GRINNELL, IA (March 24) – Marilyn Kennett, director of the Drake Community Library, said that the library will resume browsing by appointment on April 5th. If all goes well, she hopes that the library will fully open on May 1st, observing summer hours.
Kennett spoke at the weekly Grinnell Rotary Club meeting on Tues., March 23.
Among the library’s new programs will be Book Connection that will pair at least two people who want to discuss a book but do not want to participate in a book discussion.
Bookin’ It, a book discussion group that met virtually during the pandemic, will continue to meet the 2nd Thurs. every other month.
She anticipates that the library will continue to host the Bucket Course. Kennett says the staff will have to come up with a new adult program to replace the Seed program likely not to be resumed by Grinnell Regional Medical Center.
A new online service that she highly recommends is Weiss Financial, a financial literacy tool. The pandemic has been challenging for Kennett and her staff but it taught them flexibility. “It has been interesting. It freed us up to think of new ways to reach out to new people,” she said. While normal circulation decreased by 60 percent during the pandemic, electronic downloading was up 40 percent. Likewise, the usage of the genealogy service Ancestry Library Edition increased.
Read2, a virtual summer reading program for young people, was highly successful. Other services they offered were the use of the computers by appt., extending wireless capability just outside of the library, and making available five hotspots that people could borrow overnight.
The library auctioned off donated quilts that raised $2000 for the Powesheik Housing Authority. Another service was to help Central Iowa Community Services count how many homeless there are in the county. She said that a tabulation came up with about 20-25 people.
Finally, during the pandemic the library served as venue for distribution of Farm-to-Table produce, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, and Powesheik County Extension Babysitter program.
Effie Hall, Editor
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