Emmet O’Neal Public Library continues to serve kids despite COVID-19 closure

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing, the Emmet O’Neal Public Library in Crestline is closed to the public at press time.

The library was also forced to postpone its annual Summer Reading Carnival and Thomas Hughes Brinkley Memorial Fun Run, previously scheduled for May 17.

“We are hoping to have a Summer Reading Community Carnival of some sort in August, but only time will tell,” said Gloria Repolesk, the head of Children’s Services at EOLIB.

However, the children’s librarians at EOLIB are adapting to current shelter-in-place guide-lines and using the internet to deliver entertaining storytimes, special programs and incentive reading challenges during the pandemic.

The summer reading program “will look different this year...and plans are still developing based on the trajectory of the coronavirus outbreak, but you can count on the reading and rewards system to carry on,” said Rachel Owens of the Children’s Department in a news release.

“We are excited to think up new ways to develop a fun program around the constraints that are in place at the time,” Repolesk said.

The children’s department has been challenging kids to read-from-home with an incentive program called Round Up Reading. Kids who read 30 minutes a day for five days a week are entered into gift card prize drawings.

Families can also complete bonus challenges, like baking together and sending in a photo.

Summer Reading will work much as it has in the past few years with a reading tracker app called Beanstack and prizes.

There is other online programming, as well.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, storytellers Rachael Struthers and Courtney Jacobs invite preschool children to join them for songs, puppets and stories on video.

Sofa Stories on Tuesday and Thursday and Stories with Ms. Courtney on Wednesday are each no more than 15 minutes long and both are available on the library’s Facebook page and website.

For elementary students, book talk diva Morgan Higgins has turned her popular monthly Hot Off the Press book club into a video.

Librarians are working on craft tutorials for kids and a virtual field trip to Ruffner Mountain.

They have other web-based programming in the works, as well, including online versions of existing programs.

In addition to creating virtual events and new programming, the librarians have also been working to curate other high-quality children’s programs already available on the internet, including tours, storytimes and homeschooling videos. This other content is available on Facebook, Instagram and the library website.

The summer reading program can have great benefits for kids, librarians say.

“The goal for summer reading is to provide educational, fun and literacy-based activities throughout the summer to get kids in the library and hopefully reading over the summer,” Repolesk said.

Repolesk said the library is here to help make a difference in the lives of the children and teens who participate in the summer reading program.

“We want every child to know and understand that reading is fun,” she said. “If you find the right book for the right child it makes all the difference in the world, and we at Emmet O’Neal are here to help with that.”

That commitment continues despite the effects of the pandemic.

“Until we have more information, the library building will be closed, but library services will never stop,” Repolesk said.

“We are working hard every day to develop programs through our website to allow us to remain an integral part of the community,” she said.

Video tutorials for using the library’s online resources are available on the website at eolib.org.

Patrons can connect with a librarian or ask questions by emailing help@eolib.org.

The website is also the place for children to sign up for the summer reading program or for patrons to get up-to-date information about the library’s status.