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Each year, the three Union County libraries offer free themed summer reading programs for children, teens, and even adults.
Registration for these fun and educational programs has begun at The Public Library for Union County, the Herr Memorial Library, and the West End Library.
Summer reading programs are a great way for children and teens to maintain or even to strengthen their reading skills over the summer months, and they offer a chance to relax and enjoy new activities
while they keep learning. Adults benefit from reading too, of course, and they can even win prizes.
The theme for this year’s summer reading programs for children is “Make a Splash @ Your Library.” In addition, The Public Library for Union County offers a teen program called “Make Waves @ Your Library,”
and The Public Library for Union County and the West End Library will conduct adult programs called “Water Your Mind @ Your Library.” Adult readers at Herr Memorial Library have a more casual program.
All three libraries are joining together to hold a free family event with a water theme. ”The Big Splash” will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sat., June 12, at the Mifflinburg Community Park, and will include special presentations from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Forgotten Friends Reptile Sanctuary, and Keith Phelps from Country Farm and Home Gift and Garden Center. A DJ from Tuxes ‘n’ Tunes will be there to keep the music flowing.
Children will be able to romp and play on a big inflatable obstacle course, practice fly casting, get their faces painted, race rubber duckies, toss fish and dolphin rings, and even get wet during other activities such as water spray painting.
A dunking booth will be set up by Mifflinburg Hose Co. No. 1, a balloon artist will take requests, and there will be plenty of food. The Millmont-West Union Area Lion’s Club will offer hot dogs, the youth group from First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mifflinburg will have ice cream, and library staff members and volunteers will make popcorn and cotton candy.
Registration is not needed to attend “The Big Splash.”
For more information, contact the Union County library nearest you: The Public Library for Union County in Lewisburg 523-1172, Herr Memorial Library in Mifflinburg 966-0831, or the West End Library in Laurelton 922-4773.
All three libraries in the Union County Library System will be closed on Mon., May 31, for Memorial Day and will reopen on Tues., June 1, when registration for summer reading programs begins. Each library has an outdoor book drop for the return of books and magazines only, and library card holders who have registered may use the “My Account” feature on the libraries’ websites www.publibuc.org, www.herrlibrary.org, and www.westendlibrary.org to renew eligible materials.
In addition, The Public Library for Union County, 255 Reitz Blvd. in Lewisburg, will be closed on Sat., May 29, and Sun., May 30. Herr Memorial Library, 500 Market Street in Mifflinburg, also will be closed on Sat., May 29.
For more information, call The Public Library for Union County at 523-1172, Herr Memorial Library at 966-0831, and the West End Library at 922-4773.
Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) granted Best Practices in Early Learning Awards to The Public Library for Union County for its “Down on the Farm” program on May 29, 2009, and to the Union County Library System (UCLS) for its participation in the “National Night Out” Lewisburg police event that was held on Aug. 4, 2009.
The Public Library for Union County’s “Down on the Farm” program was selected as a best practice in the seventh annual PaLA’s Best Practices Awards for Programming and Services to Children under the Age of Six, Their Families and Caregivers in the category of “Programs for Children Between Four and Six Years of Age” from among libraries across the state.
The Union County Library System’s participation in National Night Out was selected for recognition in the category of “Programs that Showcase Community Collaborations.” The UCLS is one of PaLA’s first-time best practices award-winners.
This year, 21 awards were presented to 17 libraries at the Hilton in Harrisburg on Wed., April 14, at the Pennsylvania Libraries: Learning Starts Here! Early Learning Forum and Best Practices Luncheon. This statewide educational symposium was attended by several hundred librarians, advocates and policymakers.
The Best Practices Award celebrates public library programs that are especially creative, innovative, and effective in serving young children, their families and caregivers. They were presented by illustrator and author, Will and Jane Hillenbrand, whose book, “What a Treasure,” is this year’s selection for the “One Book, Every Young Child” initiative.
Mary Harrison, head of the Children’s Services department at The Public Library for Union County, developed the “Down on the Farm” program as a way to show preschoolers how food begins its journey to their tables.
As former 4-H kids, Harrison and Mende Croll, Children’s Services Assistant at The Public Library for Union County, went to work bringing a “farm” to the library. They especially wanted to attract families unable to attend the regularly-scheduled story time programs.
