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Letter to the Editor: Praise for West Hartford Public Library Homebound Service

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To the Editor:

I have just discovered one of West Hartford’s best kept secrets …. and it’s much too good to keep it quiet. Indeed, I think it’s worth shouting about!

The West Hartford Public Library has a wonderful Homebound service, run by dedicated volunteers, that brings the library right to your door. What a boon for book-lovers who are no longer able to get there. You can call and request books, DVDs, magazines, or audio books and if the material is available anywhere in the library’s collection or through its interlibrary loan program, it will be delivered to you. When you’re through, you let the Homebound volunteers know, and it will be picked up.  All you need is a valid WHPL library card

This excellent service was sure a big surprise to me, even though I consider myself reasonably well-informed about  goings-on in town. I read We-Ha regularly and also get the weekly email calendar of events from the town’s Public Relations Office and have never seen anything about the Homebound service,  I went to the WHPL website and looked under “Services.” I found nothing there.

I’ve asked several of my friends, many of whom are library regulars and subscribe to the library’s newsletter, and none of them knew about the Homebound service, either. In fact, the only person who did know, another library regular, heard about it in the library when she happened to tell a member of the staff that she was facing serious surgery and wouldn’t be able to come in for several weeks. The staff member told her she could get books delivered to her home.

When I signed up last year for the equally excellent volunteer Medical Escort Service, run by the town’s Social Services Department, and which I learned about through the town’s weekly calendar of events, a social worker came to visit me and assess my situation. She brought with her brochures and information about the range of other services the town provides to its senior citizens. Not a word about the library’s Homebound service, and I can’t imagine why. It’s the only other service I would have used.

Coincidentally, I did finally find out about it through one of my medical escort drivers who also volunteers for the Library’s Homebound service.

Anyway, now that I’ve discovered and started using the Homebound service, I’m eager to tell everyone else about it, too.  To request service, all you need to do is call 860-561-6951. Volunteers are there every Tuesday morning from 10 to 11:30 a.m., or you can call anytime and leave a message. Pick-ups and deliveries are made on Wednesdays.

What a great service for anyone stuck at home because of illness, physical disabilities or because they are no longer able to drive.  

Thank you WHPL and Homebound volunteers.

Ethel Fried
West Hartford

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