The missions of the service are to provide library materials to hundreds of patrons who unable to visit library branches or board a bookmobile and to foster community engagement, conversation, and evoke memories through an interactive activity at each Lobby Stop. The Cyber Clinics allow patrons to learn about technology and to share stories through technology. Using Google images, we traveled around the world, finding images of hometowns and cities the residents resided. A resident shared that her father drilled an artesian well in Lake View, Oregon. Since she and her brothers swan in the pond the well created, she was ecstatic to find the well still flows! Another resident lived in Philly when it was the third largest city and she shared that her mother was in charge of the three city-owned hospitals there. A resident who, after a stroke has been left with severe difficulty speaking, was able to use the keyboard on the iPad to tell his birthplace was Celina, Ohio. The residents were surprised, saying, “He never talks about himself!” His last iPad note was, “Thank you for giving me a voice!” Our final destination was Sutherland, where the resident’s grandmother was born! As we were leaving, the residents said, “Thank you PPLD for bringing the future to us!”

During each Lobby Stop, Mobile Library Staff engages the residents in a 20 minute program designed to lead to discussions between the facility residents. Sometimes the conversations are continued by the residents at meals long after the Lobby Stop has ended. The Lobby Stop also provides additional programs, including musical talent, poetry reading from the Pikes Peak Poet Laureate, art classes, music demonstrations, book groups and Cyber Clinics. The Lobby Stop staff has to determine how to interact with the patrons. Each facility’s culture is different. A critical step is to determine how to engage the patrons in a program or Cyber Clinic. For instance, the resident I was sitting with raised and showed horses. She was uninterested in the gadgets until we found horse pictures on the ipad. She shared many stories and kept repeating the wise advise her horse riding coach had given her 70 years before, “chin up, shoulders back, eyes through ears (the horses) and envision saying to the judge, “I own this ring!” A resident was very concerned that the men she to whom she had sold her house had made many changes and that it would be unrecognizable. Using the Kindle and Zillow.com, we found a picture of her house. She was relieved to find that the house looked exactly as it had when she sold it. She pointed out several things that remained, including the tree in the front, the color of the house and her beloved porch. After witnessing the joy her friend got from seeing the house she used to own in Amarillo, Texas, another resident said, “you got to go back home today.”

Since the Lobby Stop serves predominately elderly, lower income patrons, we strive to bridge the technology gap. We educate the patrons with our Cyber Clinic, which includes iPads, Samsung tablets, Nooks and Kindles. The time is spent familiarizing patrons with new technology. We encourage the patrons to touch the gadgets, showing them Google maps, Google images and youtube.com. The lobby stop staff also provides one-on-one gadget training to staff and residents who have e-readers. After the training session, the patron is able to download free books from the library website. During a Cyber Clinic, a new resident shared that she was having a hard time adjusting. She cancelled her credit card and thus was no longer able to download books to her Kindle. She was excited to learn about free library ebooks, but became confused and disappointed when she tried download on her own. At the end of the one-on-one training, she had a book downloaded on her Kindle. She said, “We had made her life so much better!” At another Cyber Clinic, the gadgets allowed staff to interact one-on-one with residents who normally do not participate. A smile remained, after we found a resident’s hometown of Lebanon, Indiana on Google maps. She nodded at the pictures of her street, the golf course, dentist and library pointing for the other residents to look! Using the iPad, we found another’s hometown: Mobile, Alabama. She speaks few words and with tears in her eyes said, “Oh my, oh my, oh my heavens!”