Outreach and Memory Kits at Bayliss Library

Bayliss Public Library is excited to announce that we will now have four memory kits available for checkout! Our kits are designed to be used with any individual who is experiencing memory loss, especially Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. By focusing on a topic that was an important part of an individual’s life, the kits are intended to stimulate memories and conversation. Each kit has a different theme – pets and animals, sewing, baseball, and 50s/60s/70s nostalgia. The kits contain a variety of media and items, including books, films, lots of Upper Peninsula resources and brochures, and sensory items. Each kit also contains a different book meant for caregivers and guardians on coping with their loved one’s memory loss. There is also a notebook included in each kit for families to write down their positive experiences and advice for future checkouts. Not included in the kits – but also available for checkout – will be four large print easy reading adult books. These books can be used by many different individuals, including those with memory loss, lower reading levels, or with vision loss. Each kit and the four large print books will be placed on the shelves next to our new materials.

The kits can be checked out for up to three weeks. Kits will not be available through interlibrary loan, but they can be checked out by any individual who holds a Superior District Library branch card. If an individual is interested in checking out a kit but does not have a card, they are encouraged to come into the library and apply for one! We cover many of the areas in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, but even those who live outside of the boundaries can apply for a card (in this case, there is a fee associated with having a card).

Our memory kits are part of an expanding outreach plan to bring library materials to those who cannot easily access one of our branches. Natalie Nowak, Adult Programming and Marketing Coordinator, has been working with Freighter View Assisted Living in Sault Ste. Marie to bring reading materials to the residents and to read with them. Every other week, the group focuses on a different topic with different kinds of reading and listening materials, including plays, musicals, book excerpts, and historic newspaper articles.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach the library at (906) 632-9331, or email Natalie at nnowak@superiordistrictlibrary.org.