The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Big Sandy Public Library will be celebrating National Library Week April 24th through the 28th. "National Library Week is an annual celebration highlighting the valuable role libraries, librarians, and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities. In the mid-1950s, research showed that Americans were spending less on books and more on radios, televisions and musical instruments," according to the National Library Association, which puts on the event every year.

The theme for this year's event is "There's More to the Story," which is meant to emphasize the larger role that libraries play in communities. Darlene Cline, the librarian in Big Sandy, explained that the theme is assigned nationally, and this year's is meant "to bring awareness of all the things that a library does besides loaning books. We have all kinds of stuff besides books. We have programs for kids, audiobooks, movies and this is just a short list of the things that libraries can offer."

All of the various services and resources provided by the Big Sandy Library are highlighted in the various special activities being put on throughout the National Library Week celebration. Throughout the week, there will be a bookmark coloring contest for teenage patrons. In addition, there will be a drawing for a signed copy of the Craig Lancaster Novel, And It Will Be A Beautiful Life. To enter the drawing, all you have to do is visit the library sometime during the week, fill out a ticket, and enter it into the drawing.

In addition to the bookmark art contest and the book drawing, there will also be themes for each day of the week and different activities. Monday is "Banned and Challenged Books Day," Tuesday is "Library Workers Day," Wednesday is "Outreach Day," and Thursday is "Take Action." Darlene explained that "Those are what every library does" as a part of National Library Week. "I'll write something on Facebook about those kinds of things to help bring awareness to it."

In terms of special events and activities, the library will be offering its regular slate of activities, with some additional games and fun programming. "We have games on Monday after school." This will include cornhole and limbo, among others."Robotics is Tuesday after school. Story Time will happen on Wednesday at 10:30. The 'Play to Learn' is at 10:30 for the young kids to come and play. They play with Legos or the sensory bins that the library has for little kids, Pre-K aged." For the weekly 'Art After School' activity, "We're going to be making buttons. Kids can make their own buttons. Friday, we have a sewing class."

Throughout our conversation, Darlene emphasized that folks should "Come out to the library, there's always something new happening." For regular library patrons, the truth of this statement is readily apparent. This is why the Big Sandy Public Library has evolved into a sort of community center of locals to gather, visit, take classes, hang out, and (of course) read. You just have to stop by in the middle of the day to catch a groups of moms visiting over coffee while their young kids play, read, or participate in the various activities. After school, Monday through Thursday, around 30 kids congregate to get books or just socialize. Every month new classes and groups turn up on the schedule, with a particular emphasis on art classes and other hands on activities.

Darlene also pointed out that with the last day of school fast approaching, the Summer Reading Program would be kicking off in a couple of short months. The Summer Reading Program is always popular with local kids, teenagers, and their parents. Stay tuned for more details.