We love to play at the Library and have lots of fun to entertain ourselves and everyone who walks through our doors. Now the library is giving you the opportunity to play at home, in your outfit, in the field, or at the lake on your boat. Wherever you might feel like having a bit of play and fun to enjoy a book. What library do you know that allows you to check out play? Well you sure can check out a bit of Play at Wedsworth.
The State Library was able to secure some funding to provide a unique opportunity for your library and for you. They bought and gave to the library some Play. Well actually they gave us some Playaways.
So this is your Play away from the world around you. What are Playaways you ask? What is a Playaway at the library? Playaways are audiobooks packaged on a single small digital player. They are easy to use and contain a single pre-loaded audiobook. They are a little tiny device that easily fits in your pocket with a preloaded audiobook on it. You plug in the headphones and begin to enjoy literacy and fun!! We even provide the headphones and a battery.
Playaway is always ready. They are made durable for circulation and no internet or Wi-Fi is needed. The universal headphone jack and one AAA battery offers 30- plus hours of listening to pure joy. They would be perfect for that camping trip or the fishin trip and wonders of wonders – how about that huntin trip where there is nooo internet or electricity. Hiking – no problem. Running – no problem. Swimming – well actually there is a problem here.
So an audiobook that doesn’t require anything but you, yourself, and the little tiny book (gadget) with a set of headphones for a little bit of fun. You can take a walk and listen to your heart’s content. This is a pilot project for your library. We have a few kid’s and some adult’s Playaways for a variety of selection. There is a limited selection overall at this time. We will use this as a trial period. If there is a reasonable interest in this new product, we will expand the selections for all ages.
Stop by and inquire as inquiring minds want to know. Give us your thoughts. Check out a Playaway and go Play. Then let us know what you think – whether you like the system or not. We are blind without your input.
Speaking of blind. Our Blind Dates are going well. If you haven’t gone on a Blind Date organized by the Library, you truly don’t know what you are missing. You have missed out on an adventure. It was a bit slow to start, but once it caught on, the blind dates are rollin out the door.
As with Blind Dates not all turn out as expected. Someone did catch the One curve ball we threw in just for an adventure. It wasn’t really a bad experience – just a date that fell a bit flat, but the patron still had a great enjoyable adventure and a good laugh. Other than that, our Blind Dates are fantastic dates. So stop on by – we can set you up with Blind Dates and a Playaway adventure. What more could you want for a Summer of Fun?
Speakin of fun. We will be having a summer reading program held in a bit of a unique format. It will be another take home adventure for the kids. As soon as we get it set up, you will hear more about how it will work. It will only be fun, fun, fun for the whole family if you want. Who knew a library could be so much fun?
Just another reminder. You might miss out on all this fun if you forget that the day after Memorial Day the library will change to Summer hours – Mondays 9-1; 2-6 and then Tuesday through Friday we are open only 9-1.
Don’t forget to remember that this is a day for remembering the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. Memorial Day and its traditions may have ancient roots. “While the first commemorative Memorial Day events weren’t held in the United States until the late 19th century, the practice of honoring those who have fallen in battle dates back thousands of years.
The ancient Greeks and Romans held annual days of remembrance for loved ones (including soldiers) each year, festooning their graves with flowers and holding public festivals and feasts in their honor. In Athens, public funerals for fallen soldiers were held after each battle, with the remains of the dead on display for public mourning before a funeral procession took them to their internment in one of the city’s most prestigious cemeteries. One of the first known public tributes to war dead was in 431 B.C., when the Athenian general and statesman Pericles delivered a funeral oration praising the sacrifice and valor of those killed in the Peloponnesian War—a speech that some have compared in tone to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
In May 1868, General John A. Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Union veterans’ group known as the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a decree that May 30 should become a nationwide day of commemoration for the more than 620,000 soldiers killed in the recently ended Civil War. On Decoration Day, as Logan dubbed it, Americans should lay flowers and decorate the graves of the war dead “whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”
According to legend, Logan chose May 30 because it was a rare day that didn’t fall on the anniversary of a Civil War battle, though some historians believe the date was selected to ensure that flowers across the country would be in full bloom.”
Memorial Day didn’t become a federal holiday until 1971. American’s embraced the notion of “Decoration Day” immediately, but Memorial Day was a rougher road to become accepted.
Wearing a red poppy on Memorial Day began with a World War I poem by John McCrae, “In Flanders Field,” in which he gives voice to the soldiers who had been killed in battle and lay buried beneath the poppy-covered grounds. The bright red flowers began poking through the battle-ravaged land across northern France and Flanders (northern Belgium). The sight of the bright red flowers against the dreary backdrop of war inspired the poem. The poppy remains a symbol of remembrance to this day.
“There are some formal rituals still on the books: The American flag should be hung at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day, and then raised to the top of the staff. And since 2000, when the U.S. Congress passed legislation, all Americans are encouraged to pause for a National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. local time. The federal government has also used the holiday to honor non-veterans—the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day 1922.”
Remember – Playaways, summer reading, changes of hours and fun, fun, fun, fun at your library. And last but not least – remember our fallen who gave their lives so we might have our freedoms.