Library offers discounted memberships to local schools
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
Earlier this year Crowther Memorial Junior High librarian Jennifer Young approached the Strathmore Municipal Library about forming a partnership.
Young had been looking into getting the school involved in the Overdrive System, which provides electronic materials such as e-books and audio books. Young quickly realized it would be cost-prohibitive to the school and so she began looking at other options.
“She (Young) approached us and we were really excited about the idea and decided to extend it to all the schools in Strathmore because we can and (because) we would really love to be able to support all the schools in a more tangible way,” said Rachel Dick Hughes, director of library services for the Strathmore Municipal Library.
“The public library is with Marigold so they have over 15,000 e-books just for our age group let alone higher and lower,” said Young.
Dick Hughes said the library thought it was a great way to be able to help supplement what the school could offer to their students while also increasing the library’s membership and use of materials. The students get full memberships to the library for $5 per student. The focus is more on getting them to use e-books because that’s where the school can’t always supply what is needed.
Once she began speaking with Dick Hughes, Young discovered there are a lot more databases the students will have access to, including Freegal, a free music downloading site.
Knowing that offering something for free is always a better way to get people on board, she then approached the Lions Club to see if they would support the school and cover the costs for Crowther students. The Lions Club were happy to become a part of the partnership.
“It’s so nice when you do a project and everyone thinks it’s a great idea,” said Young.
“Taking away the cost that the Lions Club did just makes it so much easier to convince all the kids to sign on.”
So far Young has had about 75 kids sign up for the program. The students can read the books on their phone, which is the biggest selling feature.
“They can read whatever they want, no one can see what they’re reading, so if they don’t read at grade level no one can see what they’re reading,” said Young.
Some students read at a Grade 3 or 4 level and they don’t want to be seen reading ‘baby’ books, but now they can read them without anyone knowing and improve upon their reading skills.
Before the students signs up for the program, parents need to give permission.
“All of our cards come with full borrowing privileges so they can borrow absolutely anything we have. So there will be some adult material available to them so it’s up to the parents to decide whether they want that for their child,” said Dick Hughes.
“There’s a slight loss of revenue because we are discounting our memberships by $2.50. We tend to lose kids once they hit their teens and then hopefully they come back when they have kids, but we’d love to just keep them and keep them realizing we have all sorts of stuff they’re really going to enjoy and appreciate. In the long run I really think it’s a benefit to the library and the community.”
The discounted library cards are being offered to all schools within Strathmore and Dick Hughes said the library hopes to be able to offer the program to county schools in the future.
“We’re hoping to build awareness about how much there is for kids in terms of our e-resources. There’s Dr. Seuss books, lots of great Robert Munch and newer stuff too and it’s great, especially for all the commuting families we have in town. You can put an e-book on the iPad or an audio book on the iPad and they can listen or read it in the car, it’s just so convenient. We want to be able to help families realize what we can offer,” said Dick Hughes.