Serving Military Families in the Public Library

Abstract

Military families have unique, and perhaps hidden, needs that public libraries are well positioned to meet. Virginia has many military families and they live all over the state.  Librarians can serve military families by considering the unique needs of military families in their regular services or by specific military family programming. For more than a decade the author has provided and observed many programs and services for military families in public libraries. This paper aims to help public librarians in Virginia design a variety of library services, programs, and collection development strategies to better serve military families. It concludes with: discussion questions to generate ideas for program planning for this audience at your library, and is followed by two appendices: (Appendix I) a sidebar with examples of the value of libraries for military families from my own military family’s experience and (Appendix II) a comprehensive list of children's and teen books featuring military children.