THE FAMILY RESOURCE CONNECTION OF THE N.H. STATE LIBRARY
A SPECIAL LIBRARY RESOURCE SERVING PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND FAMILIES

by Alice Nye, Supervisor
Family Resource Connection
N.H. State Library

If you are looking for materials or information to assist a patron on child rearing or child development issues, keep the Family Resource Connection (FRC) of the N.H. State Library in mind as a resource to call on. We may be able to save you some valuable research steps and time.

The Family Resource Connection, now in its ninth year, is a statewide library service that can be helpful for both its specialized collection of materials; and as a referral source in the child-related areas we are dealing with on a daily basis.

The focus of the Family Resource Connection is to collect and provide information and materials on all aspects of raising, educating and caring for children, with a particular emphasis on the concerns of children with special needs. In addition to receiving informational requests directly from families, we also hear regularly from child care providers, teachers, healthcare providers, family support workers, parent educators, social workers and librarians such as yourselves.

The FRC lending library has grown to over 3,500 books and videos as well as a wealth of vertical file materials of fact sheets, brochures, and articles on child-related subjects from Asthma to Zellweger Syndrome. We also offer referral services directing people not only to materials, but to organizations and programs that may be helpful to them.

The major areas of the program's collection development are the broad topics of child development, parenting, and special needs as well as more specific subject areas such as discipline, activity books for parents and child care providers, curriculum materials for preschool teachers, books and videos on grief and bereavement, child sexual abuse identification and prevention, toilet training, sleep issues, foster parenting, bullying, violence prevention, learning disabilities, sibling issues, assistive technology, sensory processing, genetic conditions, neuromotor concerns, dyslexia, a host of health conditions, and more.

If a question arises in your libraries in these or other child-related areas, do know that we are available both as a material and referral support. Even if you don't run across titles from the FRC collection in a search of the N.H. Union Catalog, we hope you will feel free to contact us or have your patron do so. We may well have helpful file materials on the subject at hand that we are glad to copy and share.

The materials in the FRC collection can be accessed in a number of different ways. You can obtain them for your patrons through Interlibrary Loan, and they will be delivered to your library via the van delivery system. You may also feel free to have your patron contact the Family Resource Connection directly using our toll-free number (1-800-298-4321) or e-mail FRC@library.state.nh.us. We are able to register borrowers and mail materials directly to them with postage-paid envelopes for their return. Also, don't forget the FRC website that is linked to the State Library's website: www.state.nh.us/nhsl/frc. On this site are links to the lending library collection; a statewide Family & Child Development Calendar of Activities; and a Directory of Children's Services in New Hampshire.

Family Resource Connection staff include Program Coordinator Alice Nye; Nancy Cristiano, Reference Librarian and Education Specialist; and Melissa Garrison-Kelly who is the Program Assistant. Feel free to contact any of us; we're here to help!