It’s with mixed feelings that we mark this year’s National Library Week. The slogan above originally was to read “find your place at the library.” American Library Association shifted the message once the pandemic closed libraries, including ours, to the public. So, in that spirit, we offer you some fun, stay-at-home library-related activities.
How to organize your home library like a librarian!
Make an online catalog of your books: LibraryCat, brought to you by LibraryThing, is free for personal libraries. And you can use it to check out books to your friends!
Organize those books in your home, a series by Library Journal’s Keira Parrott
Sign up for the weekly email newsletter Your Home Librarian, a special project brought to you by Library Journal and School Library Journal. This newsletter provides readers of all ages book recommendations and multigenerational reading activities.
Our National Library Week message for you:
We hope you are all keeping well, Tamworth!
Please know that library staff and Trustees are working on a plan for restarting in-person services in a way that ensures safety of the public and library staff, and has clear and vetted protocols in place.
Throughout the pandemic, we have been offering ask-a-librarian reference service by phone and email, downloadable materials, and online programs. (Read about this week’s Storytime.) We have been sharing important local and state updates for the public related to the pandemic, gathering and publishing this information in the Tamworth Daily Bulletin. The Bulletin is shared on the Tamworth Exchange, our website, and with neighbors by you, our community.
We have come up with unique ways to get books out to readers right now, including our Friends of Cook Memorial Library’s “Books for Kids” project, and a “keep our collection fresh” opportunity to help us order a book for the library that gets sent to you first. We have been sharing information with K.A. Brett School teachers and students about the library’s online resources and downloadable materials. We also have come up with ways to connect the students and our community with a Student Art Online Exhibit and an Earth Day game created in partnership with the Tamworth Recycling Project.
We have ordered hardware to improve the reach of the library’s wifi connection in front and in back of the library (to be installed at the end of this week). We are putting together a list of where to find accessible wifi in Tamworth to share with the schools and everyone. Please let us know if you have a location to add to this list.
So, during this National Library Week, we recognize that our library as a public institution is embedded in our community in ways other than our beautiful building in Tamworth Village. But, even so, we miss seeing you–our community, our patrons–and are looking forward to the day when we can welcome you back inside our library. What a celebration that will be!