Congratulations Samantha Hunter in her new full-time position in the Children’s Department of the Mebane Public Library! We are so excited to have her passion and creativity benefit the library system in a full-time role as opposed to her previous part-time status.

How long have you worked with the County?
3 years as of May 2022.

Where are you from originally?
I’ve lived in NC for 19 years, living here longer than anywhere else, so I claim it as my home state.

Do you have a hobby?
Like most library staffers in programming, I have lots of creative hobbies! I love crochet, collage, baking, cooking, reading (obviously), hiking, practicing yoga, taking care of my houseplants, paint by numbers… the list goes on. If it’s crafty, I’ve probably tried it at some point.  

When you were little, what was your dream job?
Being a librarian… although for Kindergarten career day I think I dressed up as a police officer–so basically being a local government employee was in the cards. I grew up attending public library programming and that was influential for me in a lot of ways. The Mebane library was actually my main childhood library, and I am very lucky to work with colleagues whose programs I once attended! It’s a very cool full-circle moment for me. I recently earned my Masters in Library and Information Science so I’m excited to be in “official” librarian territory. 7 year old me would be very impressed.

What was the best part of your week/weekend?
This last weekend I met quite interesting people. Staff of NASA and government defense agencies were in my proximity and they shared exciting stories with me all while talking about what kinds of books they like to read. Mentioning you work in libraries naturally invites conversation about people’s reading interests, and I have been able to connect with people I never would have thought I had things in common with over the topic of books.   

If your life was a song, what would the title be?
Oops!… I forgot what you said

What’s your favorite TV Show?
I have a hard time selecting definitive favorites. I just started season 2 of Ted Lasso. I’m late-ish to the party but I’m loving this joyful show! And it doesn’t hurt that I’m picking up some sports culture along the way, a lacking area of trivia for me.

What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Skin care.

New Entertaining and Educational Offering for Young Readers

Alamance County Public Libraries now offers VOX™ Books to all its patrons

Burlington, NC – July 28, 2022 – Parents and other caregivers are always looking for ways to make learning fun and engaging for the children in their care. Thanks to a new offering from ACPL, they won’t need to look far!

VOX™ Books are the world’s first all-in-one read-along: readers can listen to the book while they read through it. VOX Books don’t require CDs, tapes, batteries, devices, or internet access; just press a button and you’re listening and reading! VOX Books can also be used with or without headphones, making them perfect for both solo and group enjoyment.

Alamance County residents can borrow these engaging VOX Books for free. All they need is a library card!

“Library patrons love the fact that the audio is integrated with the text. Kids don’t have a problem keeping up with their place in the story, and having the audio hand-in-hand with the text is important for early readers,” Deana Cunningham, Associate Director of Operations, said. “With more stringent requirements for reading proficiency in early grades, these books will be a welcome tool for parents and teachers to help kids boost their reading skills in a fun and engaging way.”

VOX Books have won awards from parents’ groups, including the 2021 National Parenting Product Award in their Best Books for Kids and Families category, and a 2021 Mom’s Choice Award. A recent review in School Library Journal noted that “Narrators are lively and will keep readers engaged. Educators can use VOX Books to help early or struggling readers learn to pronounce words, hold a book, and turn pages, and practice tracking text from left to right. This is a valuable tool not only for libraries but also for teachers to use in the classroom and for parents to use at home.”

We welcome Morgan O’Rourke to the Children’s Department at the Graham Public Library. We are excited to have her join our team and can’t wait to see what she’ll do!

How long have you worked with the County?
1 month.

Where are you from originally?
New York.

What are you most passionate about?
Meeting people and trying new experiences.

Do you have a hobby?
Cooking and reading!

When you were little, what was your dream job?
A CIA agent. I still feel like I am when I get a good reference question. 😉

What was the best part of your week/weekend?
Visiting my family at the beach!

What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Haggis.

What’s your favorite TV Show?
Any procedural crime shows.

What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Games and cheese.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned recently?
There are crocodiles in North Carolina. Eek!

We welcome Makkedah Diggs as the new Children’s Service Manager at the Graham Public Library. We are excited to have her join our team and can’t wait to see what she’ll do!

How long have you worked with the County?
2 Months

Where are you from originally?
New Jersey

What are you most passionate about?
Musical Theater

Do you have a hobby?
I sing 😊

When you were little, what was your dream job?
Broadway

What was the best part of your week/weekend?
The best part of my week this week was going to see puppies with my daughter!

If your life was a song, what would the title be?
Just keep going!

Are you involved in any community projects or organizations?
Not currently, but I’d like to start a non-profit.

What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Tiny Octopus

What’s your favorite TV Show?
Once Upon a Time

What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Food

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned recently?
I learned that having an Alamance county library card gives you access to learning over 100 languages 😊

Are you looking for excitement and adventure this summer? Do you want to go beyond the ordinary and explore what may be outside the ordinary? If so, you can join Alamance County Public Libraries as we Read Beyond the Beaten Path this summer!

