Social Library, Volume 89

Jennifer Peterson /

Image courtesy Santa Monica Public Library on Facebook

This summer continues, with a wealth of events, programs, and partnerships surfacing on library social media pages. In this edition of our Social Library series we're featuring libraries on beaches and in national parks, as well as a library truly at the Hub of it's community. And we're excited to share posts about new library funding and a small but mighty donation from a 3rd grader! Thank you to all these libraries for their great work, and to the communities who support them. If you'd like to see your library featured in a Social Library edition, please let us know via social@webjunction.org or find us on Facebook.

  • Santa Monica Public Library in California hosted another Library at the Beach, their seaside pop-up library. "Visitors can join in on a variety of fun, family friendly activities, sign out books from our curated collection of beach reads, enjoy beach games like bocce and ladder toss, or kick back, relax and read in the shade of our Surfside Lounge. Each pop-up will also feature a unique, limited edition SMPL at the Beach giveaway." We loved the set of photos they shared!
  • We learned about the fantastic BOOKS Program, that the Fenton Free Library is part of. New York State Senator, Fred Akshar announced last week, $150,000 for library funding and a new focus for the program: "a bottom-up approach to giving more funding and control to our 24 local community libraries to help provide books and programs to the families of Senate District 52. Who knows each community's needs better than their local librarians?"
  • Image courtesy Public Libraries Singapore on Facebook
  • News from Singapore is all about the grand re-opening of the Tampines Regional Library. The library is part of the new Our Tampines Hub, which, in addition to the library, houses a 5,000-seat stadium, 6 swimming pools, a bowling alley, a giant playground, a performing arts theatre, a community garden (which supplies the library's new culinary studio), a community plaza, a mall, a medical clinic, and 24-hour service from 12 government agencies. WOW! To orient new visitors, the library created a library quest game, using Google Forms. We wanted to share this fabulous photo (at right) of volunteers in the library's new Volunteers' Corner.
  • Eckhart Public Library in Indiana shared a heart-warming post with special thanks to "3rd grade student Ella Nixon for her generous donation of $642.04 to the Eckhart Public Library Renovation Fund at the Community Foundation of DeKalb County. Ella raised these funds by selling cookies, toys, and other items to help the library. We are so grateful to Ella, pictured with the Eckhart Public Library Board of Trustees and her family, for her efforts to help the library and her community!"
  • San Francisco Public Library in California shared a recent KAWL story about their partnership with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area of the National Park Service. This summer's programs have included: park trailheads about the different National Parks inside the library branches, wooden Reading Ranger badges awarded to participants who read for twenty hours, Park Ranger storytime, and free shuttles from library branches to National Parks.