Libraries as Social Hubs

Spoken Word Concert.  Book Club. Egg Hunt & Story time.  These are just a few of the events and activities scheduled at the Oceanside Public Library (OPL) this April.  The social aspect of the library attracts all ages and interests and the best part—they are usually free.  Last summer OPL offered a wild life show, my older son got to pet a porcupine, but, unfortunately he didn’t get a chance to touch the snake.  Oh, well.  Yvonne Stewart, a Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library patron from the “Partners in Health” video, described one of the benefits of going to the library as “a way to get to know the community.”  I think that’s a great statement.  Whenever I take my sons to the library after school my sons will see some of their school friends and the smile of happy surprise comes over everybody’s faces, as if they hadn’t just seen each other thirty minutes ago.  But now it’s different, now they’re seeing each other out in the world and part of the community.  In addition to the free events, OPL offers weekly free activities, such as a Wacky Wednesday arts and crafts for school children to participate in afterschool and one here’s one I used to take advantage of when I was a stay-at-home mom, Toddler Story time.  Not only was it fun for my son who got to sing songs, listen to a story and then play in the play area it was a chance for me to get some adult conversation!  Yay, a social life—at least in the library I had one.

If you live in Oceanside and are looking for something to do follow here’s a link to the OPL’s upcoming events: http://www.ci.oceanside.ca.us/gov/lib/about/calendar.asp  Enjoy!