homebound

When I was 11, I found out I would need major surgery to correct a problem with my spine. I missed a little over a month of school because I was confined to my home for recovery, and then after that month came to an end I had another three months of extremely limited activity.  I went to school and then came straight home every day. Prior to surgery, I’d gotten into the habit of visiting the library once every week or two and bringing home stacks of books each time – but suddenly I was faced with four months of being cut off from my reading supply. It was a shock for me, especially since this was before the age of the Kindle or the Nook and the possibility to browse through an entire library from the couch. The goal of the Kenton County Public Library Homebound Services – now part of the larger Outreach Services department – is to provide services to the patrons within Kenton County who find themselves unable to physically visit the library. Most often, when this kind of outreach service is mentioned, people only think of the elderly and books. But in reality there is much more involved in what we do.  We work every day to take all of the excellent services that the Library is known for (like reference, circulation, reader’s advisory, programming, etc.), roll it all into one, and deliver them directly to the homes of our patrons.  Some of the people enrolled in the program are simply the residents of a local senior living facility, other times they are people who can’t get out of their own houses due to a disability, and sometimes they [...]