What's Going On at the Library: Week of July 23

Summer reading is winding down at the library this week. Kids are enjoying their last few weeks of summer freedom and parents are counting down till school starts!

August is a slow programming month at the  — a time to catch our breath and gear up for the school year for the Youth Services Department and a time for the Adult Services Department to get ready for the return of our snowbirds. Come in and check out a book or movie to enjoy during the lazy times.

The Youth Services Department provides four AWE Early Literacy stations.   These self-contained computers are packed full of fun and educational games for all ages. Last week, we received an upgrade on our stations, adding extra games and more for older kids. To quote AWE, “The educational titles in each curriculum area are carefully chosen for age appropriateness, educational value, replay interest, ease of use, entertainment value, graphics and sound, and discovery and growth.”  I personally have seen kids from 18 months to 12 years old on these stations, enjoying learning through games, and not even knowing it is educational! Some of the new titles on our upgraded machines are: Bailey’s Book House, JumpStart Phonics, Graph Club 2.0, Typing Tournament, MusiCan 1-5, World Explorer and something called World of Goo that deals with simple physics and problem solving, but sounds wildly fun! Children can get on the Early Literacy stations for 20 minutes at a time, but can sign up over and over. 

Have you been on the new city website at www.dunedingov.com?  It is beautiful and easy to navigate!  Click on Government to get to the Library
pages.  Go to the Children’s page and you will see a new service we have called TumbleBook — a wonderful e-book collection for free on your library website!  

Take a few minutes to explore all that TumbleBook offers.  Your child can have a picture book story time, a begin-to-read time, puzzles and games, learn languages, and even learn new things with non-fiction story time. The great thing about this database is that you can use it anytime and anywhere you might need a story time. And we all need a story time every once in a while!

Our story times and are taking a break until school starts on Aug. 20. Fall programming will start in September and our preschool and school visits will recommence. 

We had over 300 children participate in our summer reading club.  That means all of those children are less likely to have lost some of what they learned last year — otherwise known as the “summer slide.”  Thanks goes
out to you, parents, for realizing that bringing your kids in to the library
during the summer and encouraging the summer reading club goals enhances your child’s learning abilities! Miss Katherine will be contacting the local school principals to let them know who completed our summer reading program and giving those kids recognition.

Come in to the Dunedin Public Library for a cool read this
week!

Olivia Wilson
Head of Youth Services
Dunedin Public Library