Families gathered in Crescent Park out front of the Moose Jaw Public Library (MJPL) on June 17 for the annual Summer Reading Club launch, undertaken this year with financial support from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Participants in the Summer Reading Club, designed to encourage literacy while on vacation, can earn rewards from the library for their hours spent reading. The club will run alongside a gradual rollout of improvements and opportunities from the CSA grant, which lasts for a full year and includes money for equipment upgrades.
"So, this is our launch for our summer reading, just to kick things off," explained Andrew Martens, who runs the MJPL MakerSpace lab. "We've got Wall-E playing in the library theatre, and face painting and Alka Seltzer rockets, some games, as well as some crafts going on downstairs.
"We have a very exciting grant from the Canadian Space Agency, so we're going to be space-themed over the summer."
The MJPL is going to have space-themed book clubs, playground programs, take ‘n make kits, young astronaut activities, and more after applying last year for the CSA's Space Awareness opportunity. Grant money will also going to enhance their MakerSpace area with better 3D printing and more robotics projects.
The grant is intended to support and encourage education and awareness around Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields.
"I came today with two of my grandkids, and they love the library. They both have tablets, but they still like to hold paper books once in a while," said Linda Peters. Peters works at the Palliser Regional Library headquarters as an acquisitions technician, but it was her grandchildren who heard about the launch party.
"They learned about this at school and asked me to bring them! Which I'm only too happy to do. Our libraries are so important, and modern libraries are a bit under threat, because so many people are going digital. But there's nothing like holding a real book. ... We don't know what we got till it's gone, so we have to try and keep our libraries strong and teach our kids that they're good for us — they're good for learning everything.
"So, any chance to get people to come out here is a good thing."
Summer Reading Club kits, including bookmarks to keep track of reading hours and a program guide, are available all season long during open hours at the MJPL circulation desk.
