors daycare providers
uh in a way that will help us to better prepare children
for school and um me only being a daycare provider for two and a half
years it's it it was very overwhelming had it not been for my technical
assistant early Achievers program um gives you a technical assistant and she
walks with you through all of the different
components um to help you really get ready get these kids ready for school
we're about books and reading and about the community and I think that I think
that serving and early learning and serving children is really a core
service that we pride now winning the imls medal is totally amazing it says to
us that we are making a difference in our community what I like about the
award is that it is focused on the on the community and service to the
community and that talks about Innovation and going sort of the extra
mile and talks about how we make a difference in the community with
individuals and with families and this just tells us that we've been doing a
good job and everybody in the library feels that way too and I ALS also I
think it brings together the partners that we've worked with over the years
tells us about the the strength of the relationships that we have worked made
and developed in order to be able to reach those communities more effectively