LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Now that kids are back in school, helping them stay on track with their reading can be a learning curve for some families. However, a local librarian is changing the process and setting the stage for all to move, groove, and read better.
Usually, libraries are quiet, but it’s a different story at the Whitney Library where it’s never quiet. The library on Tropicana Avenue and Nellis Bouelvard is taking rap, hip hop and literacy to a different level.
Billy Allen, also known as Mr. Billy, is the head librarian and usually leads storytime.
“I can’t do my story time and read loud like other people,” Allen said.
That’s the way Allen keeps the library, which has more than 20,000 books, staying relevant and diverse. He hopes that all kids develop a love of reading through music and engagement.
“People need to see especially, young black boys, see a black man holding a book,” he said.
Engaging doesn’t stop at storytime. Allen took 8 News Now through some of the resources it has to offer including meals that are readily available for kids.
“Like who is going to read if they are starving?” he said.
Allen said the library is truly a space where people are free to be.
When asked about the divide the digital space can create, Allen said, “Yes, but you got to be adapting, its all about trust especially with teens, you want to build that repour so I can get them something to read.”
He also said any form of reading is good, but their push to pick up a physical book is not only for kids.
“Sometimes when you deal with the older population or even adult population, they may have had some struggles with reading before in their life,” Librarian Desmond London, who works with seniors, said.
Allen and London said even if at times it gets frustrating to read or teach it, we can always just go back to singing.
Both librarians said the Whitney Library will be getting a digital preservation lab soon. The library’s story time and book clubs for older people get extremely busy throughout the school year, but everyone is welcome.
