How Libraries Help Anchor Moving Families

Wherever life takes you, you’ll find a library there for your family!

Although most American families tend to choose a home to settle down in for the long term, some simply don’t have this option. Many careers don’t allow for their employees to remain in one location for very long, and if that employee has a family, the family usually has to move with them.

These “nomadic” families often suffer from a sense of detachment from their surroundings and have trouble forming bonds and engaging with the community for fear of moving again. However, the public library is a constant and plays a vital role in helping these families adjust. Here’s how.

Libraries Are Always There

A lot of things change when a family moves across the country—a new house, new jobs, new neighbors, new scenery, just about everything. When all around them is changing, it’s even more important for these families to find and hold onto the things that stay the same, and libraries are one of them.

No matter what part of the country they go to, there’s always going to be a library waiting there for them. This provides a sense of stability and consistency under just about any circumstance, even when everything else has changed completely.

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Libraries Are Consistent

Libraries aren’t just consistent in their presence but in their services as well. All libraries are ready and willing to loan out books, provide academic support, give families something to do, and provide programs that allow the community to grow closer together.

No matter where a family goes, that fact won’t change, and as mentioned earlier, that sort of consistency is just the thing they need to stay anchored in the face of so much rapid change in other areas of life. It creates a sense of normalcy amid all the chaos, which helps ease the burden of such a major transition on all family members.

Libraries Provide a Calm, Safe Space

Of course, even with strategies to simplify the move, it’s still easy for families to become overwhelmed while dealing with everything that moving entails. When that happens, they need a space to get away from it all and take a break for a moment. Fortunately, there are few better spaces for this than the local library.

Although libraries have shed their reputation for dead silence in recent years, there are still plenty of areas where people can take a moment of peace and quiet to catch their breath. 

Once they’ve had enough time to calm down and collect themselves, there’s still plenty to do at the library to de-stress! Whether they want to curl up with a good book, find a club to engage in, or partake in a community event, there’s something for everyone at the library.

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Children of Nomadic Families

A major move is difficult enough for adults with years of life experience under their belts, but many people forget just how much more difficult it can be for children. Children don’t always have the same sense of perspective as adults and may never have experienced a move before. If that’s the case, they’re more or less leaving behind everything they’ve ever known, which takes a heavy toll on anyone.

Access to the local library is especially important for children in these situations, with all the benefits mentioned above serving a vital role in keeping them grounded and empowering them to adapt to their new environment.

If you’re interested in learning more about the library and the services it provides, feel free to visit us at EveryLibrary today!

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

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