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Reflection is always such a useful measure of how energy and resources have been spent, and as we prepare to enter our next budget year, the library is pleased to share a positive reflection back to you on a powerful year of serving our community.

Our days, weeks and seasons have been packed full of new adventures in literacy for all ages, innovative programming ideas and new community collaborations that will last for years to come.

Our 2022 Children and Youth Services Summer Reading theme, “Oceans of Possibilities,” brought us incredible community participation with a total program attendance for June and July of 2,377 children and teens.
The Friends of the Library gave out 3,216 “brag tags” as prizes for minutes read, which totaled 156,720.

In our early literacy, juvenile, and young adult collections, we had 10,418 materials circulated from June 1 through July 31, preventing “summer slide” for information retention between school years, and putting literacy in the hands of our children while school libraries were on summer break.

For our year-round Children and Youth Service programming, our Baby Bookworms early literacy program continued to grow, averaging around 50 participants at our weekly Thursday morning story time.

To promote language and learning, we have added a Spanish word for our Wednesday morning group in addition to our rotation of weekly Sign Language learning on Thursdays, and we are even beginning to teach children songs in both languages to supplement our dual language immersion collections.

The library has continued to enhance adult programming throughout the year as well, through many new and developing programs.

Once a month we celebrate local authors and our favorite titles with our growing and thriving Talking Titles community book club, bringing readers of all genres together to share their current reads.

Our Read To Me Too story time for developmentally disabled adults and our private programming for adult care centers is reaching a specialized blend of our patronage who can be heard each week laughing, singing, and enjoying our resources.

Our Tales & Travels Memories program at our local Senior Center incorporates travel books from our collection with reminiscent sharing for a nostalgic connection between the past and the present.

We’ve put a new spin on reading this year by offering Book Journaling workshops at multiple locations where participants can enlist their creativity in combination with their love of reading.

These accomplishments that our library system has achieved to serve our community are in line with our daily goals and global mission statement: providing a wide array of knowledge resources, promoting the joy of reading, encouraging lifelong learning and serving as a center for community interaction.

Thank you for making a difference in the lives of those in our community by supporting Stanly County.

Often, the difference between someone having a resource that they need, or not, can be found through the library.

As we prepare for our next budget year, we look forward to all that is to come in this next phase of service and support in and for Stanly County.

Currently Reading: “Gentle and Lowly” by Dane Ortlund.

Sara Hahn is director of the Stanly County Public Library.