Read On: Back to School

Now that I’m well out of school I often think about my school years and regret that I didn’t take my classes or my education more seriously. I wouldn’t go back for a truck-load of money, but if I had it all to do over again, I’d pay more attention in my History classes, try to understand the math concepts for longer than what was needed for the test, and I’d probably choose to learn Spanish instead of French. 

The good news for me and anyone with similar feelings is that the public library has resources to help life-long learners brush up on the subjects we missed or have forgotten since our school days. (These resources can also help learners currently in school, of course.)

Online, you’ll find the EBSCO Host, Learning Express, and Mango resources are our most student-friendly. Even if the student hasn’t been in a classroom in decades. 

EBSCO Host is a resource full of full-text articles from a variety of magazines, newspapers, and journals on just about any subject you might want to research. It will even help with citations!

Learning Express is primarily a test-preparation resource, but it also has tutorials for most subjects from about 4th grade through high school. If you want to remember how to do Geometry, this is the resource for you. 

Mango is our language-learning resource. It features more than 70 courses on languages like Hebrew, Cherokee, Spanish, and English for non-native speakers. The lessons are quick, thorough, and easy to follow. Mango also has an app for language-learning on the go! 

Of course, we also have our collection of materials in the building and resources available from just about any library in the world through our Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service. If there’s something you want to learn or know more about, your library staff can hook you up. 

 

Read On! Summer Reading Wrap Up

We just wrapped up our most successful Summer Reading Program on record! I don’t have the numbers for every event we hosted, but when I compare the numbers I have to the same numbers from last year, we had a phenomenal Summer! 

Our Summer Reading Program has two parts: the reading part where kids & teens track the time they read and adults mark squares off our Bingo sheet and the class/event part where people can attend an event at the library. Comparing sign-ups for the reading part and attendance for the event part, we have seen a significant increase in participation this year. Thank you! 

We had 368 people register for and receive the various trackers for the reading part of Summer Reading. Exactly half of those registered are kids ages 5 – 11 who earned a free book for every five hours they read. Overall, our total registration increased by almost 12% over the registration from last year’s program. 

This year, we saw almost 20% more people attend our Summer Reading events than we had last year. In all, 1,212 people made it to the library for an adult, teen, or kid event! And that’s not counting the number of people who attend our Library Festival! (I don’t have those numbers yet.)

I’m so proud of how hard the Library staff worked to make this summer a success. I love watching their planning unfold and I love hearing the stories of the people who attend. This summer seemed to bring a lot of fun and excitement to everyone who joined us. Next year’s slogan for Summer Reading is “Imagine Your Story,” which will surely be as much fun as this year!

We take a break from programming in August, but join us in September for Storytime Classes every Wednesday at 10:30 AM; Teen Night the first Thursdays at 6:30 PM; and Adult Classes and Workshops the second Thursdays at 6:30 PM.

Read On! End of Summer Reading

Our Summer Reading Program is coming to a close this week. I did better on my Adult Summer Reading Bingo sheet this year than I did last year. I just missed a complete blackout, but I’m proud of the Bingos I earned. I will sheepishly admit that I didn’t attend enough Adult Summer Reading events to cross off both of those squares.

Overall, I had a great time working my way through the Bingo sheet and my kids enjoyed putting stickers on their sheets for every 30 minutes they read or listened to a book. One of the nice outcomes from the whole family participating in our Summer Reading Program was that my kids and I encouraged each other to accomplish the goals the program gave us.

You still have time to get your entries into our grand prize drawings and kids and teens still have time to claim their free books. Everything is due by 5:00 PM on Thursday, August 1st, right before our much anticipated Library Festival.

If you can make it to the library on Thursday, you won’t regret it. Our Library Festival will be an excellent event for the whole family from 6 – 8 PM. We’ll have food trucks, games, activities, prizes, and more! We’re even partnering with other City departments so everyone can explore our various emergency vehicles and the big trucks and equipment that keep our city running.

We’re also officially launching our new logo at the Library Festival, so be sure to look for the temporary tattoos and stickers featuring the new design. We’re beyond excited to finally start using this logo!

Don’t miss our Summer Reading Events this week!

Monday: Advanced DNA – Finding Your Origins II at 6:30 PM (for adults)

Tuesday: Beads! At 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM (for ages 5-11)

Wednesday: Storytime Class at 10:30 AM (for ages 0-4)

Thursday: Library Festival! 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (for all ages!)