Thursday afternoon at LaGrange Library is going to the dogs! MacGyver, a registered therapy dog and his owner visit LaGrange Library once a week for two hours. The dog sits patiently and quietly while children read their favorite stories to him. Alison Francis the children’s librarian says this wonderful, relatively no-cost program is great for children who are reluctant readers especially when reading aloud. “The dog is an attentive, nonjudgmental listener and never makes fun of a child who stumbles over words.” The program is also very inexpensive to set up and run. The therapy dog and his owner are at the library on a volunteer basis and Alison, although always present during the reading sessions, is called on infrequently to assist. The program at LaGrange has become so successful Alison is thinking about adding another day to MacGyver’s weekly schedule so more children can benefit from this experience. You can read more about Alison Francis and MacGyver in ALSC’s quarterly magazine. Alison has just had her first article published in Children & Libraries the journal of the Association for Library Services to Children. This journal highlights programs and ideas that work well, written by librarians for librarians. Allison’s article entitled “Thursdays with MacGyver” emphasizes the benefits of children’s programming and therapy dogs. Readers can find Alison’s complete article in the Summer/Fall 2009 issue of Children & Libraries. For more information on therapy dogs visit www.therapyanimals.org/read/about.html or call 801-272-3439.
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