The local library as cornerstones for books in the classic sense and e-books in the digital age are reinventing themselves to remain vibrant forces in their communities.

McAllen boasts the largest single-floor library in the country, the McAllen Main Library. Here, events are plentiful throughout the year and include art shows and digital literacy courses. This month, the library is hosting AARP tax volunteers to help local residents file their federal taxes.

McAllen’s library director Kate Horan has commented in the past that libraries do more than check out books. She referred to the job fairs hosted at the main library that draw in hundreds of people. There is also the responsibility the staff feels in serving several smaller Rio Grande Valley area communities.

Mercedes is a RGV community that does not have the size and resources of a bigger city like McAllen, but its library is an active place that goes beyond books. The role of libraries is evolving, said Marisol Vidales, the director of the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library in Mercedes. A recent month-long session of meetings in providing insights on speech, hearing and language for young children is proof positive of that assessment. 

The Mercedes library hosted parent/caregiver workshops in February and March that were part of the network of Family Place Libraries. The sessions were funded by state and national grants, as were the sort of digital literacy courses the McAllen library has hosted. More recently, the Mercedes library kicked off a Thinking Money for Kids program that teaches children about personal finance.

‘Serving In Different Ways’

Vidales calls it “serving Mercedes in different ways.”

“We want to have something to offer different groups in seeing that adults, teens and children are served by the library,” she said.

One of those groups is parents with young children. On a recent Friday, speech pathologist Ann Marie Reza stood before a handful of parents with toddler-aged children as she shared insights on developing speech and language skills. The parents listened attentively as Reza spoke. She gave them a checklist of what to watch for as their children advance in age. As infants, they should be babbling and at 1, children should be approximating words. At age 3, a youngster should have “many words in their library,” she said.

Reza also advised parents to not “make it too easy” for their children when it comes to speech development. 

“Ask them to say something they want,” she said. “They need to make requests such as they want to eat lunch. Prepare them to say hello to everyone when you visit somewhere, and reward them when they do.”

After a recent session, Reza praised the Mercedes library for hosting sessions such as the one where she spoke and making such information more readily accessible.

“Sometimes as parents, we keep problems in our households,” Reza said, alluding to the issue of speech development of very young children. “What I tell parents is don’t wait for someone to tell you something is wrong. Having early intervention to address a problem or issue is very important.”

‘People Need Help’

Having such words of advice at a public library demonstrates the growing reach and role libraries are having in their communities.

“People still think we’re just books,” said Vidales, the Mercedes library director. “That remains very important to what we do, but we want to bring people to the library for the different services we offer.”

Vidales’ assistant director at the library, Michelle Muniz, recently received her master’s degree in library sciences. She said what is taught in the classroom does not always match real life in small town communities.

“It’s important to get out there and ask our community what they need,” Muniz said. “People need help, be it digital literacy with computer classes and how to create emails and telehealth accounts. We’re here to meet the needs of our communities.”