Photo by Christine R. Gonzalez
For Wrightsville Beach Magazine
A recent visit to the Pine Valley branch of the New Hanover County Public Library saw teenagers playing table tennis, a young girl reading to a therapy dog, and five sewing machines set up for a beginner’s sewing class. There are many reasons to celebrate the 21st-century library during National Library Week, observed April 19-25, 2020.
The library calendar, available on the New Hanover County website, shows an amazing variety of activities residents can participate in: author lectures, painting nesting dolls, one-on-one basic computer assistance, business and legal seminars, adult coloring time, and a wide variety of events devoted to books, from infant story time to dozens of book clubs at the four branches.
Book clubs run the gamut of classic to quirky and are available day and night. The Great Conversations group, which meets at the Northeast Library, has been meeting for more than 20 years. Some groups can be social and gregarious, while a new club aimed at introverts is just getting off the ground.
Librarian Dorothy Hodder says there has been interest by about a dozen people to host a Silent Book Club. It is being done on an international basis and something she felt was worth a try.
“The thought of it tickled me,” says Hodder who pictured it a bit like her family gatherings, which her sister-in-law dubs “an introvert party.”
The idea is to gather in one of the rooms at the downtown library, formerly a Belk department store. Readers would have a 10-minute conversation time, to discuss their individual books, then read in companionable silence for an hour.
One Silent Book Club visitor, Alexandra, says she didn’t care for normal book clubs, where everyone is trying to keep at the same pace and reading the same book.
“My dad and I used to sit in a room and read in silence. I thought it would be like that,” she says.
Veteran therapy dog, Vinny Von, can listen to young readers by appointment. Formerly a Ronald McDonald regular in Ohio, he is also seen at ILM to calm weary travelers. “He loves to do his therapy work,” says owner Bren Reisch of the 11-year-old goldendoodle rescue.
END - Library
Not published due to Covid19
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