Read On! Screen time

My kids are getting an embarrassing amount of screen time while my spouse and I are working from home. To be fair, my husband and I are getting more screen time by proxy. Our daughter (age 5), husband, and I have some recommendations based on this screen time (our son declined to participate).

Our daughter loves “The Willoughbys” on Netflix, based on the book by Lois Lowry (available on Overdrive). The Willoughby children have parents who love each other so much that there is no love left for them. The kids realize that they will be better off without their parents, so they send them on a very dangerous vacation. Adventures ensue as the children, their nanny, an orphaned baby, and a candy-maker learn what family truly is.

My daughter loves this movie because the children are “so silly and a little bit creepy.” Her favorite part is “when the children send their parents away and when the girl sings.”

“The Last Kids on Earth” on Netflix, based on the book series by Max Brallier (available in the building and on Overdrive), follows four teens as they navigate a new, scary world full of monsters and zombies. It bends several genres – adventure, horror, fantasy – while it focuses on how the four kids learn to work together as a team. 

I love it because the teens work together and mature enough to reevaluate their assumptions about whether the monsters they encounter are truly a threat. Some good, subtle lessons here.  

My husband recommends “Extraction” on Netflix, based on the graphic novel “Ciudad” by Ande Parks and the Russo brothers. The film is a violent, action-packed story of a mercenary hired to rescue a boy kidnapped by a drug lord with a vendetta against the boy’s father. 

We haven’t explored the books for these yet, but they’re on our list for what we read next.

Read On! How to reopen

Your library staff is busy brainstorming and planning what our services will look like when we reopen. Our priority is keeping everyone – patrons and staff – safe because, while we’ve managed to flatten the curve, the virus is still out there.

Please be patient with us while we figure things out. When we reopen everyone will have some adjustments to make. For sure, we will continue to encourage social distancing. This means staff won’t be able to provide as much close-contact service, especially in our computer lab and with our copier. We’ll also likely have fewer computers available for patron use, so we’ll have to enforce time limits and reservations. We will continue to quarantine returned materials, so we may have some increased wait times.

Our biggest decision right now is about our Summer Reading Program. We will have a reading challenge similar to previous years, but we may not be able to offer the classes and events in the library that we’ve always done. As much as we hate it, this year, it may not be safe.

We will continue to work closely with City Hall and the Mayes County Health Department as we make these decisions. I can definitely say, we’re excited to see everyone again!

Now for some good news: we have started curbside pickup of Library materials!

Contact us (via phone, email, Facebook messenger, carrier pigeon, etc.) to place your order. Once everything is gathered and checked out to you, you can pick your materials up from the table we’ve set up in front of the main parking lot entrance.

Pickup day & times are:
Mondays 3 – 8 pm
Wednesdays 12 – 4 pm
Fridays 12 – 4 pm

We’re asking that orders be finalized two weekdays before pickup. We’ll keep an eye on the pickup table and wipe it down between patrons to make sure it’s clean and safe for everyone.

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.