Hello Stanley community! It’s good to be back again and writing the library director report for all of you. Our board meets every second Tuesday of the month and you’ll find the news items I report on each month here in this little column.

The library has continued to apply for grants to develop our outreach initiatives and offer more resources to our community. We have recently received a $3000 grant through ALA and ARSL as part of their Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries. This grant will help us fund our efforts to bridge the digital divide in our area through mobile WiFi hotspots and iPads that patrons can check out. For more information, read the article on page two to the left.

We have also expanded our home delivery program and rural school outreach, and there is still room for more participants! If you are unable to make it to the library or know someone else who is in this situation, please be aware that our patrons can have library materials delivered directly to their doors. We are excited by how this program has taken off and are happy we can serve our patrons through this outreach.

If you are following our Facebook page you may have seen a familiar face recently; our children’s librarian Peggy has started doing online story-time this month! Join us at https://www.facebook.com/ stanleypubliclibrary/ for the live story-times or to watch past story-time videos. Story-time remains one of our programs that was most enjoyed by our youngest patrons before the pandemic and it’s great to be able to share these books with our littlest library members and their parents again.

It’s hard to believe, but our winter reading challenge I mentioned in December’s report is almost halfway over already. The program, Books Like Us, is in collaboration with Beanstack and sponsored by Simon and Schuster. The challenge includes prizes, activities, and reading goals, and runs until January 31st. Find it at stanleylibrary.beanstack.org.

We are also looking to start a puzzle exchange this year as part of our Makerspace program. If you have any puzzles you would like to donate, please bring them to the library. Once begun, the program will allow community members to take a puzzle home to complete and either bring it back when they are done or donate another puzzle.

We are open by appointment for patrons to use the computers every Monday and Friday from 10AM-6PM, and we offer curbside pickup every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday from 10AM6PM. You can schedule an appointment before coming to the library or just knock on the front door.

Thank you for all the holiday well wishes and your continued support. Happy New Year!