Around 30 years ago, Librarians began to purchase a small supply of reading glasses for use in the Library. Staff realized that many of the customers who borrowed glasses could not afford to buy pairs for themselves. As demand grew, the Library looked for a way to allow customers to keep their glasses. The Library found an affordable solution, purchasing discounted pairs through the eyeglass recycling program at the Lions Club. 

Last August, Sharon Marsh, a faculty member at Ivy Tech Community College and employee of the IU School of Optometry, overheard a Library customer request a pair of reading glasses from a Library employee. In the Optometric Technology program at Ivy Tech, Marsh teaches a class where students make glasses with reconditioned frames and optical quality lenses. Marsh reached out to Community Engagement Librarian, Bobby Overman, to see if the Library would be interested in receiving donations of these glasses.  Read more about Reading Glasses Available at the Library

Grandparents are so important in a young child’s life. Whether you see your grandkids every day or once a year, you want to share experiences that form a lasting bond with them. During these chilly days and freezing evenings, the library is the perfect destination for grandparents with their visiting grandchildren to find relief from cabin fever. Children’s Services offers many great features for young ones in our preschool area and in the Learn and Play Space. Children and their grandparents can take a break from selecting books, CDs, DVDs and computer games to explore all of the things to do in the gathering area near the baby board books. You will find comfy seating, a doll house, a train table, activity cubes, a puzzle table and a nest of AWE computers preloaded with exciting learning games.

The Learn and Play Space is a room dedicated to children ages birth through 6 years. Here you will find a Writing Center to practice writing notes and drawing pictures. There are a Kitchen, a Store, and a Puppet stage where you and your grandchildren can engage in pretend play. The center of the room features puzzles and other activities on our theme of the month, ”Winter.” The building area houses an exciting polar scene where children can build a world of igloos and icebergs. You'll even find a place dedicated to babies who are not yet walking.

These areas were designed to support your grandchild’s early literacy development. Studies show that guidance from a caring adult is critical to helping children get the most from these experiences. Come visit the library. Your grandchildren will think you are playing together, but you will know that you are helping to lay the foundation for their future success in reading and in life.

Sonnets, Haiku, Free Verse... Shel Silverstein, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost... There is a poet and style of poetry to suit you. You can sample a wide range of poetry in the juvenile nonfiction collection between 808.81 and 821.92: individual poems, collections of poems, poems to ponder silently to yourself, poems to read aloud. If you want to memorize a special poem, you might peruse a collection like: Poems to Learn by Heart, selected by author Caroline Kennedy, pictured to the left.

You can also create your own poem -- from your imagination or observation. If you look carefully enough, you can find poems all around you -- like on the spines of books at the library -- just waiting to be discovered:

Find other ideas for celebrating National Poetry Month at ReadWriteThink.