COLUMBIANA COUNTY East Palestine Memorial Library plans summer activities for all ages

Ten MP3 players will soon be part of the library's circulating materials.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- The East Palestine Memorial Public Library is planning a full slate of activities this summer.
Curious George, Harry Potter, Arthur and The American Girls are just a few of the stars of the library's summer reading program, which begins June 9. Arthur, the popular aardvark of children's books and a PBS television series, will visit the library June 23.
Children, teens and adults participate and win prizes for their reading efforts all summer long. Lisa Rohrbaugh, library director, said the library includes adults in the summer reading program as well as children because adults can be good reading role models for children.
"Kids see their grandparents or parents reading in the summer, and that helps motivate them to read, too," she said. "Sometimes kids view reading as doing school work in the summer. They see adults reading and see that reading can be fun."
Children can receive up to two new books free depending on the number of books they read, she said. Attending library programs during the summer also count toward the reading goals, she said.
Adults can earn prizes as well for their reading efforts, including raffle tickets for the Chinese auction during the summer book sale Aug. 7-9.
MP3 players
Audio books also count toward reading goals, she said. The library will soon have 10 MP3 players that can be circulated. The library staff will download books in MP3 format, and patrons can keep the players for up to four weeks, she said.
The patrons return the players and the downloads are erased, then the player is ready to be checked out by someone else.
Rohrbaugh said the MP3 players will be easy to use and come with a cassette adapter so patrons can listen to the MP3 books in the car without headphones.
Patrons must purchase their own headphones or ear buds to use the MP3 equipment, she said.
Rohrbaugh said area poets interested in entering the library's annual poetry contest should be preparing their entries now. The contest is July 24 and is open to poets of any age.
Jeff Buchanan of the Youngstown State University English Department will read all the entries and comment. Entries must be submitted to the library by July 17.
Rohrbaugh said she already has four appraisers committed to an antiques appraisal program at the library at 6 p.m. July 17. The program was very popular during the winter, Rohrbaugh said. Anyone interested in having antiques or other items appraised is welcome to bring them to the library. Each person is limited to two items, she said.
tullis@vindy.com