We recently added family museum memberships to the extensive list of items that cardholders can check out. The family pass (a $75 value) can be checked out for 21 days, just like a book, and can be renewed one time.

It’s a great way to explore the wonderful museum, located at 1620 Winchester Ave., just a couple blocks away from the Main Branch.

It’s actually two great venues in one. The Highlands Museum features displays on our region’s past. Step into a 19^th century school room, or enter a medical world where house calls were made on horseback and payment was in chickens. Immerse yourself in the culture of Eastern Kentucky music, and even create your own music in the Karaoke Korner. Salute those who served during the wars of the 20^th century, and see Hitler’s last telephone.

The Discovery Center includes many areas of interactive exploration. There’s a special place for toddlers, and a flight simulation for pilots of all ages. Walk into the Ohio River town of Poage’s Landing and navigate Little Joe, an actual towboat. Learn about the natural world in the tree house exhibit. Rest a while on the front porch while you enjoy games or puzzles.

There are also many revolving exhibits that showcase sports, regional art, textiles and quilts. Current special exhibits include “Votes for Women: From Seneca Falls to the 19^th Amendment,” a look at the history of the suffrage movement, from the 1840s to 1920; and “The Victorian Era: The Queen’s Way,” a display of women’s gowns and accessories worn from 1837 through 1900.

The museum has been around since 1984, when it was organized as the Kentucky Highlands Museum, and housed in the historical Mayo Mansion on Bath Avenue. In 1994, it took up residence in the former C.H. Parsons Department store (its current home), occupying the basement, first floor and mezzanine levels.

The museum’s capital campaign in 2003-04 helped fund upgrades and renovations to the building in 2005. Today, the museum continues to work on renovations to the mezzanine spaces.

In 2012, the boards of Boyd County Public Library and the museum signed a partnership agreement, designed to take advantage of the resources of both organizations, and to make the community more aware of all the great services the two groups provide.

Providing family passes for BCPL patrons to check out is just one of the ways we are partnering with the museum. We also use the Winchester Avenue windows to display library programs and services, and hold some library programs in the museum.

We will be having our annual Community Fair at the museum on Saturday, April 13, and will also be holding some special programs there in conjunction with our 2013 summer reading program: Dig Into Reading.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. The phone number there is 606.329.8888. To find out more, click here.

For five years now, we have set aside a Saturday afternoon for Barktober, an event where pets and their humans can take part in pageants, parades and fun. This year it’s on Saturday, Oct. 6, starting at 2 p.m. at the Kyova Branch.

We do this because we understand the importance of dogs and other pets in people’s lives. They make us smile and laugh, they comfort us and, in some cases, they force us to exercise.

But did you know that pets – dogs in particular – can also help us become better readers?

Studies show that reading to dogs can help children improve their reading fluency – by as much as 30 percent.

“Kids have to practice, practice, practice to be good readers,” Francine Alexander, chief academic officer at Scholastic, said in a recent interview with ABC News. “And yet when you’re practicing, if you make a mistake, it can feel risky and uncomfortable. But if you’re practicing with a dog, you don’t mind making a mistake.”

As lovers of books and literacy, we at BCPL are encouraged by anything that might help someone become a better reader, and develop those lifelong reading habits. So, we are excited to be adding Tales to Tails to our October lineup of programs.

Tales to Tails will be on two Saturdays in October – the 20^th and 27^th – at the Main Branch, 1740 Central Ave., starting at 2 p.m. Kids can spend 15 minutes reading to a volunteer dog – bring your favorite book, or borrow one from the library shelves. Advance registration is not required.

The dogs are all very calm, and many have spent time with patients at Hospice, where staff and family members say they are a tremendous help.

Tales to Tails is designed for children 12 and under, but older kids will not be turned away. If the program proves popular in October, we hope to continue it on a monthly basis.

Many animal organizations have had programs in place for years allowing children to read to dogs, but until recently, the evidence that the practice improved reading skills was largely anecdotal. In 2010, the University of California released the results of a study that showed young students who read out loud to dogs improved their reading skills by 12 percent over the course of a 10-week program, while children in the same study who did not read to dogs showed no improvement.

The fluency rate in home-schooled students who participated in the same study went up by 30 percent. Reading speeds also increased by up to 30 words per minute.

“The dogs, in contrast to a human, don’t judge the individual, aren’t grading the individual, and hopefully that allows the children to build some confidence in their reading skills,” said Martin Smith, the lead researcher in the study.

One child told the researchers, “I feel relaxed when I am reading to a dog because I am having fun.”

Another said, “The dogs don’t care if you read really, really bad so you just keep going.”

Parents of the kids in the study were interviewed several months later, and 75 percent of them reported that their kids were reading aloud more frequently and with more confidence.

That’s what we like to hear!!

That’s why BCPL places such an emphasis on early reading programs. We offer a  Toddler Time program at all three branches, and a Preschool Story Time at both Main and Kyova. And now we’re trying to make it easier for parents to remember to bring their little ones to the library – by setting a uniform time of 1:30 p.m. for all of our story time programs (starting in September).

Toddler Time, which consists of short books, singing and dancing for those just starting to walk through age 3, will be at Catlettsburg on Mondays, Main on Wednesdays, and Kyova on Fridays.

Preschool Story Time, a slightly longer program for kids ages 3-5 featuring books, songs and games, is at Kyova on Tuesdays, and Main on Thursdays.

What time? 1:30 p.m. Which ones? All of them.

How easy is that?

As a parent, one of the best things you can do to give your child a lifelong love of reading is read to them, or with them. The more they enjoy reading, the more they will stick with it and develop the reading skills they need in their later lives. Studies show that accomplished readers will do better in high school, score higher on their SATs, and have an easier time in college than others.

