Delco kicks off Journey Across Delco passport visiting library program
HAVERFORD » At the Haverford Township Free Library Tuesday, Delaware County Councilman Dave White got a little help reading Eric Litwin’s “Pete the Cat” as a gaggle of preschoolers recited parts about the feline loving his shoes, capturing the excitement that can be had at the local library.
“What we want you to do is we want you to go through the summer and we want all of our young people ... in elementary school and preschool, we want you guys to read all summer so we’re going to make it fun for you to read,” White told them.
How that will happen is through the Library Quest’s Journey Across Delco in which preschool and elementary-aged children will be given passport books. Each of the 26 county libraries is listed in the book and the students are encouraged to visit them all from June 19 through July 28.
When they do, they will get the page linked to that library stamped. Students who collect five or more stamps in that sixweek period will be invited to a picnic at Rose Tree Park from 1-3 p.m. on Aug. 3.
Those who collect the most will also have a chance to visit county council.
“We’re trying to make it fun,” White said. “We’re promoting literacy for our elementary students. Even though it’s summertime, even though school’s out, we want them to continue reading throughout the summer.”
So, students and their families are being encouraged to visit libraries throughout the county.
“Could you imagine children finally leaving this local library to go to five other libraries?” Rachelle Nocito, acting director of the Haverford Township Free Library, asked.
She said it would give county residents great exposure to the thriving centers libraries are.
“I can honestly say I don’t think many children understand that there are libraries in other neighborhoods so now they’ll get a chance to go visit other neighborhoods to other neighboring libraries.”
Her library, for example, has programs for tots like age group story times to events for adults from author and book discussions to sewing and quilting clubs to music nights to chair yoga with Allyson Mungan. “We have a lot going on,” Nocito said. At Haverford alone, there were 179,000 visits to the library last year and 908 summer reading program participants.
In addition, either in the winter or next spring, the library plans to embark on an $8.2 million renovation to be compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards to get new electrical and plumbing systems and to reallocate space for maximum efficiency and flexibility. The library is housed in a former bank built in the 1800s and was renovated twice in 1930 and in 1970.
“A lot of our space we can’t change, we can’t move it around, so we need to reallocate space,” Nocito said, adding that areas such as the children’s center and the first floor will have more ability to adjust to a variety of community needs.
“To be up with the times, we have change too,” Nocito said. “It’s time.”
And, in the meantime, county children and their families and loved ones are invited to visit as many of the 26 libraries as they can through July 28 and pick up and read as many books as they’d like.
“We always take our kids to the mall,” Nocito said, “but we don’t think about taking our kids to a neighboring library.” to