San Anselmo hotline for children’s stories marks milestone

A unique youth reading program in San Anselmo has reached a new milestone.

Dial-a-Story, which has offered recorded children’s stories over a phone line since October 2019, provided its 100th story this month. The program, which operates on an unused fax line in the San Anselmo Library’s phone system, features a new story each month. The number is 415-258-4666.

Calls can be made at any time, day or night, with a story waiting for the listener on the other end, said Jennie Waskey, the youth services librarian.

“There is something magical about being able to call a number and reach a story recording on the other side,” she said.

The library does not have the capability to document how many people call because of the relatively rudimentary technology. Waskey said the line might ring between five and 20 times when she is in the office during the work week.

“Sometimes, if someone does not hang up right away and I’m changing the story, I get to hear the reaction of someone who just listened,” she said. “It’s always something delightful like: ‘Yay, that’s pretty neat,’ or ‘Did the elves record that?’”

The first story was “The Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. The 100th story was “Life,” by Cynthia Rylant and Brendan Wenzel.

The latest story is “Leave Me Alone!” by Vera Brosgol, a tale about a grandmother looking for a place to knit in the winter.

Waskey does most of the recordings herself. Due to the limitations of the recording system — which is essentially like an answering machine — she can record up to five minutes of content.

Over the years, she said she has learned to improve her cadences, diction and dramatic storytelling to make the program more interesting for the listener.

“I try to go slow and try and enunciate because I am aware it is not the greatest sound quality. I try to give a lot of expression into the story,” she said. “That is one part of finding a story, finding one that has a lot of activity and ways to change the voice around and different sounds to make and different people talking.”

The library, located at 110 Tunstead Ave., underwent a $500,000 refurbishment in 1997. It celebrated its centennial in 2015. The focus of the program was how to use untapped library resources. Fax machines — now virtually a relic – were tossed by the library many years ago, but the phone line remained.

Peter Warden, a library assistant, said the gist of the program is to try to introduce books to as many children as possible and in as many ways as possible.

“Nothing is left unused,” he said. “We use whatever technology we have in order to keep storytelling and literacy active.”

Waskey said she hopes the program will continue in perpetuity, though if the library changes its phone system, the program may might to end in its current form because the unused fax line will no longer be available.

“It’s all for fun and it’s all for the magic of being able to call a number and get a recording on the other end,” she said. “It has been so exciting. It took me by surprise that there has been so much engagement on the other end.”