Many Bridgeport residents lack access to broadband internet or computers, according to City Librarian Elaine Braithwaite.
Braithwaite heads the Bridgeport Public Library (BPL) and says the library is helping meet that need, which contrasts with other nearby wealthier municipalities.
“We offer here a way for Bridgeport families to even that playing field a bit.”
But Braithwaite said some residents still don’t know the library offers those services, which include language learning and tutoring in addition to books.
As a result, the BPL is now calling on residents to get their library cards as part of National Public Library card Sign-Up Month, which runs throughout September.
The call to encourage residents to sign-up for a library card comes as the Bridgeport school district faces a need for more tutoring services, which Braithwaite said the library can provide.
Braithwaite said the BPL can help supplement much needed tutoring services for children, and adults in the city who suffer from lower reading levels when compared with other neighboring municipalities.
The state’s Department of Education’s EdSight portal shows that Bridgeport’s school district suffers from lower reading levels than other neighboring districts such as Fairfield.
The BPL library cards allow patrons to check out books, and gain access to various online services, from language learning to a service called tutor.com, a 24/7 online tutoring service for students in grades K-12 and college.
“They're going to be getting reputable tutors that their students can develop a relationship with and create a schedule that suits them, that works best for them,” Braithwaite said.
Braithwaite said the library gives parents who otherwise could not afford specialized tutoring services, a leg up. According to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, cities such as Bridgeport, which face lower income levels, are likely to lack reliable access to broadband internet, negatively impacting educational achievement for students.
But according to Braithwaite, the services benefit adults too. Bridgeport also faces high incarceration rates according to previous reporting from CT Mirror.
Many people released from prison benefited from being allowed access to computers beginning during the pandemic, Braithwaite said.
“One of our special populations we reached out to was the re-entry and Second Chance population in Bridgeport, and so many of them had never seen a laptop before,” Braithwaite said.
More than 200,000 people annually visit the BPL’s six locations, according to Braithwaite . One of them is Abraham Lima, who grew up in the city, and got his first library card at the age of five.
Braithwaite wants people to answer the survey, and Lima, an avid library user, said the library could expand access to material in different languages other than English. But he was quick to praise the library as well.
He spoke of the library card in transformational terms, saying it was the first time he remembered seeing his name on a card.
But later on, Lima would create what is the city’s first oral history of the Mexican American population in Bridgeport, with the help of his card, using the library’s microfilm archive, and a cookbook for research.
He summed up his experiences with a well worn line from the PBS show Arthur.
“Having fun isn't hard when you have a library card,” Lima said.
