National Library Week is in April!

National Library Week is in April! Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library is celebrating from Monday, April 13th through Friday April 17th and patrons are invited to come partake of our Patron Appreciation Coffee Bar. We’ll have an assortment of teas, hot chocolate, and coffee available. We will also have our much loved Free Fines that week! Remember, Free Fines only applies to items you currently have checked out that are overdue – if you bring them back between Monday, April 13th and Friday, April 17th we’ll eliminate any fines you owe for those items!

Come and take advantage of Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library’s partnership with Community Action, Inc. of Clarion! Representatives will be present on the first Friday of every month from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. and the third Monday of every month from 10:00 a.m. -2:00 p.m. to help individuals apply for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) and to distribute donated food.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about the services provided, you may contact Community Action, Inc. at (814) 226-4785 or toll free at 1-800-997-7661.

Don’t forget about Story Time on Thursday afternoons at 1 p.m.! Each week Nancy Shanafelt, our Children’s Director, leads a fun-filled hour of stories and crafts! While the programs are usually geared towards kids ages 3 to 5, feel free to bring others along! The more the merrier! This Thursday, April 9th come have fun at our Easter Egg Hunt!

Also in April we have our Adult Book Discussion Group scheduled. The selection for this month is The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. A brief synopsis: “Georgia Walker is a single mom and successful New York City entrepreneur whose yarn shop, Walker and Daughter, has become something of a mecca for knitters of all skill levels and dispositions. What begins as a disorganized Friday night gathering of her most loyal customers turns into a regular meeting of minds and hearts, as each woman discovers there's much more to be found at Walker and Daughter than tips on knitting technique.” (http://www.fridaynightknittingclub.com) Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library has copies of this novel for a small donation of $11. The book discussion group will meet up on Monday, April 20th at 7 p.m. right here at the Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library and will be lead by Board of Trustees Member, Karen Jordan. Any questions just call Rachel at 473-3800!

April is also bringing a new automation system for the five libraries in Clarion County! Thanks to a special grant received last year by the County, the libraries are able to acquire this new system to replace our current systems, which are no longer supported by the company who created it (that tells you how old they are!). All the libraries, their staff and volunteers have been working long hours to get the libraries collections up to par to be ready to make this huge change, and we’re hoping our patrons will bare with us while we make the transition. Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library will be closed Monday, April 27th through Wednesday, April 29th while the staff go through training to learn the new system. We will be back open on Thursday, April 30th until 5 p.m., and the same schedule applies for Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd. Our XBox play time will be cancelled for Thursday of that week.

All of the libraries in the county will have crazy schedules that week as all staff and some volunteers get a crash course of how to run this new system! Any inconveniences this causes for patrons I’m sure will be well worth it once we are up and running!