Youth Services Provides Variety of Programs

The Friends of the Olympia Timberland Library is a strong supporter of the Olympia Library’s youth services programs. During the December meeting Carrie Dye, Youth
Services Coordinator, and her staff described some of their activities. In the period January through November, 2006, they handled 18,018 reference transactions, presented 201 programs which were attended by 7,429 people, presented 46 outreach programs attended by 5,436 people and recruited 49 teen volunteers who provided over 400 hours of service.

On-going programs are the Pre-school, Toddler and Book Babies story times throughout the year and Reading Explorers and Teen Book Discussion groups for older children and teens. Special programs have included Good Reads for a Frosty Day, Family Read-Aloud Month and the Summer Reading Program, Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales. Meet Curious George was a popular program.

Their activities are not limited to the library setting. Outreach to schools included family literacy nights, book talks, database training, and a puppet show at 11 elementary schools. They regularly present programs to low-income children at Evergreen Villages. They received an American Library Association/ Oprah grant to discuss books with at risk teens; provided library information at the Ethnic Celebration, Sand in the City, and Healthy Kids programs in Olympia.

So if you wonder where the money goes that Friends raises through book sales take a look at the Youth Services Program. The Friends Board recently approved a budget request of $2,890 to provide support to their many activities.

Treasures In Your Email

If you enjoy reading book reviews in the Sunday paper but haven't yet discovered the TRL Great Reads E-Newsletters, you are in for a treat. This new program has more than twenty free e-newsletters to choose from. Your choices will periodically arrive in your email box with all kinds of fresh information. You can even reserve the books in the library catalog from your emails. Some of the choices are: Business, Best Sellers (New York Times), Children?s Picture Books, Fiction Hardcover Best Sellers, New Fiction, Mystery, Science and Nature, and Teen Scene. Sign up for as many as you like by going to www.trlib.org and clicking on Great Reads E-Newsletters.