Selecting senior care facilities to serve was historically driven by a facility’s request for service rather than by need. Evaluating local trends — increasing housing insecurity, disadvantaged neighborhoods and at-risk veteran populations — revealed more adults needed mobile services. Over two years, staff shifted services to populations facing the greatest barriers, identified best-fit service models and transitioned longtime customers who didn’t fit new criteria to other ways of connecting with the library.

PCLS instituted an annual facility application process that uses an equity approach to ensure services are available to those most in need. Staff rank facility need using an equity-based scoring tool that considers residents’ access to transportation, housing assistance utilization, risk of being unsheltered, racial diversity, veteran status, former incarceration, health status and the resource level of the care facility’s activity department. Partner agreements are clarified in writing.

For 2019, 16 Senior Outreach service sites were identified by the new selection process. Other sites were discontinued or converted to another service model. Library staff are more aware of local care facilities (size, populations, funding, interest), and have a stronger shared outreach mission and partnership success criteria. Agreements identify partner responsibilities and library-partner communication channels. Freed-up staff capacity can be redirected to explore new ground to reach marginalized adults.