New Laundromat Libraries offer accessible reading for kids

Lather and literacy, bubbles and books.

That is the concept behind a library outreach program recently launched in two Sioux Falls laundromats.

Siouxland Libraries has put bins containing children’s books on laundromat countertops along with a sign explaining the program. It is a way to both promote literacy and give adults a way to entertain their children while clothes are going through the washers and dryers.

“We’re always trying to bring the library outside of the building,” said Leah Tanis, a library associate who works at the downtown branch.

Currently, the Laundromat Libraries are stocked with books that have been taken out of the library’s public floor collection because they are a duplicate or the covers are slightly worn. The collection will rely on CD picture books that have been removed from library collections because people no longer use CD players.

Tanis will keep track of how many books are placed in each Laundromat Library and if the books are taken out of the building. While the intent is for the books to remain, having a child love a book and want to keep it can be viewed as a good thing.

“If someone is going to walk off with a book, that’s not the worst thing that could happen,” Tanis said.

Currently, the Laundromat Libraries can be found in two places: Laundromat Company at 701 N. Cliff Ave. and 504 N. Weber Ave., both owned by Rob Huber. Books at the North Weber laundromat currently include “Hondo & Fabian,” “Water Sings Blue, “Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa” and the favorite sleep-inducer “Good Night Moon.”

Tanis spoke with Huber and received his permission to start the program. She could not reach other laundromat owners but would like to see the early literacy program expand. That could also mean other laundromats in Minnehaha County.

Tanis and Aldi Bonander, Siouxland Libraries’ diversified programming librarian, are guiding the Laundromat Libraries program. The idea had come up several times before last summer when Bonander asked Tanis to obtain more information.

The local program modeled itself after Eau Claire Laundromat Libraries through the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Jerissa Koenig, the early literacy outreach librarian there, said the program started in January 2022 at seven laundromats.

“We just did a delivery last week, and we have right around 3,500 books have gone home with kiddos as a result of Laundromat Libraries and 4,000 have been added,” Koenig said. “So there are 500 still in the bin to read while the kids are there and select them for going home.”

Eau Claire Laundromat Libraries offers 50 to 60 new and diverse high-interest books in the three main languages spoken in the community: English, Spanish and Hmong. It is aimed at children age 0 to 8, the years in which early literacy skills develop, Koenig said. Each bin also contains a binder for parents and caregivers with information on early literacy and resources that support children and families such as food pantries and housing.

One laundromat also has an early literacy space, not just a bin, Koenig said.

“It has a display shelf so kids can see the books and be drawn into the colorful covers,” she said. “There’s a magnetic whiteboard so they can play with letters and child-friendly seating. It’s an early literacy environment.”

The Sioux Falls program differs from Eau Claire in that it offers used books in its Laundromat Libraries, not new ones.

The program’s sustainability will depend in part on if — and how quickly — children take books home.

“One of biggest concerns is not that items will walk out the door but that we can sustain collection,” Tanis said. “Right now, it’s just children’s books, and right now it’s only English(-language) books, but I would really like to get other languages. We don’t have a large collection of books being taken (off the shelves) in other languages. That would be really cool to provide other languages too.”

While Tanis was researching the program, she listened to podcasts talking about book deserts. Just as it’s important for residents to be within a certain radius of a fire station, it’s just as important to be near a library. As a former first grade teacher, Tanis knows how important it can be to young readers to have access to books and is enthusiastic about bringing materials to kids — and others — who aren’t getting to an actual library.

Siouxland Libraries places a strong emphasis on outreach, Tanis said.

“We have librarians going to different nursing homes and doing homebound deliveries, going to schools and community fairs and parks in the summer,” she said. “Having the bookmobile is an amazing way to bring books to different locations.”

All the Eau Claire Laundromat Libraries give users a chance to offer input through paper surveys or online. Koenig’s most recent data shows 96 percent of the people who completed the survey talked, read, played or sang with their children. Those are the four key literacy practices, Koenig said.

More than 90 percent of those surveyed also said the informational resources had been helpful and that they had increased positive interactions with their children.

“The heart of it is the importance of literacy and early literacy for healthy outcomes in the community,” Koenig said. “Books are a powerful tool for learning about the world, learning about the kiddo’s place in the world and for learning and growing. That’s kind of the whole impetus, the motivation for this book distribution program.”

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