State Library consultant lays out practical checklist for youth storytime outreach

Janae Jackson Doring, youth services consultant with the State Library of Iowa, used a PopYS Live webinar to give librarians a step‑by‑step guide to planning storytime outreach — from identifying community partners to adapting programs for nontraditional spaces and setting clear onsite expectations.

Doring said outreach storytimes should be “interactive,” “memorable” and explicitly designed to create teachable moments for children and caregivers. She urged library staff to meet people “where they are” by partnering with preschools, Head Start, daycares, after‑school programs, summer programs, homeschool groups and city departments such as parks, police and fire to broaden reach and awareness of library services.

Why this matters: outreach visits are a common way libraries connect early learners and caregivers to free literacy resources and services. Doring framed outreach as both community engagement and a way to build language and early literacy skills for children who may not visit a library building.

Her recommendations included practical, repeatable elements: for toddlers and preschool groups keep visits short (15–20 minutes); open with a short chant or song, read one or two short books, add a movement or rhythm activity, and close with a brief goodbye chant. For elementary classroom partnerships she recommended coordinating with teachers on curriculum topics, dropping off a “deposit” collection of classroom books for in‑class use, and tailoring visits to the teacher’s stated goals.

Doring described specific program models libraries can adapt. She cited a daycare “book swap” model in which a librarian leaves a bag of roughly 15–20 books checked out to a provider for a few weeks to a month, then returns to rotate the collection. She also described deposit collections — a classroom checkout of about 15–20 books — as a way to increase exposure and circulation.

On expectations and safety, Doring emphasized setting clear ground rules with partner sites before visits. “All staff should be present in the room with your children during story time,” she said, adding that library representatives cannot be expected to supervise behavior in place of the site’s staff. She recommended documenting those expectations in a written outreach‑services policy; Doring credited Shannon Snyder of West Liberty Public Library with developing an example policy that clarifies staff responsibilities and limits on the library’s role during outreach visits.

The webinar covered outreach logistics and adaptations for nontraditional spaces such as botanical gardens, fairgrounds, sports fields and museums. Tips included scoping the site ahead of time (sound, shade, layout), planning for background noise or distractions, considering a portable microphone for large outdoor crowds, and designing more active, movement‑based programs when space or weather make sitting difficult.

Doring listed tools and techniques that help make storytimes memorable: puppets, scarves and egg shakers, rhythm sticks and simple call‑and‑response songs, parachutes to teach cooperative play, and library mascots or costumed characters to strengthen recognition. She recommended process‑based crafts over identical‑result crafts when time allows and counseled librarians to be realistic about time and staff capacity.

She closed by urging librarians to co‑design outreach with partners — ask what the classroom or site is studying, what books children enjoy, and what measurable outcomes both the site and the library expect — and to assess each visit afterward: Did it meet the agreed goals? What should change next time? Doring said PopYS Live will pause in March and return in April with a session on teen volunteers.

The presentation included multiple local examples (Des Moines Public Library’s outreach programs and mascot “Rosie Reader,” Avoca Public Library’s daycare outreach listing, Sioux City Public Library’s event work) and practical sample language for outreach policies and provider expectations.