“We had a great turnout,” Harrison said. “We read books and introduced activities that showed the shapes of different vegetables and how they grow. We made a barn out of cardboard boxes and put puppets in it. And we made a sawhorse ‘cow’ for the children to milk.”
To add to the fun, the women led the crowd in a simple square dance.
Harrison is pleased that the Best Practices Award provides an opportunity to share this lively approach to early literacy with other libraries. She said, “We had so much fun, and everything we did can be replicated easily. The kids loved milking the cow, and it can be adapted for any space. The cardboard barn was such a hit that we put it in the library’s play area – with puppets – for the kids to enjoy for months.”
National Night Out – America’s Night Out Against Crime – takes place every August in more than 15,000 communities nationwide. The effort is sponsored by citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from more than 15,000 communities in all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canada and military bases worldwide. In 2009, more than 36 million people participated in National Night Out.
When the Union County United Way asked member agencies to participate in Lewisburg’s National Night Out, Harrison worked to make sure that the Union County Library System had a booth. “It’s a wonderful opportunity – an informal summer evening in the park, with lots of other things going on,” Harrison said. “We gave out information about all of our libraries and our reading programs.”
Activities were offered based on Read Across the Valley’s “One Book” selection, John Grogan’s book “Marley and Me,” and included a dog puppet craft. Library staff also gave away bags of popcorn and copies of “If You Were a Penguin,” the 2009 One Book, Every Young Child selection.
“National Night Out offers tremendous community exposure for libraries in the summer – the time of year when new families are moving into the area, just before school starts,” Harrison said. “It’s a great way for people to get to know us when we’re in a relaxed atmosphere, instead of standing behind the circulation desk.”
For more information about The Pennsylvania Library Association, visit http://www.palibraries.org/
This year all three Union County public libraries — The Public Library for Union County in Lewisburg, Herr Memorial Library in Mifflinburg, and West End Library in Laurelton — are joining together to hold a free family event to open their 2010 summer reading programs “Make a Splash @ Your Library.”
“The Big Splash” will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sat., June 12, at the Mifflinburg Community Park, and will include special presentations from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Forgotten Friends Reptile Sanctuary, and Keith Phelps from Country Farm and Home Gift and Garden Center.
A DJ from Tuxes ‘n’ Tunes will be there to keep the music flowing, and children will be able to romp and play on a big inflatable obstacle course, practice fly casting, get their faces painted, race rubber duckies, toss fish and dolphin rings, and even get wet during other activities such as water spray painting.
A dunking booth will be set up by Mifflinburg Hose Co. No. 1, a balloon artist will take requests, and there will be plenty of food. The Millmont-West Union Area Lion’s Club will offer hot dogs, the youth group from First Lutheran Church will offer ice cream, and library staff members and volunteers will make popcorn and cotton candy.
For more information, contact the Union County library nearest you: The Public Library for Union County in Lewisburg 523-1172, Herr Memorial Library in Mifflinburg 966-0831, and the West End Library in Laurelton 922-4773.
Public libraries must continually reevaluate and make changes as needed to acquire and maintain a wide range of resources and to provide residents of all ages with efficient service.
To that end, The Public Library for Union County in Lewisburg, Herr Memorial Library in Mifflinburg, and West End Library in Laurelton not only have completely redone their individual websites but also have relocated to a larger Union County Library System site: www.unioncountylibrarysystem.com.
Former system administrator Tracy Carey, UCLS Public Relations Assistant Carol High, and other library staff members worked with Mike Matukaitis, co-owner of Summit Design Studio, and with Conor Quinlan, co-owner of Summit Design Studio and owner of MePush, Inc., a technology solutions provider, to redesign and develop the new comprehensive website.
In addition to being an easily accessible Internet resource, the Union County Library System website incorporates information for all three libraries and performs multiple functions for each. Although the look is very different from the libraries’ previous websites, the biggest difference is in functionality, both for library administration and staff as well as for library users, who now have easier and better access to information and services.
The Internet not only has changed how people do business, but also how they communicate with each other. These rapid changes in technology have greatly affected the way public libraries fulfill their missions, too.
As some of the community’s most dependable and important institutions, the three member libraries of the federated Union County Library System have offered generations of residents a world of opportunity. From traditional resources such as books and maps to outreach programs and electronic research tools like online databases, the libraries enable people to find reliable information and to enrich their lives.