×

‘Take Your Child’ To Findley Lake Library Today

Library volunteer Jane Jones, left, and library director Melissa Froah greet visitors at the Findley Lake Community Library. Also pictured is Abba the cat. “Take Your Child to the Library” is being held today.

FINDLEY LAKE — If your parents took you to the library as a child, you probably remember a wooden card catalog that housed information on every book on the shelves, and “quiet, please” signs posted throughout the building. There were no computers, no DVD section, and you couldn’t do your homework assignments and then store them on a flash drive.

Libraries have changed immensely, but one thing remains the same — parents are still encouraged to take their children to their local library and to create special memories with them.

“Take Your Child to the Library Day” is scheduled for Friday this year, and the Alexander Findley Community Library in Findley Lake is participating in the annual event.

Findley Lake Library which has always striven to be “kid friendly” will be having story time by Judy Hunt at 10:30 am, refreshments and a scavenger hunt which will take place throughout the day.

“They can come in any time and do the scavenger hunt,” said Library Director Melissa Froah. “We also have toys and puzzles, story time, computer and Wi-Fi, movies and media.”

Visitors to the library immediately note the mural on the wall, the obvious display of children’s books, the children’s table and the rowboat in which children can sit and read their favorite books. “Most of our children come to the library because of the boat,” Froah said with a laugh. And of course, you can’t miss Froah’s kitten, Abba, who has become the library mascot.

Froah said she believes there has been an increase in the number of children using the library since she has become director. “We go through phases,” she said. “I think I’ve seen more traffic of younger families using the library.”

Despite all of the new types of media available to children and adults, Froah said she still believes a book is special. “I think the lure of a book is the adventure and the characters that you meet.”

This is the first time that the library has planned events to celebrate Take Your child to the Library Day. “I would love to have a great turnout to encourage the love of libraries for children and their families,” Froah said.

Take Your child to the Library Day was launched in 2011 by two Connecticut librarians, Nadine Lipman and Caitlin Augusta, with artist Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, as a way to create awareness about the importance of the local library in the life of a child.

Lipman and Augusta say they initiated Take Your child to the Library Day to offer a fun way to foster community awareness of the resources and events that are offered by their community library.

When the day was introduced in 2011, its founders said that it was a unique opportunity for parents to make sure their children could one day close their eyes and conjure memories of special times spent in the library. “These memories are something that not many children are being introduced to since almost everything is on the internet,” Lipman and Augusta noted.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today