What's Happening @ MCPL
July 26, 2010 Press Release
Prime Time Family Reading Grant Received from Kentucky Humanities Council
Debbie DeArmond, Public Service at the Central City Library, is pleased to announce that the Muhlenberg County Public Libraries system has received a grant from the Kentucky Humanities Council and The Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
This grant is to provide a Prime Time Family Reading Time© program for up to 30 families in Muhlenberg County who have children ages 6 – 10. Muhlenberg County is one of 18 locations in the state of Kentucky given this opportunity. Mrs. DeArmond is happy to make this announcement because the six weekly programs will be held in the Central City Library’s meeting room beginning Monday, September 27, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. “These programs are a wonderful way for a family to experience a quality-time outing together, enjoy stories, books and library services, and have a free meal and win door prizes,” says Mrs. DeArmond. Anniesse Williams, County Library Director, will serve as program coordinator. The program will be made up of a reading, discussion and storytelling series based on illustrated children’s books. It is designed specifically for undeserved families with children ages 6 to 10. At each session, a storyteller will present stories and will model reading aloud. A humanities scholar will serve as the discussion leader. Ms. Williams or other library staff members will introduce families to various library resources and services.
“Miss Sharon” will lead pre-reading activities with younger siblings ages 3 – 5 in the Storytime section on the second floor of the library following the meal to be shared by all. A babysitter will be provided for infants and toddlers if necessary. If we have any families who speak primarily a language other than English, a translator will be provided by the Kentucky Humanities Council.
Our humanities scholar will be Scott Vander Ploeg from the Humanities Department of the Madisonville Community College. He has also served as a member of the Kentucky Humanities Council Board and provided an excellent program on Science Fiction at the Harbin Memorial Library in Greenville several years ago. Our storyteller will be Sandy Harmon of Henderson. She is better known to the library for her past performance in the county as the Chautauqua persona Lily Ledford. Anniesse is pleased to announce that some of her favorite story books will be featured in the programs -- The Talking Eggs, The Giving Tree, Follow the Drinking Gourd, and Abiyoyo.The Libraries will be seeking volunteers – such as Sunday School classes, Homemaker groups, civic clubs and organizations, caterers or restaurants, etc. – who will provide a meal for all the families and presenters one Monday evening in the series. Remember, the program is only six weeks, so there are only six opportunities for your group to participate and receive “cooking accolades”. Two or more groups may wish to share one evening with one providing entrée and a side dish, with another providing additional sides or dessert. The Central City Library has all of the dishware and cutlery needed for the diners. Volunteers will also be solicited to provide serving and clean up duties, performing brief skits, assisting Miss Sharon, and other details. This could be an excellent way for Beta Club and Honor Society students to earn credit for service hours.
PRIME TIME is designed to encourage parents and children to read and discuss humanities topics and aids them in selecting books and becoming active public library users. It is based on a successful series of the same name that began in 1991 at the East Baton Rouge (LA) Parish Library and has since been conducted in 37 states with NEH funding. Over 33,000 individuals have participated in more than 881 PRIME TIME sessions throughout the US. This is year seven for Kentucky to participate.
The Muhlenberg County Libraries will be issuing brochures about the program in the next few weeks and taking applications from families wishing to participate. Families must be pre-registered. The Libraries will appreciate the assistance of teachers, Family Resource Center Coordinators, and other providers of services to children and families in making referrals of families to the program. Family members will be eligible for door prizes each week and one larger final prize at the end of the series. Copies of books are provided by the Kentucky Humanities Council for loan to the families. All family members participating will be issued library cards and may borrow additional books from either library location.
For more information call 338-4760 or 754-4630 or e-mail hmlib@mcplib.org
2010 Summer Reading Program Activities
MCPL Receive Grants for Children's Reading Programs
Muhlenberg County Public Libraries recently learned they have received a renewal of the grant funding of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library for another year. The grant comes from the Felix E. Martin Foundation.
The Imagination Library is a program affiliated with the Dollywood Foundation, which provides children with a free age-appropriate book each month, from birth to age five.
According to the Muhlenberg County Public Libraries, the first book a child will receive is The Little Engine That Could, and the last book given for the child’s fifth birthday, will be Kindergarten Here I Come.
The Martin Foundation also awarded the funding to provide Kindergarten Reads for the first year. This program provides all kindergarten students with a poster to place stickers on. The stickers represent twenty-five titles of books that are appropriate to be read to kindergartners by their families.
The school libraries and both public libraries will have copies of the specific books, which will be available for families to check out. Kindergarten students, who complete all twenty-five books, will be invited to a special program in May, where they will receive a prize book. Teachers can also promote the program in the classroom and receive prize books for the entire classroom.
For more information about these or other exciting programs, visit Central City Library or Harbin Memorial Library, or check out the Imagination Library link on mcplib.org.
Coni Wallace, Teresa Graham, Stephen Norris & Rhonda Neumann
Stephen Norris, from Brisbane, Australia recently visited Coni, Rhonda, and Teresa at the History and Genealogy Annex. Stephen was researching his family that lived in the Old Airdrie area in the 1860 census. He had documentation of his ancestors leaving Scotland in 1849, shipwrecked at Cancun Island, Mexico, rescued by the Mexican ship “Rafaela”, entering the U.S. at the port of New Orleans and living in Muhlenberg County in the 1850’s. If you are interested in your family history, visit your local History Annex.
