Elyria Library offers programs

Children, adults benefit

The Elyria Public Library System offers a bevy of extracurricular activities for children and adults alike.

In fact, the system’s current newsletter for September to December 2018 lists no less than 78 different events and programs for children, adults, teens, tweens and entire families.

One program, which has seen a resurgence in interest due to the recent currents of popular culture is the Teen Dungeons & Dragons group.

According to Adam Matthews, marketing and communications director for the library system, the group got its start at least five years ago based on mutual interests.

“It’s mainly a group of kids that’ll come in twice a month at least, and they’ll stop by the West River Branch,(1194 West River Road North), at 6 p.m. and they’ll play Dungeons & Dragons for about an hour and a half,” he said.

Matthew said the group was started by a librarian who was interested in the tabletop pen and paper roleplaying game, or RPG.

“He started up the club at the Keystone Branch and then it moved over to the West River Branch because he left and we switched people around,” he said. “Dungeons & Dragons is a popular game now for teenagers and kids alike, especially with ‘Stranger Things.’”

“Stranger Things” is a popular Netflix original series which takes place in the 1980s and stars a cast of young D&D players. A third season is reportedly in production.

Matthews said another popular offering among the system’s patrons is the various escape rooms they host.

While these events don’t have a regular schedule, Matthews said they will be making their return to the library system’s rotation of

events come spring 2019.

He said the Harry Potter escape room they held in October of this year was wildly popular.

“There were over 800 people interested in attending on Facebook,” he said with a laugh. “We can’t fit 800 people.”

The escape rooms are commonly held in the library’s West River Branch and their Central Branch.

“An escape room is where you’re given a prompt or a theme and you have to solve different puzzles to get out of a locked room in the allotted time,” Matthews explained. “For Harry Potter, you had 15 minutes to defeat Lord Voldemort.

“You either get out in the allotted time, or you don’t.”

As well as the Harry Potter escape room, Matthews said the library has also hosted ones based on space ships and a mad scientist.

Railroads 101 is a program that is very dear to Matthews’ heart as he actually leads the monthly presentation of rail facts and fanatics.

He said the program got its start when he was invited to give a talk on the impact of the railroads on Lorain County by the Amherst Historical Society.

“I just sort of started a keynote series on railroads,” he said.

Previously, Matthews

said he has covered such topics as: the railroads of Lorain County, specific railroads like the Nickle Plate, the evolution of the steam locomotive and the history of Thomas the Tank Engine.

The most recent one to this writing was the Nov. 14 presentation on the history of toy trains.

Like the rest of the programs mentioned here, Railroads 101 is free to the public.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Patrons packed the house to hear about trains during Railroads 101 at Elyria Public Library.