Reading to toddlers also helps them advance their verbal communication skills. Even though they don’t yet understand the words, toddlers do absorb something. Reading to toddlers enhances the development of their spoken language skills, and their ability to express themselves verbally.

If you want to raise a child who appreciates books, then start reading to them now. Or bring them to the Library, and let us read to them. Helping a child to become a reader is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give. It’s a gift that continues to pay off throughout a child’s life.

The room is full of new furniture on both sides (youngsters and young adults), complementing the colorful shelving and new carpet installed within the past two years.

The remodel also includes new computer stations for kids, an iPod and laptop area for the older set, and new puzzle and toy shelves that keep items more organized and easy to locate.

Still to arrive is a new aquarium – at least as large as the 250-gallon tank that has been a focal point for more than 25 years.

By early August, there will also be a new self checkout station in the department.

Director Debbie Cosper said she hopes patrons enjoy all the improvements, which are designed to make the department and everything in it more accessible to kids, and get them more exciting about reading and learning.

AudioBookCloud offers hundreds of full length streaming audiobooks for both adult and juvenile readers.  One great feature is their titles are always available.  This means that there is no checkout process and no additional software required.   Simply click on ‘listen online’ and the audiobook will start streaming to your PC or Mac computer.

There are many classic titles including Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and many more.  Juvenile material includes Lucy Maud Montgomery, A.A. Milne and many others.  Several of the titles are also available in ebook form through the TumbleReadables database giving you access to both the ebook and the audiobook.

Tumblereadables is an online collection of read-along titles for elementary, middle school, and high school students which features adjustable online text and complete audio narration. Sentences are highlighted as they are being read and the pages turn automatically. The collection features chapter books, early readers, graphic novels, YA/teen novels, high interest/low level books for both middle school and high school students, plus classics of American and English literature.

Read-Alongs are great for emergent, struggling, and reluctant readers, as well as being an excellent tool for ESL. They are also well received by strong and accomplished readers who are excited to follow along to the narration of their favorite books. Children, who are now growing up with e-mail, instant messaging, IPODs, and text messaging are early and willing adopters to this innovative online reading experience.

TumbleBookLibrary is an online collection of TumbleBooks  animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading in a format they’ll love. TumbleBooks are created by adding animation, sound, music and narration to existing picture books in order to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read to you.

The TumbleBookLibrary is a collection of licensed titles from children’s book publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Chronicle Books, Candlewick Press, Charlesbridge Press, Harcourt, Little Brown, Walker & Company, Lerner Books, and HarperCollins Publishers, amongst others.

The TumbleBookLibrary provides enrichment to students who are reading independently with a variety of high interest material. It also provides support to students who require skill building with a variety of exercises that can be matched with other areas of the curriculum. In general, TumbleBooks are a great addition to a reading program that can be worked on independently by each student or by the whole class. It has been exceptionally well received by ESL and Special Education teachers.

Story Books:
The TumbleBookLibrary has a selection of children’s favorite story books. Old time favorites such as “The Paper Bag Princess” by Robert Munsch, as well as favorite fairy tales such as “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Old Mother Hubbard” come to life in an educational and interactive way. Other titles include: “Diary of a Worm,” “How I Became a Pirate,” “Miss Malarkey Doesn’t Live in Room 10,” “One Duck Stuck,” and “Tops and Bottoms.” Click to see a complete list of available titles.

Automatic/Manual Button: TumbleBooks are designed to be experienced in either automatic or manual mode. In automatic mode, the pages turn by themselves and are narrated; while in manual, the narration and animation continue but children turn the pages at their own speed. A flashing arrow appears at the end of each page prompting the reader to turn the page. The sound off/on button allows the student to mute the narration and read to themselves. The Pause Button: Both the student and teacher can use the pause button to stop the story at any time in order to practice story prediction, interpret pictures, discuss new vocabulary words, empathize with a character, discuss possible consequences of actions, encourage problem solving, or provide historical, geographical, or other perspectives.

Language Learning:
Our Language Learning Section includes a growing selection of books in Spanish and French. Many are bilingual titles which allow the user to read the book in two languages.

Read-Along Books:
Older students or more accomplished readers can read our collection of read-along chapter books. Read-along titles feature narration, sentence highlighting, and automatic page turning.

TumbleTV:
We’ve included pre-set playlists for your convenience which play various books in sequence! No need to choose books and add them to your favorites or playlist as we’ve already done this for you! Also, check out our TumbleTV episode which features a zany host introducing various TumbleBooks.

Non-fiction Books: 
Our non-fiction section allows young readers the opportunity to explore stories about real animals, people or places.

Puzzles and Games: 
A collection of puzzles and games accompany each book and reinforce concepts from the books, allowing for a fun and educational learning experience.

TumbleBookLibrary En Espanol and TumbleBookLibrary en Francais: 
Our language drop down menu allows users to view the entire website in Spanish or French. Instructions, news and descriptions of books are all in Spanish or French. Perfect for ESL, Bilingual, and French and Spanish programs.

TumbleSearch:
Our online search allows you to search by title, author, publisher, and language. In addition, you can search by reading levels in both Automatic and Manual modes as well as by subject.

MyPlaylist:
The TumblePlayer allows students, teachers, librarians and parents to preload a number of TumbleBooks in an online player in order to be played one after another.  The TumblePlayer works just like an online music player.

My Favorites:
Add your favorite title(s) to the My Favorites section for easy access any time. This feature is cookied onto individual computers.

TumbleMailer and Record-a-Book Feature
Kids and parents can send TumbleCards and TumbleBooks to friends and family through our TumbleMailer feature. They can also narrate and record their own TumbleBooks!