Getting Old? Getting Really Old???? Librarians Want To Help!

Left: Maybe spectacles will help? Dentures anyone? Breast implants? I hear they are good for the self-esteem!


Thinking I'm a Boomer, Gabe wants me as his pet project, little noticing I'm not a Boomer, but rather belong to the evanescent Gen ZZZZ, born between August 2 and November 28, 1956. Besides, my vision isn't good enough to read this announcement:

I am pleased to announce the launch of the statewide Transforming Life After 50 initiative for 2007/08. The purpose of this LSTA funded initiative is to assist public libraries in redefining, creating and delivering new and innovative services to our state’s growing population of active, older adults – a population expected to grow more than twice as fast as California’s total population, increasing 112% from 1990 to 2020, or 8.5 million people. As early as 2010, one in five Californians will be 60 years of age or older. And yet, research has shown that the current paradigm of library services for “seniors” does not match the characteristics and/or interests of this baby boomer generation.

Therefore, in the first year of this statewide initiative, a three-day Transforming Life After 50 training institute will be convened in Pasadena from November 27-29, 2007, (application deadline is September 10). The institute will promote an understanding of older adults as resources for their communities and will offer an alternative to the predominant deficit-based model of aging. ... The institute will introduce participants to a new framework for working with active, older adults that promotes productive aging through learning and civic engagement with presentations from leaders in the fields of health, education, finance, spirituality and aging. The institute will also provide training in community assessment and in the utilization of customized assessment tools designed specifically for this project and its target population.

The institute will focus on: 1) current research and trends underlying new approaches to working with midlife and older adults; 2) promising practices; and 3) assessment and leadership skills in community librarianship. After completion of the institute, participating libraries will also be asked to undertake a local assessment of their own community, and then invited to submit targeted grant proposals that would address the needs thus identified.