Celebrating 5 Years

In celebration of reaching our 5th year (YAY!) we’ve solicited the help from some of our friends in the literary world, both in Kansas and beyond, to film short clips for us about their favorite books, new books that they’re looking forward to reading or a book that was particularly inspirational to them.

First up, is our State Librarian Jo Budler! Click here to check out her video.

jo budler

 

 

Featured Library: Independence Public Library

Leading up to our 5th Annual Kansas Book Festival, we plan to feature some awesome libraries from across the state on our blog. Since this is National Library Week, there’s no better time to get this feature started!

To start things off, we’re headed down to Independence. They have some really fun things going on in their library for all ages. We’re particularly fond of their 2015 library advocacy campaign slogan, “Behind every great community is a great library.” We’d have to agree!

graphic

 

We’ll highlight a few of their fun programs below:

Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Festival
This program involves their entire community. There were more than 600 people at least year’s festival and the library was packed to the gills. In the month leading up to the festival, children can earn library bucks for the books they read and they can then redeem those bucks for gifts the night of the festival. The kids read more than 3,000 books to earn library bucks!


tree2

 

Their summer reading kick off is always a hit, as well. Last year was a Mad Science Fair theme where kids created things, conducted experiments, learned about scientific principals, enjoyed food and signed up for the summer reading program. City leaders and teachers joined in on the fun and helped at the different stations.

summer reading

They’ve also just started their Big Read Grant and this year, if focuses on Edgar Allan Poe. It’s for adults, children and teens and even in English and Spanish! Some of the fun events will include an open mic night at the community college, a poetry workshop and performance by Indie Hip-Hop artist MC Lars, book and film discussions, trivia contests, art projects and even a Poe pub crawl.

Poe

 

There’s a lot going on in Independence. They’ve created fun spaces inside their library for different age groups, they host groups called “Sheep on a Stick” that do knitting, crocheting and other needlework for such as Purple Hats for Babies, Afghans for Soldiers and Chemo Caps for cancer patients.

And don’t forget about Trixie, the Library Cat. She was abandoned in front of the library in October 2009. Trixie even has her own Facebook page.

Trixie
And finally, the fuel to all of these great programs is the staff. Congratulations to all of you working at the Independence Public Library. You are the inspiration we all need when looking for innovative ways to connect with those in our respective communities.

Staff

Find IPL on Social Media!

Friends of the Independence Public Library

Independence Public Library Children’s Department

Independence Public Library YA Space

Independence Public Library Kansas Room

Senior Programming@Your Library – Closed Group

Website

**Is your library awesome?! Send us an e-mail at ksbookfestival@gmail.com and let us know why!