Beyond checking out books, the public library is a place where community members can access health services — everything from signing up for a COVID-19 vaccine online to Medicaid open enrollment.
LaTari Prater and Shannon Adams are both with the Dallas Public Library. Prater is the manager of the Polk-Wisdom Branch Library in Oak Cliff, and Adams is the community services administrator, managing adult programming like GED and ESL classes. They share how the public library has helped people navigate life since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
Helping patrons navigate life during and after the pandemic
Shannon Adams: It's really a social work and human resources job, actually, over the past few years because we've been having to figure out what community needs are. And then pivot toward meeting different community needs, because they changed after the pandemic.
LaTari Prater: For me at the branch, in 2020, we closed our doors due to the pandemic. So that made my job look completely different, because we went from having in-person assistance to curbside assistance.
Now in 2022, what we are starting to see is that more customers are coming in needing help with everyday life things, like how to use their cell phone, how to scan a document to email, how to apply for a new ID.
Adams: We've become like life coaches, right?
Prater: I think customers need help adjusting to the changes that the pandemic brought. So for example, most job interviews are on Zoom. And many people have no clue what Zoom means.
We've recently had a customer come in, and he said he had a job interview. So, we took the time explain the Zoom process. And the next week, he came in, he did the interview. Week after that, he came back and said he got the job. So that made me think if he didn't come to the library to get help on how to use Zoom, he would have missed out on the opportunity for that job.

The library as community health support
Adams: Community health is all inclusive, right? Community health has to do with food access, it has to do with physical health, mental health, it has to do with economic health, it has to do with transportation. So all those things are connected. We are the ones who fill in the gaps.
We make it more comfortable for our patrons to be able to actually take advantage of the resources that are available to them. Because otherwise, they probably wouldn't.
It's about trust. When you don't trust the organization, maybe because it's been some systemic situations for years, then you are more inclined to not participate in their services. [If] they don't trust going to the hospital, well, they can come to their local library and get that education.
Prater: Just a few days ago, we had a customer come in [who] was trying to get a flu shot and a COVID booster shot. And wherever he went, they told him to make an appointment online. Here we go, stuff has moved online again. So we went to the website, made the appointment for him, and he was good to go.

What they wished people knew about working at Dallas Public Library
Prater: I do not sit around and read all day. A lot of people think librarians sit and read all day. We do not! I'd like people to know that we are community helpers. We are here to help the community.
Adams: LaTari, great minds, because that's exactly what I say. I do not read all day. We do not sit at a desk all day, we serve the community. We connect people with the things that they need on a day-to-day basis. And we do not read books all day—but you can come check out a book!
Got a tip? Email Elena Rivera at erivera@kera.org. You can follow Elena on Twitter @elenaiswriting.
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