The Estevan Public Library wants to attract more people over the age of 55, so they are creating a new program, and touting a couple other existing initiatives that have been popular with senior citizens.
The Lifelong Learners Club will have its first meeting on Friday, September 11. Monthly meetings will continue until the end of the year.
“It’s designed to introduce new experiences and skills to seniors,” adult program coordinator Victoria Utman told the Mercury. “With that, there’s sometimes a little bit of uncertainty. Sometimes people feel like they’re stepping outside of their comfort zone when they’re trying to learn something new.”
The library will then make a decision to continue with the club, and whether to add more seniors’ programs.
“Lifelong learning is something that I really believe in,” said Utman. “I think lifelong learning is a really good attitude to have. I think it’s something that we should be encouraging from our elementary school years all the way through to our senior years.”
Their first class will be watercolour painting. Utman will be the instructor.
“The way I do watercolour is a little bit different than traditional watercolour, so it will be my spin on watercolour,” said Utman. “But that one’s going to be just the threshold to set the bar, so we see what people are interested in learning and who we have attending.”
Senior yoga with Heidi Hesselink will be offered in October. Hesselink will discuss exercise routines and the importance of physical activity as people age.
Utman said the library wants to know how many seniors are interested, when they should meet and how long the sessions should be.
Two existing programs at the library have been very popular with people over the age of 55. One is Mobile Device Advice. The other is Hello Computer. Both provide one-on-one sessions so people can make better use of technology.
Utman estimates about 95 per cent of the participants in those two classes are senior citizens.
The library does attract a lot of seniors who are avid readers and make good use of the library’s large print books or audio books. They also have a lot of seniors who come to use the computers. But they want to attract more seniors for their programs, and provide them a space where they feel safe.
“What we were finding is we were having lower senior attendance to our adult programs than we would like to see,” said Utman. “So we brainstormed a couple ideas, and maybe thought having specific senior programming would encourage the 55-plus group to come out and just do something together in their peer group with their shared experiences.”
They would also like to see some over-55 people who haven’t been to the library previously.
“As we go and explore what senior programming will look like in this library and our community, and what people are offering in the community outside of the library, we’ll try to develop it so that there are more programs available here at the library,” said Utman.
The library does have an outreach program in which they will go to a few care homes and bring them library resources. It means the residents don’t have to travel to the library, especially during the winter months when mobility can be an issue.
“It’s been a really great way to coordinate with some of these different homes to advertise and let them know what we’re
doing in the fall,” said Utman.
A few senior citizens and people who work with seniors have asked Utman about the new programming at the library, and she believes people are keen to see the programming begin.
