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!