The Library Vault

By: Briana G

Join the Russell Library for our very first Library Card Crawl!

September is Library Card Sign Up Month and what better way to celebrate than with a Library Card Crawl at The Russell Library.

A Library Card Crawl is a celebration of library card holders and encourages them to explore all their library has to offer! All participants need to do is show their library card to attend super fun programs and even get free stuff (yes, FREE!)

The Library Card Crawl is on Saturday, September 21st, 2024 from 10 am to 2 pm. There will be programs located throughout the library. These programs will be for families and people of all ages. There will be book giveaways at the Circulation and Children’s Desks. Head of Circulation Briana Gagnon said, “Just show a staff member your library card and you can have the book of your choice. Our staff have curated a selection of books by authors from or with ties to Connecticut. Supporting local authors is super important.” 

Why should you come to the Library Card Crawl? Let’s see if these programs can convince you (if the promise of free stuff and a cool new library card haven’t already). 

Love birds of prey? We’ll have four owls waiting to meet you from Horizon Wings. You’ll learn about how they ended up in captivity and why owls are so important to the ecosystem. We promise it’ll be a hoot! The Eastern Connecticut Paranormal Society will also be in the building with their investigation equipment and spooky stories. If you’ve ever wanted to meet a paranormal investigator, now is the chance!

Guided Meditation with Katie from Starr Mill Yoga will take place in the Courtyard. There will also be two Fire Marshals from the Middletown Fire Department to talk about fire safety and their jobs.

K-9 Bear and Officer Bodell will also be in the building! Take some pictures and learn about what K-9 Bear does for the community. Love video games? Our switch will be set up for you to play Mario Party Mini Games.

Finally, we can’t have a Library Card Crawl without a magician! Jeff Horton will be the final act of the day, ready to deliver an epic magic show! While some programs are drop in only, others require registration and proof of a library card to attend. You can find all of these programs under “Events” on our website.

While programs are fun, it’s even more fun to take this day to explore the library and see all it provides for the community, like the Memory Box, located on the second floor in the Information Department. Shannon Barillari, the Head of the Technology Department said, “The Memory Box is a way for our patrons to preserve their VHS and Super 8 memories on digital. Russell Library staff are available to book appointments to assist in the process.”

The bread and butter of the Library Card Crawl has to do with library cards and the people who use them. Having a library card is fun! More importantly, however, these little cards provide access to physical and digital resources for free. A library is one of the only places in the world where a person can come in and not be expected to spend money. Using your library card supports your local library, which supports not just each individual who walks through the door, but the entire community. 

Arthur Read said it best when he said “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!” At Russell Library, we make having fun easy!

The Library Card Crawl will be a day filled with laughter and fun for all library card holders. We hope to see you there!