Jenkintown Library promotes basic literacy as well as confidence and self-assurance with our “I Am Me” Self-Portrait Storytime. Attendees listen to a reading of “I Am Me” by Susan Verde, and then celebrate themselves by making fun self-portraits.

For the entire month of June, the Haverford Township Free Library designed a number of its programs to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month. In addition to the library’s regular book groups, HTFL had its Tween Book Group read Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and a specially created Adult Book group read Real Queer America by Samantha Allen. Additionally, the staff laid out colored stickies for patrons to write supportive and positive reinforcing messages as part of a Rainbow Wall of Inspiration for the whole community to see. And last, the library held a special Parenting Panel where parents and caregivers would come and discuss ways to explore healthy gender exploration for children.

As part of our programs and the health literacy initiative, members of the Self-Care Club over a period of 12 months read 1 chapter per month from the book The Art of Extreme Self-Care by Cheryl Richardson. When meeting every month, members discuss how what they read has impacted their life, taking care of themselves, and how they have applied and made the author’s wisdom part of their daily routines.

The Knowledge Quest was part of a larger series of “Scholar Sessions” put on by the First Year Seminar program. The Scholar Sessions are designed to help first year students learn more about campus resources and to help them feel more welcome in a variety of spaces on campus. The Knowledge Quest consisted of students visiting the Library, Writing Center, and one of the tutoring centers on campus

Four-week series to improve community members’ understanding of our local Cumberland water resources, raise awareness about our personal relationships to these resources, and heighten our sense of personal agency to ensure future generations enjoy healthy stream ecosystems and clean water resources locally and globally. Sessions included Local History & Watersheds; Life in and around Streams
;Stormwater: Problems and Solutions; and Recreation & Conservation.

Weekly educational series designed to help attendees and their loved ones learn more about Dementia. Sessions included “What is Dementia,” “What is Memory,” and “The Lobes of the Brain – Caregiver Education.”

In “Summers with Shakespeare” attendees, of all literary levels, discuss two plays by Shakespeare and analyze why they, and Shakespeare in general, remain relevant in today’s world. Bosler has been running the “Summers with Shakespeare” program since 2019. Jordan Windholz, PhD, a local professor at Shippensburg University, conducts and plans the program in coordination with the Library. Attendees received a copy of each play, which was theirs to keep. This is the only expense of the program and has varied depending the plays and number of attendees. A guidebook or course companion is produced each year as well by Windholz and a student researcher from Shippensburg University. This guidebook is placed in Bosler’s collection, making it available for all members of the community whether they were able to participate in the course or not.

Learn about a new, non-surgical treatment for spinal stenosis. This treatment improves walking, standing, and general mobility with an 85% success rate.Grove Chiropractic is 1 of 4 practices certified to provide this treatment in Western PA.

We held a STEAM Hour during National STEM Week. The program was for children ages 3-10 and was designated as a drop-in event. Children visited our STEAM stations, that included science experiments, an art project, a dinosaur scavenger hunt, playing with magnets and BeeBot robots. The two science experiments were Oobleck (cornstarch and water) and volcanoes (baking soda and vinegar. The art project was an art app on IPads that the library owned. The robots and magnets were items the library already owned. For the dinosaur scavenger hunt, we printed pictures of dinosaurs and dinosaur facts and posted them throughout the children’s library. Each child was given a sheet listing all the dinosaurs and their picture and would search through the library for the corresponding dinosaur fact sheet. Costs involved were for purchasing items for the science experiments. We had 20 attendees for this program.

This program for high school students ties in nicely for the month of November if your library celebrates DINOVEMBER! This hands-on program brings teens into the kitchen to learn about kitchen science, practice artistic skills and more. We had a blast creating Rice Krispie Volcanoes, Dinosaur Pudding Cups, and Dinosaur Eggs.