Alamance County Public Libraries’ Summer Reading Program begins June 13 and runs through August 13^th. Our summer offerings consist of two parts—library programs and a reading incentive program.

The programming staff of ACPL have all been working hard planning fun programs for all ages to attend. In addition to our recurring programs like stoytime and our book clubs, attendees can explore the legends of Sasquatch at May Memorial, make cool crafts every week at the Graham library, celebrate the great outdoors during Mebane’s Campout Craft program, and go on a county wide scavenger organized by North Park library, among many others! We are excited to have the opportunity to partner with other organizations to offer programs such as outdoor hikes with Burlington Recreation and Parks, all about bugs with Alamance County 4-H, river animals and plants with Stormwater Smart, backyard animals with the North Carolina Aquarium, and a chance to learn about animal conversation and meet some animal friends with Wild Tales NC! For our full calendar with dates and times, please visit our Calendar of Events or our Summer Reading page.  All of our summer programs are free, but many require advance registration.

You can also get rewarded for reading this summer! We are challenging each member of our community to read 1,000 minutes this summer. Any sort of reading counts—audiobooks, eBooks, comics, newspapers, or being read to! Rewards will be given out for every 90 minutes that are read, and consist of free books, small prizes, and raffle tickets for our end of summer raffle basket drawings!  You can sign up for our reading incentive program by visiting alamancelibraries.readsquared.com or by downloading the READSquared app.

We hope that you will join in the fun at your library and read beyond the beaten path this summer!

Melody Peters has joined the Children’s department at the May Memorial Library. We are excited to have her join the team, although the Outreach department and community were surely sad to see to leave her part-time role providing WiFi, books, and programs on the Mobile Café route!

How long have you worked with the County?
Since September

Where are you from originally?
Durham, NC

What are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about helping people, especially children, connect with the information that helps them meet their needs or passions

Do you have a hobby?
Reading and sewing

When you were little, what was your dream job?
Theatrical Actress. I got to fulfill that dream for 27 years with Rags To Riches theatre for young audiences

What was the best part of your week/weekend?
Walking my dogs and spending time with family watching some excellent college basketball. It is hard to escape March Madness.

If your life was a song, what would the title be?
Don’t hate me because I’m Happy and a Morning Person!”

Are you involved in any community projects or organizations?
The booster club and PTO of my youngest daughter’s high school and I am on the Racial Equity Team for ACPL, and in the Burlington Reads book club.

What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Limburger cheese

What’s your favorite TV Show?
Doc Martin

What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Traveling/experiences

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned recently?
I have learned a lot about brain development of children up to age 5 and how to encourage and scaffold early learning in small, quality moments throughout the day in many different ways, and to show caregivers how to do that as well.

As the world steps out from under the shadow of a pandemic, we are beginning to wonder what comes next?  In the hopes of no new variants, turbulent times in the world, and continued concerns about gas, inflation, etc. we are beginning to ask what needs our community has and what the library can do to assist those needs.

Over the past five years, we had set some lofty goals for the library and our community and we hope that through thick and thin we were able to accomplish a large percentage of them even if we were thrown for a loop for a portion of that time.  Our current strategic plan helped us identify needs in the community surrounding issues of literacy and education, access to technology, quality materials, a knowledgeable, competent staff, and creating a space that is welcoming for all. 

We were successfully able to start the Mobile Café service to expand access to the internet in 2018, which came in especially handy during the pandemic, began our Mobile Library service in 2021, provide wi-fi hotspots for the community to check-out, and adapted our services and resources constantly throughout the pandemic to continue to provide materials, access, and resources both electronically and in-person. 

Now we’re asking once again, what our community needs and interest are and seek your feedback to plan for the next two to three years of COVID recovery and success.  Our community survey is available in English and Spanish and while it does ask some library specific questions, feel free to use the ‘please feel free to elaborate’ areas with any suggestions you hope the library can help with!

On January 3, we launched our 2022 Winter Reading program. This one is a bit different from past years. It’s a board game inspired by the classic Chutes and Ladders game. You will roll the provided die, move that number of spaces, and complete the challenge listed. It might be a reading related challenge such as “read a book with a blue cover” or maybe you will be unlucky and have to move back a few spaces! Once you make your way to finish, you can bring your completed game back to the library and exchange it for a prize which is an awesome library staff designed mug.

The program will run through February 28. Completed game boards will need to be returned to one of our locations by March 1 to receive a prize. You can print off a board here, or you can pick one up at any of our libraries.

The goal with all of our reading programs is to encourage you to read more, but also to venture out of your reading comfort zone. We hope that you enjoy exploring new books, authors, and formats!

Please keep in touch while you’re playing the game and tag us in updates (like posing with the final prize) on social media!