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Transforming Life After 50 Institute

Introduction

The California State Library, with funding from LSTA, launched a statewide initiative in 2007 to inspire library innovation in redefining, creating and delivering services to, and engaging with our state’s growing population of baby boomers. This group of active older adults is expected to grow more than twice as fast as California’s total population, increasing to 8.5 million people by 2020. To assess current efforts to date in this regard, a Library Field Survey was undertaken in the fall of 2007.

The Transforming Life After 50 institute was designed to promote an understanding of how the size and history of the baby boomer cohort, along with their extended life spans, will impact aging in America. Emphasis was given to the importance of viewing these older adults as resources for their communities. Timelines from 1900-2006 were created to provide historical context and training institute Overview, Agenda and Goals were used to guide the institute. Partnerships with Libraries for the Future and California Library Association were undertaken to leverage resources and broaden perspectives. The resulting three-day training institute in November 2007 was attended by 88 participants, representing 44 California library jurisdictions. Presentations were given from leaders in the fields of health, education, social science, anthropology, spirituality and aging. Training in community assessment was also provided.

This webpage contains all the materials from this three-day training institute. As the initiative develops, this webpage will be updated to include promising practices from the field. A Bibliography and Web Links has been created and is updated quarterly (with new additions highlighted in yellow) to help the field keep abreast of the latest reports and resources available on this developing topic.

PRESENTATIONS FROM THE INSTITUTE, NOVEMBER 2007

Redefining Aging: Who Are The Boomers?

Visioning the Future: Boomer Issues and Opportunities

Beyond Senior Services: Launching Local Efforts

HISTORICAL TIMELINES

1900-1923
1924-1945
1946-1951
1952-1955
1956-1958
1959-1964
1965-1986
1987-2006

MORE INFORMATION FOR INSTITUTE PARTICIPANTS

Having completed the training institute, participating library jurisdictions have been invited to undertake a local assessment of their own community. The State Library has contracted with a consulting team, LTG Associates to provide technical assistance through this process. Each library that conducts a community assessment is eligible to receive up to $1,000 reimbursement for staffing costs associated with this activity. The completed Assessment Expense Form should be submitted to the California Library Association for payment. Any participating library jurisdiction that completes a community assessment by May 2, 2008 is then invited to submit a targeted grant proposal that would address the opportunities and needs identified in their assessment. The grant proposal deadline is June 27, 2008 and grants will be awarded effective August 1, 2008.

Assessment Tools

The State Library believes that excellence is best achieved when library services match local community needs, interests and priorities. Therefore, undertaking a process by which a local community’s assets and needs can be identified is seen as a critical step before implementation of any new program or service. A variety of assessment tools exist to assist libraries in their efforts in this regard. For the Transforming Life After 50 initiative a customized assessment tool, LEAP, was specifically designed for this target population. All the materials related to the LEAP assessment tool are provided below. Other assessment tools are equally useful and can be utilized for this project as well. Whatever tools work best for library jurisdictions and their communities are the tools we encourage you to utilize.

Assessment Report - Due May 2, 2008

Targeted Grant Program for Eligible Library Jurisdictions

(Documents in PDF format can be viewed with the Adobe Acrobat Reader.)