Summer Library Initiatives
As we ease into warmer weather and COVID-19 restrictions continue to loosen, I’m happy to be able to give an update on some of the many cool things your Library is up to!
The Library no longer requires patrons to wear masks, in keeping with the Governor’s and Garrett County Health Department’s most recent guidelines, though we strongly encourage any non-vaccinated visitors to do so. We have also ended our quarantine of returned materials and are looking at planning new indoor programs this fall, and we look forward to seeing you all again!
2021’s Summer Reading Challenge will be opening for registration on June 1, and we have a lot of great activities and programs lined up for you this year tied to our theme, “Tails and Tales,” celebrating the fun of the animal kingdom! Take home activities will be available at your local branch each week, and we’ll be hosting several fun and exciting programs outside to take advantage of the beautiful Garrett County summers. As always, kids and teens who complete the challenges in our reading log will win prizes! In the meantime, we also have many great take-home packets and activities for our families to enjoy, thanks to the hard work of our awesome staff.
With the recent focus on at-home learning, your Library has been working to meet the needs of both remote learners and homeschooling parents. We’re proud to announce that we recently received a Libraries Transforming Communities grant from the American Library Association that helps us do just that – we are conducting talks with interested community members to help shape how that funding should be spent to help those groups, and our next talk will be held at the Grantsville Library on Wednesday, June 2 at 6:00 PM. We’d love to see you there!
Our work on digitizing the Garrett County Republican continues, and the collection thus far can be found at https://archive.org/details/gc-republican. With the 150th anniversary of the County taking place next year, anyone interested in researching Garrett County’s history will be able to access that resource more easily than ever, and who knows what we’ll be able to add next…
We’re looking forward to putting on a “drive-in” outdoor showing of “The Tale of Despereaux” on July 3 at Friendsville Park – if you’re looking for something family-friendly to do that weekend, come on by!
We’re proud to announce that fifteen Chromebook laptop computers will be made available for checkout for those that need access to computer equipment. Checkout is free to adults with a Library card in good standing. The Chromebooks have been made available thanks to the continuing support of the Western Maryland Regional Library, whose support we always appreciate!
Parents of young kids are strongly encouraged to sign up for our “1000 Books Before Kindergarten” initiative at any Library branch. Those families that meet this (very achievable!) milestone will be rewarded with completion prizes as well as with a permanent commemoration of their accomplishment at the Library, as well as with the knowledge that they’ve given their kids an amazing start in the reading world!
And as a reminder, if you want to get involved with helping make cool events like this happen, the Friends of the Library are always looking for new members! The Friends meet monthly every second Wednesday at 5:30 at the Main Library – come on by and join the team!
