May Outreach and Summertime Fun

May was a busy month in Outreach activities, as I got ready to hunker down for my busy summer months inside the library. Jen Eilers and I kicked off May with a tech help visit down the street at Ecumenical Towers. With about six residents in attendance, we answered many questions about Digital Johnson County and how to manage your library account online. I also promoted the Senior Tech Zone which takes place at ICPL's Digital Media Lab every Thursday 10:30AM to 12:30PM.

To those who like to donate books and other lightly used media to ICPL: your donations definitely go to good use – whether here in the library or outside of it at one of our Outreach libraries!  In May I dropped off books at several of the Outreach locations I serve – the lounge at Prelude Behavioral Services and their Transitional Housing Apartments, the Crisis Center, as well as the Four Oaks Youth Shelter.  I was very happy to give Four Oaks a collection of Harry Potter and other fun family DVDs in excellent shape. Many foreign language titles in French, Spanish, and various Asian languages have been coming in, too. I usually donate these to the Crisis Center which has many ELL (English Language Learning) clients.

At the end of May, residents of Walden Place retirement community came to visit us for a tour! Terri Byers talked about check-in and collection inspection volunteer opportunities, and Patty McCarthy spoke about volunteering at The Book End. One woman even left the Book End with a stack of books she purchased for her granddaughter! Another of the Walden Place residents was a lifelong School Librarian at Hoover, and she specifically wanted to give the Children’s Room a visit. (She was very impressed, by the way. She gathered each of the Children's desk handouts to look at later.) Several Walden Place tour participants who are new to Iowa City chose to sign up for library cards while here.

May was such a well-rounded month that I now feel content to turn my attention to the Summer Reading Program and the brand new Summer Bookmobile schedule. I look forward to covering several Bookmobile shifts over the Summer to get out of downtown for a spell. With so much going on here at the library, we certainly have something for everyone!