[Music]
[Jeff Gardner] Watch and learn is a combination
of libraries and laundromats coming together
with communities to promote literacy and help
early childhood learning in spaces that might not
normally be traditionally thought of as libraries.
[Melvin Carter] I'm really excited to be here
today this morning on a Saturday morning in a
Saint Paul public library. We're partnering with
Libraries Without Borders to ensure that all of
our children and families in our community
have access to books and literacy and that,
you know, two hours spent on a Saturday
morning washing are also two hours spent
on a Saturday morning learning.
[Adam Echelman] NNLM worked with us
Libraries Without Borders, to pilot our first ever
laundromat event in Minnesota.
And with some of the learnings from that program
we said why can't we do this across the state and
now we're working in five different counties,
seven different laundromats, to really think about
how do we get information to people where they are.
How do we ensure that NNLM resources reach
the families that they're intended to serve?
[Pang Yang] This is a very natural space for
families to already be and to go to weekly and
so we figured let's destroy the transportation
barrier, or the time barrier, or whatever the
obstacle is and then come to where they are so
that we can provide them the resources that we have.
[Adam Echelman] When people come into the
laundromat they're not thinking about learning.
They're not thinking about addressing their
concerns about diabetes or hypertension or cancer.
They're washing their clothes. And so what we're
trying to do is to transform the 90 minutes—
the wash and dry cycle that you're doing every week—
into a different kind of experience,
into one that's actually enriching.
[Jennifer Nelson] Digital literacy is fundamental
to being successful in the world today and
I think many of us take for granted the fact
that we have computers at home,
that we have access to Wi-Fi.
The National Library of Medicine—
a lot of people aren't aware of the degree and
nature of the resources that they put out to
make learning about topics related to medicine
really accessible to people, so we've got some
websites that are set up to the NLM site,
I should say, where people can look for
information about nutrition. Some of the resources
are directed toward kids so they're really
friendly, more of a game-like environment.
[Jose Gonzales] It was really fun because
I got to play on the computer.
It was nice of them for putting all the stuff up.
[Daryl Johnson] It's a way to give back.
Simply put, if I can serve my community,
in the end it's gonna be good for me,
but the reality of it is, it's just good for the community.
[Music]