March is National Reading Month; libraries encourage you to pick up a book
Here's a fun fact; the first oranges weren't orange, but green. And Oranges actually stay green in places like Vietnam and Thailand.
Here's another fact: March is National Reading Month.
According to Beth Steiner,director of the Auglaize County Public District Library System, the event was developed to encourage reading.
"It is just something… to encourage reading in any format or any avenue," Steiner said.
While it wasn't developed by libraries, the month is recognized by them and has been happening at least as long as she's been working there, 13 years.
But because of the pandemic, Auglaize libraries don't have many options for celebrating the month as they're still following state restrictions.
"We are a governmental agency, and we're going to follow [Gov. Dewine's rules] to the T because [that] is where our funding comes from," Steiner said.
In a non-pandemic year, the library would host themed story times for children and read at schools.
In the meantime, they've adapted as best they can.
"We have several of our librarians going and doing virtual reads at classrooms," Kristine Spyker, library services manger for the Auglaize County Library System, said.
The Cridersville librarian even held a virtual story time Tuesday at the elementary school.
Currently there are no special activities planned for the month due to space restriction, but Steiner did say they have take-home activities not specific to National Reading Month.
But they do want to encourage people to read. Steiner said the library is sharing resources provided by other organizations wanting to promote the month.
That includes sharing a promotion from Shirley's Popcorn in Lima and Bluffton, who are incentivizing participation in the event by offering free popcorn to anyone who tracks six hours of reading.
There are no age restrictions for participation. Reading logs can be found online through the Shirley's Popcorn Facebook page. The Auglaize County Public District Library System has reading logs, and they have linked the reading form to their Facebook page. Records must be turned in to Shirley's Popcorn by March 31.
In the meantime, Steiner, Spyker and the Auglaize library system wait.
"We've done everything that we can to welcome everyone back to the library," Steiner said.
She hopes by the summer the library will get to hold special events.
"As soon as they give us the goahead we'll definitely start doing more," she said. "We're going to adapt.