The focus of the Sweet Reads project is Spanish Lake, an unincorporated area of northeast St. Louis County. Once a diverse community of mainly blue-collar workers, it has become a population living on the edge, with many families in transition, nearly a fourth of the families headed by a single-parent and a fourth of the population living in poverty. A 2011 article in the online magazine NOCO labels Spanish Lake as one of the most extreme examples of “white flight” in the nation (http://nocostl.com/2011/07/new-documentary-explores-white-flight-in-spanish-lake).

In ten years, the population of Spanish Lake increased at double for rate of the County and the youth population grew by 30%. In that same ten year period, both the number of children living in poverty and the number of families with children living in poverty increased by 200%. The changes in the demographics of the Spanish Lake region create an increasing need for services, programming and facilities Even though our closest library branch is only 3.5 miles from Spanish Lake, many of the population of Spanish Lake have little to no access to transportation and few have library cards. To improve access to reading materials, we decided to bring the materials to the need.

We named the project Sweet Reads because we patterned our visits on the ubiquitous ice cream truck, stuffing our library van with reading materials and putting a loud speaker on top that played happy tunes to entice people, especially children, to draw near. We travelled to apartment complexes in Spanish Lake using donated and discarded items and “checked out” books on the honor system, to remove the barrier many without library cards face when using the library. Participants exchange the books each week. In addition to the reading materials, the Sweet Reads van carries information on the library’s Summer Reading Clubs.

While we initially envisioned this service as mainly outreach to children in the Spanish Lake area, we quickly realized that many adults wanted to use the service and we added more adult reading material to the collection, as a result. In its first summer of service, Sweet Reads delivered over 3,000 books to area children and adults in Spanish Lake, once a week for seven weeks. We discovered that the desire to read is so great in this area that we are planning to increase the service area and move from a summer-only program to a year-long service. We will also move from discarded and surplus materials to a blended collection of surplus and circulating materials, giving participants an opportunity to enjoy the depth of services available to library patrons.

A needs assessment report for the youth of Spanish Lake was published by St. Louis County Government in 2007. They found that, “While youth development activities are available in Spanish Lake, there is clearly higher demand for services and programs than can be met based on the current and growing needs of the youth population.” They also determined that, “Consistent input from participants suggest the need for before, after school and summer programs; more sports and recreational programs; a wider range of programs and services for youth and families; a facility to house programs and activities; and more events and activities to build community cohesiveness.”

We are gratified to know that the Sweet Reads project is beginning to bridge the gap many in the Spanish Lake area have encountered when it comes to experiencing the value and support of a public library. This project has connected the library with other like-minded organizations and individuals looking for ways to help this area of the County.

We have begun to coordinate our resources to make a concerted effort towards changing the future for residents of this area. The Sweet Reads project garnered local interest and was featured on local television and on the cover of the local newspaper.

Pictures of one of the visits can be seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/slclevents/sets/72157634088760642.