Nancy Klingener with Monroe County Libraries joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday to talk about what’s going on in the libraries.
The libraries offer what’s called Book Club in a Bag.
Klingener said, “Some of the problem with the book club is getting the book to everybody. The library might only have a couple copies, etc. So we provide the books, we also provide some discussion questions, reader’s guide to help you get going. And the loan is for six weeks, so there’s plenty of time, and it’s free. If you go to our website, you can see pictures of them, the adult collection, they’re in these big canvas tote bags. For the kids’ books, we have these fun clear plastic bags so you can actually see the titles and everything, and they’re in each of our branches, and you can request any of them to be sent to the branch closest to you. So if you go to the website, click on that link, you can actually check out all the titles that are in our whole collection.”
There’s also Kanopy and Libby for videos and ebooks. There are also classes of all kinds.
Klingener said, “You should see how popular the mahjong games are getting at our different branches. We did recently start a beginner’s Mahjong in Key West on Mondays. So if anybody wants to to learn how, that’s a good opportunity.”
There’s also a Friday concert series.
Klingener said, “On the first Friday of the month, there’s a free concert. And we have had performers throughout our branches, I think most of those have wound up, although Key Largo still has some shows still left to go. We still have writers coming to Key West. Sometimes the artists and residents at the Studios of Key West, some of them are writers, and we often have them appear at the library. So keep an eye on our calendar or on our social media accounts to find out when those are happening.”
The Florida Keys History Center is also part of the Monroe County Public Library online.
Klingener said, “If you click on Florida Keys History Center from our home page, and you’ll see a button that says our collection, we’ve had a photo site up for almost 20 years, and it’s insanely popular. I’m not kidding, like 50 million views. But we have such important documents and other things in our archive, and so now we have those online as well. If you click on the button, this is our collection, you’ll see we have some incredible documents up there, everything from Key West High School yearbooks, and we recently acquired this photo album that is from the Naval Air Station during World War I, 1917 to 1918 with amazing photos. If you are a plane buff, you will want to check that out, because it’s just like early aviation here in Key West. Incredible artifact that is now available online for anybody to look at anytime you want. If you look at Island Chronicles, Dr Corey Malcom has written an incredible series of original features with stories from Keys history that really haven’t been told before. It’s not the same old, same old that you’ll hear on every tour or read in every pamphlet. So if you want to research Keys history on your own, check out those links, because there’s a lot of resources in other places, like the Library of Congress, that we want to share with other people. Follow your local branch on social media, or just follow our calendar. You can put an event from our calendar onto your electronic calendar. You can set up an email reminder. You can share it with a friend. It’s a great way to sort of keep track of what’s going on and available in the community.
For more information on the libraries, click here: https://www.keyslibraries.org/