My daughter has spent most of her holiday break reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She is a Harry Potter fan and asked me the other day when the library would be holding its next Harry Potter party. I told her unfortunately she would have to wait until October.
The annual Harry Potter party held in October has become a favorite at the library. For one day, the entire library is turned into the magical world of Harry Potter with games and activities for Harry Potter fans of all ages. The purpose of the party is to celebrate one of the most popular characters in children’s literature and encourage people to read or reread the books.
The Harry Potter party is an example of a library program. Library programs enhance or complement the library’s collection to help fulfil the library’s mission of improving the quality of life in our communities. Looking back over the year, some of the library’s popular programs from 2015, in addition to the Harry Potter party, include the Ghost Walks, the Metaphysical Fair, the Medieval Fair, the Mary Poppins party, and the STEM story times.
A tremendous amount of work goes into planning and executing library programs. It all begins months in advance with the library programming committee. The committee is made up of library staff from all across the library system. They meet each month to discuss and plan the programs for the next four months. In this meeting details are worked out and assignments are made for each program. Most programs are administered by the staff at the location where the program will be held. For bigger programs, such as the summer and winter reading programs, tasks are divided among staff in all library facilities. How the program will be marketed is also discussed during the library program committee meeting.
The library markets programs in the newspaper, on the radio, on Facebook, on the library’s website, the library’s email newsletter and at the library with posters, flyers and most recently a program guide that covers all the library’s programs for the next five months. You can pick up a program guide from any of the library’s locations or from the library’s website.
Looking at the guide, the library has several exciting programs planned for the next couple of months. STEM story times will continue on select Fridays January through May. A Dr. Seuss party is planned to celebrate Dr. Seuss day on March 2. National Library Week will be held the second week of April. The library has several activities and events planned this week to celebrate libraries and their role in the community. A special visit is planned in May with a character from the children’s classic “Where the Wild Things Are.” Also on the schedule, a series of metaphysical classes, mini workshops and an author visit from young adult author Roland Smith.
Roland Smith is a zoologist from Portland, Ore., who has been writing novels and nonfiction books about animals since the 1990s.
One of his most popular series is I.Q. This is a series of mystery books centered around a 13-year old boy named Quest who gets involved with the U.S. Secret Service. Smith will be in our area to visit with schools and speak at the library. It will be an event you will not want to miss.
If you haven’t attended a program at the library recently, I invite you to take a look at our programming guide and pick out a program or two to attend.
You won’t be disappointed.
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