Virtual Summer Reading at the Tama Library: Week 2 & 3 and Phase 2

Our virtual summer reading program is rolling along. During week two the kids watched a great presentation from Darrin Crow-Storyteller. Darrin shared stories about Thor and Loki and Viking myths.

During week three we were entertained by Magician Mike Prestby. Mike shared his magic and reminded everyone about the magic found in reading. Our next weekly virtual show will be on Tuesday June 30th at 1:30 PM via the library’s Facebook page. Mike will be back, and he will be sharing how to do some of his magic tricks. I think we will have some new magicians in town following those lesson.

I need to remind kids to keep reading and keeping their reading logs through July 31st. Also, everyone signed up and participating in our virtual summer reading this summer earned a t-shirt. If Covid-19 numbers don’t’ spike again here in Tama, we plan to start our Phase 2 on July 6th. During Phase 2 the kids will be able to schedule a time to come and pick up their fun things, craft kits to take home and prizes they have earned. And if they have read and logged 10 hours, they will get a free book and a chance at the grand prize-4 Adventureland tickets!

Phase 2 will allow patrons to schedule a time to come into the library to check out books, CD books and movies. Each time slot will be for 20 minutes and we will be limiting the number of patrons to 3 at a time, unless it’s a family. Unfortunately, there are some things that we just can’t do yet so there will be no computer use, no magazines checked out, no lounging in the chairs and the restrooms will remain closed. All these things are to protect the staff and public. We are asking that anyone visiting us to please wear a mask. We have a few available if you don’t have one and we have hand sanitizer too that we hope everyone will use. While you are browsing for your items, we know you have to take them from the shelves. If you handle an item and don’t wish to check it out, we need you to place it in one of the totes we will have placed around the library so we can wipe the items down before returning them to the shelves. This way it will help keep our collection germ free. We will still be offering curbside service as that seems to work well and keeps everyone safe. Many patrons have let us know they really enjoy how we have been offering this service and our efforts to keep all involved healthy. At some point we may be able to move on to Phase 3 which will allow people time to use the computers in the library. If numbers increase again, and I’m pretty sure they will at some point, we may have to go back to Phase 1. It’s all new territory and no one knows for sure what to believe. But one thing is for certain, we will do our best to keep our patrons and staff safe.

Anyone interested in doing our Adopt-a-Book program, here are a few new titles that will be coming out soon. The program works like this, a patron adopts a book by paying the library’s cost for the book and when the book is ready to hit the street, that patron gets to be the first to read it and get a tax receipt too.

Books coming out: June: Read or Alive/Page; 28 Summers/Hildebrand; Near Dark/Thor; People of the Canyons/Gear; Shadows of Foxworth/Andrews; The Black Swan of Paris/Robards; Booked for Death/Gilbert; Holding Out for Christmas/Dailey.

July: Cajun Justice/Patterson; 1st Case/Patterson; Relentless/Salvatore; Revelators/Atkins; Bourne Evolution/Ludlum. The Order/Silva; Peace Talks/Butcher; Deadly Touch/Graham; A Walk Along the Beach/Macomber; Muzzled/Rosenfelt; Outsider/Castillo; Hawk/Patterson; Deadlock/Coulter; The Lost and Found Bookshop/Wiggs; How Lulu Lost Her Mind/Gibson