Thanks to a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation, the Warwick Public Library will offer services to homebound residents with the home delivery of books, movies and other library items.

Library Director Chris LaRoux explained that a home delivery program has been something the library wanted to develop for some time and it had even been a part of their five-year strategic plan.

Mary Anne Quinn, coordinator of Adult Services, had previously worked for the “Bookmobile,” going across the state and dropping off books for homebound citizens. They would visit assisted living facilities, nursing homes and senior communities, but when the program was dropped, although a few municipalities tried to “pick up” the program, Warwick did not.

“We would spend two and a half days in Warwick with the bookmobile because so many people were using the program,” Quinn said.

LaRoux said the library knew there was a population seeking this sort of program; Cranston, with similar population size and demographics, has a flourishing and popular homebound program.

“We knew there were people out there waiting on a program like this,” he said.

Where some other programs use volunteers to drop off and pick up books the Warwick Public Library was inspired by Amazon Prime’s two-day shipping and the possibility of mailing goods to and from homebound citizens.

The library was then awarded a $12,300 Rhode Island Foundation Centennial Community Grant, $10,000 of which will be put towards postage for the program. Materials will be shipped using the U.S. Postal Service. The remainder of the grant was used to purchase and design nylon bags, with reversible address tags, which can carry upwards of six books. On the library’s part, six reference librarians are working on personalizing selections for customers as well as keeping “detailed research” on how well the program is performing. Focusing on what goes in and out, what is received well and is not will also help the library in their purchasing efforts to better understand what this demographic is looking for.

Over the next year, LaRoux said approximately 100 people are expected to benefit from the program.

Without much advertising, 10 individuals have expressed their interest in the program and their first shipment of library books went out the first week of August. Not all of the customers are seniors either; one is an individual is only temporarily homebound, recovering from surgery.

“This program is going to be perfect for people who may have mobility issues or don’t have anyone to drive them to and from the library. In a city as big as Warwick it’s a shame we didn’t have this till now,” Quinn said.

She explained that interested parties first undergo a phone interview with a reference librarian to gage the interests of the person. They want to see what materials the individual would like to receive, genres they might prefer the storylines they typically read, or even specific requests, so as to make the best choices in which books are sent to them.

Quinn said, “We want to give people the best selection for them. People have very personal feelings about the books they read. We want to get the right book for the right person.”

The bags will go out twice a month and as a bag comes bag in it will be refilled with different titles and sent back out during the next rotation without continued requests.

LaRoux and Quinn agree that one’s love of reading doesn’t decrease once they lose access to literature; people enjoy stories and learning. Many of the participants may have been avid library goers and miss going to the library to use their services. Many of the people who would be attracted to the program will most likely have been avid library users previously.

“We are a busy library and so many people like coming here and those homebound are no different. This is the next best thing to stopping in yourself.” Quinn said. “People seem really thrilled that we are offering a program like this.”

The Warwick Public Library also offers a nursing home card for activity directors to take upwards of 30 materials to distribute through their facilities. Those in assisted living facilities would be better suited for the homebound program.

Already the library is anticipating great success with the program and hopes to find additional funding over the next year to continue the program.

For more information on the Warwick Public Library’s Home Delivery program for local homebound residents visit their website at www.warwicklibrary.org/home-delivery or call 739-5440 ext. 5.