Nancy Klingener, Community Affairs Manager for Monroe County Public Library, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the libraries.
Summer reading continues at the libraries.
Klingener said, “There’s a program called Didgeridoo Down Under that explores Australian culture with music and interaction, and that’s going to be touring the Keys this week. It’ll be in Key Largo at 10:30 tomorrow. Friday, in Islamorada at two o’clock tomorrow, and in Marathon at 5:30 tomorrow. On Saturday, it’ll be at Big Pine at 10 am and Key West at 3pm so wherever you are in the Keys, you can catch Didgeridoo Down Under and Key West has a kind of a bonus second summer reading program on Saturday at 11 am. The Key West Fire Department will be there with one of their fire trucks. So that’ll be great.”
The libraries also have the Florida Keys History Center.
Klingener said, “We consider ourselves the premier archive for photographs and documents from Keys history and the great news is that you don’t have to come down to the History Center itself to see it. You can just go to our website and there’s a little block on the top right hand side that says Florida Keys History Center. On the website, we have the archival images, more than 21,000 of them are scanned and uploaded, and you can really lose, a few hours in there. You can see the Today in Keys History posts which are also on our social media channels on Facebook and Instagram every day, under the Florida Keys History Center, and also Island Chronicles. Dr. Malcom does a feature about aspects of Keys history that aren’t in the usual tours. He’s really been digging into the archives to find some of this stuff. So that’s fun. And then the thing I really love about this new website is the links we like, which allows you to go and do your own research. Like I said, you don’t have to come down to Key West. There’s a lot of Monroe County Historical Newspapers that are digitized and online at the University of Florida Library. So we have a link to that. We have a link to our YouTube channel with videos of the late Tom Hambright and Dr. Malcom talking about Keys history, the Florida Memory, the State Archives, the Sanborn maps, which were fire insurance maps from the 19th and early 20th century that show like, every single structure in Key West. So it’s just a great thing you can do right from home anywhere with an internet connection.”
The libraries always help during the school year.
Klingener said, “If you look in our kids and teens section on the website, you’ll see a special page that’s called homework help, with all kinds of resources and links that can help out with that.”
There are also programs for adults.
Klingener said, “We have crafts and games and other programs pretty much at all our branches. So check them out. Book clubs. We have scheduled tech tutor sessions for one on one. And of course, we will always try to help you get what you need, get the information. We host AHEC at the Islamorada and Key Largo libraries once a week. We love partnering with our other agencies here in the Keys.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keyslibraries.org/