Read On! Summer Reading Program

Our Summer Reading Program officially begins this week! It looks a lot different than any Summer Reading we’ve had before, but we’re still excited about it. 

Typically, our Summer Reading Program has two parts: the reading challenge and in-person classes and events. This year, our Summer Reading Program has one and a half parts: the reading challenge and a few online classes and events (keep an eye on our Facebook page for those). 

The reading challenge is for all ages (babies to adults) and will take the form of an activity or BINGO sheet tailored to each age group. You can find them in The Paper, here on our website, and in person at the Library. These activities are meant to be fun and encourage reading all summer long.

Reading during the summer is especially important for school-age children. Kids who read during the summer, when they’re out of school, retain more of the information they learned the previous school year than kids who don’t. The information loss is called the “Summer Slide” and it puts kids who don’t read during the summer at risk of falling behind. 

While the core of our Summer Reading Program motivation centers on children and preventing the Summer Slide, we also know that the best way to teach children to enjoy reading is for the adults in their lives to model that behavior. So, you grown-ups, don’t forget to read and do your activity sheets too!  

We take reading very seriously at the Library, which means we want everyone to enjoy what they’re reading. We will happily help you find materials in any genre and in any format available with zero judgement. 

This year, you don’t have to register for Summer Reading, but if you do, you’ll be entered into our grand prize drawing at the end of July. You can register here.

Curbside pickup is still available for anyone who needs it.

Read On! National Library Week

I asked my family for ideas for this week’s article. My son suggested I write about Fortnite (a multi-player video game). My daughter told me to write, “The Library is the best. I love the people who go there and the people who work there. I love the Library.” (All true statements.) And my spouse asked me, “What would you write about if this were a normal week?” I looked at past articles and realized it’s National Library Week! 

National Library Week is the time every April when we pause to highlight how amazing libraries are. This week, we’ll celebrate a little differently than we have in the past, but this year’s celebration will also highlight one of the ways libraries remain vital to communities: Libraries adapt and change according to the needs of our communities.  

We’ve had to change our service model because of the pandemic and move from mostly face-to-face services, classes, events, etc. to digital services. This change has been both exciting and difficult. We’re excited to see what technology can do to enhance what we’ve always done – like storytime on a dairy farm – but we are also very aware that we’re missing service to the parts of our community without internet access. We are anxious for the time when it’s safe to get back in the building and continue our in person services. 

We’ve also had to change the ways in which we collaborate as a staff. With no more than 1 or 2 people in the building at a time, we’re all trying to serve the community and fulfill our mission as a library from our homes. Like our community, our staff has varying degrees of internet connectivity and technological knowledge, so we’re learning to adapt. 

As always, we miss you and are ready to help you if you need us. Call us during our normal hours or send us messages via email or Facebook.

Read On! Career Affirmation

Working in libraries for almost 15 years, I’ve had my fair share of career-affirming experiences on the job. Libraries touch people’s lives in ways many other service industries don’t or can’t. Reading choices and information needs are inherently personal, so it’s easy to build bonds with the people who come through our doors. 

My most recent affirming moment was at our March Books & Brews Club meeting. I sat at the table with 15 other people, men and women, ranging in age from mid-thirties to mid-seventies with a homemade casserole, cookies, and other snacks inspired by the book we read (“Red White and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston) and realized that somehow our informal book club has become a community. 

We function almost like an extended family as we gather around food and beverages (both adult and not) to discuss books and movies and Life. The discussion of March’s book (a fun novel about a romance between the president’s son, Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry of Wales) was open and honest, but mostly filled with fun “Would You Rather” styled questions. We challenged each other, we teased, and we laughed. Boy, did we laugh!

It’s moments like that when I realize how powerful libraries are and how important building community is that I can breathe easy knowing I’m in the right profession. Getting to be part of a community like ours makes the rough parts of librarianship – navigating the excitement and uncertainty of staffing changes, arming people against fake news, grappling with building projects that far exceed the budget, etc. – worth the stress and exhaustion. 

If you want to check out our Books & Brews Club, we meet the first Saturday of the month from 1 – 3 pm at the Fat Toad Brewing Company. We’ll discuss “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann in April.

Read On! Tulsa Race Riot/Massacre Exhibit

I remember briefly learning about the Greenwood District and the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot/Massacre in high school. The lessons made an impact, but it wasn’t until the Race Riot/Massacre was mentioned in the HBO show “The Watchmen” that I realized how little I know about that area of Tulsa, its history, and the larger repercussions for our state as a whole. 

When the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum reached out to your Pryor Library (and many other libraries in NE Oklahoma) asking if we would be interested in a permanent loan of their “Spirit of Greenwood/1921 Tulsa Race Massacre” exhibit at no cost, we quickly accepted. The exhibit, which is on display now in our lobby, is quite moving. 

Learning about events like the 1921 Race Riot/Massacre isn’t comfortable, but it is important. Honestly, that’s true for much of our country’s history. Past events are complicated and difficult to wrap our heads around, especially as we delve into the details. This exhibit doesn’t try to give us an exhaustive lesson on Greenwood or the Race Riot/Massacre, but it does offer a glimpse into what it was like to be there. 

With historical photographs from the Greenwood District in its heyday and after its destruction during the riot/massacre (nothing graphic), the exhibit makes the time and place very tangible. It reports some of the findings of the 2001 Tulsa Race Riot Commission Report and discusses the change in terms from “riot” to “massacre.” 

After viewing the panels (or before), you should check out the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum’s website (tulsahistory.org) and read the 2001 Tulsa Race Riot Commission’s report through the Oklahoma Historical Society’s website (okhistory.org/research/forms/freport.pdf). 

It’s worth the discomfort to learn about this important part of Oklahoma’s history.