Check It Out
Spring just began Wednesday, but Butler County's libraries are already planning summer activities
But, said Lori Hinderliter, executive director of the Butler Public Library, 218 N McKean St., first on the agenda is observing the annual library week.
Hinderliter said, “The next big thing will be National Library Week April 7-13. Everybody will probably be doing something.”
National Library Week, sponsored by the American Library Association, is an annual celebration of the contributions of the nation's libraries and library workers and promotes library use and support.
The theme for 2019 National Library Week is “Libraries=Strong Communities.”
At the Butler library, Hinderliter said library week events will include an already-filled women's memoir workshop April 10, an April 11 “Taking Better Photos” seminar and a “Tweens Make Pop Sockets” event and free popcorn April 12 and an April 13 story time linked to You Tube star Baby Shark.
“There will be surprises and giveaways throughout the week,” Hinderliter said.
Caitlyn Boland, director at the Mars Public Library, 107 Grand Ave., said, “In addition to the normal events at the library, such as story time and programming for people of all ages, I will be appearing out in the community, popping up in unexpected places in our service area to offer library cards, information about what we do and answer reference questions and technology questions that people have.”
During National Library Week, Boland said, “I'm going to be a pop-up librarian.”
In addition, Boland said, children will be able to create artwork throughout the week that will hang in the library's updated children's room.
Michelle Lesniak, director of the South Butler Community Library, 240 W. Main St., Saxonburg, said, “We'll have a couple of events that week. We'll have a 'Week of the Young Child' activities that whole week.”
Part of those activities, Lesniak said, will be the state's One Book: Every Young Child program, highlighting the importance of early literacy development in preschoolers and the significance of reading early and often to children.
The book chosen for 3- to 5-year-olds is “Not A Box” by Antoinette Portis.
“We'll be doing a special story time April 11 and special story time activities related to that book,” said Lesniak.
The Slippery Rock Public Library, 465 N. Main St., will also be featuring “Not a Box” during National Library Week, said its director, Karen Pierce.
“During that week, we read that book. The library has purchased the book at a very discounted price to give to our readers,” said Pierce.
“'Not A Box' is a very, very cute book about a bunny rabbit that has a very big, very empty box that he decorates using his imagination,” said Pierce.
“He decorates it in red crayon and when people ask him he says “It's not a box.' We are going to have a story time for that April 9.”
Pierce said an upcoming event at the library April 27 isn't cute but could be vital to participants.
The Red Cross is offering a CPR class from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. that day that will grant successful participants their 2-year certification.
“Any coaches that need to be recertified should sign up, that's the important thing,” Pierce said.
Butler's Hinderliter added toddler story time begins at 10:30 a.m. April 16 and runs through May 23.
Through a grant from the American Association of University Women, the library will have a “Grand Slam Science” event at 6 p.m. April 18.
Hinderliter said she was especially looking forward to April 23's “Stop Motion Film Fest.”
“A lot of girls have been creating stop-motion films and this is like their Oscars,” she said.“There will be a quarterly tabletop game day on April 27,” she said. “We will have some people come in and run the role-playing games.”Lesniak at the Saxonburg library said, “We are going to be doing an indoor book sale from March 25 to 30. All the proceeds go to the library.”“We are doing 'Remake Learning Day' May 16 where you make your own circuit, that coincides with the first 'Mingle on Main Street.'”Hinderliter at the Butler Library said, “The week of May 5th will be Mindfulness Week. We will have the Zen Tangle which is a creative activity where you draw mazes.”“Then we will have the summer reading program whose theme this year is space and the universe,” she said.“Our summer kickoff will be June 20th which will coincide with the second 'Mingle on Main,'” said Lesniak.Speaking of mingling, there can finally be some at North Trails Library, 1553 W. Sunbury Road, West Sunbury, now that a 24-foot-by-foot community room has been added to the building, said North Trails Library Director Kathy Kline.Kline said, “It was just finished two weeks ago. It was built specifically for programming.“We are planning to have an open house in June to show it off to the community,” she said.Kline added, “It really is a community investment. We can have all kinds of programming. Before we had to do it outside and events hinged on nice weather only.”Even without the newly finished community room, Kline said North Trails had more room than the other library she oversees, Chicora.“Chicora is a branch of the North Trails Library,” she said. “We have 350 square feet in the Chicora Medical Center, 160 Medical Center Road,” she said.“We don't have a lot of room but we are connected to the other nine libraries in the county,” said Kline. “We can get patrons books from other libraries. We have a courier service once a week.”The Chicora Community Library has been in existence since 2012, after the bookmobile was discontinued in the Petroleum Valley area.Kline said North Trails would again run its annual scrap metal drive on April 27.Butler's Hinderliter said. “Our summer reading program starts June 12. On June 22, from 1 to 3 p.m., we will have an old-fashioned ice cream social to mark the 125th anniversary of the start of the library.”The library has added some features that would have seemed unimaginable when it got its start in 1894.Hinderliter said, “One thing we have is wireless printing. If you need to print something from your phone or tablet, we can offer that.”“The library offers one-on-one appointments to write resumes or create an email address,” she said. “We can help with technologic gadgets. We offer group classes but also one- on-one sessions with our reference staff members.”The Butler Library also has a service that allows patrons to download audio and e-books into an e-book device.
