Expanded hours allow for more programs
SLIPPERY ROCK — The Slippery Rock Community Library is expanding its hours.
The library at 465 N. Main St. will open from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturdays.
“The community asked for more hours and more programs and we are happy to do it,” Karen Pierce, the library's director, said.
But in the meantime, the extended hours offer children a chance to use the library after school.
“We wanted to be there for children who needed homework help or who don't have Internet,” Pierce said.
Pierce said not everyone in the Slippery Rock area has access to the Internet.
“That can be a pretty big obstacle for children who are writing a research paper,” she said.
Pierce said she hopes to bring Slippery Rock University students to the library to help mentor and assist grade-school students with homework and studying.
“They can work with someone who can say 'It's OK, take a breath, and here are the steps to get this done,'” she said. “Some of the younger kids, it's just getting started on spelling words or reading an additional chapter.”
Pierce said the expanded hours also help the library fit in extra programs.
This month the library has a crocheting class, a career workshop and therapy dogs.
People of all ages will be able to craft their own wands at 4 p.m. Jan. 21, during a Harry Potter-themed event, or they could contemplate serious issues at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 30 with a screening of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”
The movie is the first part of a monthly film series that will touch a range of humanitarian issues, according to Pierce.
“Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” is a film about the Liberian civil war.
Pierce said it will be a special screening because it will be attended by Constance Mulbah, a Slippery Rock University graduate, who escaped to the United States after her mother was murdered in the war.
Mulbah is a former case manager at Acculturation for Justice, Access, and Peace Outreach and worked closely with refugees and immigrant families.
A refugee herself, she said, “My family fled in 2002 and we lived in a United Nations refugee camp in the Ivory Coast for two years before coming to the United States.”
A naturalized U.S. citizen since 2015, Mulbah said, “I keep in touch with what's going on in Liberia. The university asked to come to the movie and give an Q&A after the movie.”
Pierce said future films will discuss other areas, such as profiling activists or discussing the opioid epidemic.
“It's a topic that involves this area,” she said. “The better we know about it, the better we can be involved in the fight against addiction.”
The extended hours will continue through June 1, then revert to summer hours, according to Pierce.
“We just don't have enough money to stay open all those hours in the summertime,” Pierce said. “We're hoping we'll be able to generate enough money so they can open for the additional hours in August for next school year.”
