Playaway Views are self-contained, durable video players for kids. They come preloaded with content and are easy for kids to operate. Titles include Sesame Street, PBS’ Super Why!, Arthur, Caillou, and more.

“They’re amazing, and so sturdy,” said Jamie Bayne, BCPL information services supervisor and the mother of a toddler. “My son is almost 2, and he can operate it without any issues. It’s great for in the car, at the grocery story, or on the night the power went out and he wanted to see Elmo!”

The devices will be available at all three BCPL branches (Main, Kyova and Catlettsburg) beginning Wednesday, May 22.

They can be checked out for seven days, with no renewal. The fine for a late return is $1 per day.

BCPL is adding 100 of these devices to the collection. Patrons can place a hold using the catalog at www.thebookplace.org. Just search using “Playaway View” as the key word.

But, a few years ago, we thought, “What about the adults? Shouldn’t we include them in our fun summer plans?” And that is how our adult summer reading program was born.

The adults get to start a week earlier than the kids, and the program runs more than a month longer. We figure adults are busy people – working and taking care of the kids – and finding time to read might be a bit harder for them.

So, get ready adults: “Groundbreaking Reads” starts on Memorial Day!

That’s when you can start counting the books you read, and getting rewarded for telling us what you thought of them. You have until Labor Day (Sept. 2) to read, read, read!

It’s simple to participate – click on the summer reading link on the home page, or click here. (this will be active starting on Memorial Day). Once you get registered, then you write a brief review (25 word minimum) telling us, and other summer reading participants, what you thought of the book. That’s it.

Reviews forms can also be found at any library branch (after Memorial Day). Each review submitted gives the person one entry in the drawing for the grand prize – a tablet computer!

The Groundbreaking Reads theme ties in with this year’s programs for kids (Dig Into Reading) and teens (Beneath the Surface). The rewards are focused around the theme, too:

For 5 books read, adults will get a shovel-shaped packet of mint seeds, which can be planted directly into the ground.  When adults read 10 books, we will give them a foldaway “Groundbreaking Reads” bag. At the 20-book level, the reward is a set of headphones. When adults read 25 books, we will reward them by letting them select a book or audio book of their choice (up to a $25 value). BCPL Friends are once again graciously paying for the book rewards!

And finally, at the 30-book level, we will give adults a one-year family membership to the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center, so they can go “dig into” all the cool stuff at the museum.

Speaking of the Highlands Museum, it will once again be the site of a month-long photography exhibit connected to our adult summer reading program. The theme this year is “Groundbreaking Images,” and it will be on display at the museum from Aug. 2 through Sept. 3. More information and entry forms will be available soon.

The program will end with a Groundbreaking Party on Friday, Sept. 6, at the Main Branch. That’s when participants will get the rewards they earned throughout the summer. We will also draw for the grand prize, and give away some neat door prizes.

Summertime is here. It’s a great time to get caught up on your reading – and have some fun and get some cool stuff at the same time. We hope many of you will take part.

That’s the main conclusion of a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center as part of the center’s Internet & American Life Project. It interviewed 2,252 Americans age 16 and older on the role that libraries play in their lives and in their communities.

That news is not surprising to any of us at Boyd County Public Library. We see parents every day who bring their children to the library for story times, to borrow materials, to use computers or to attend programs. Those parents are a vital link between their children and unlimited resources and information available at BCPL.

Nationwide, the vast majority of parents of minor children (94 percent) feel libraries are important for their children, and 79 percent describe libraries as “very important,” according to the Pew Center report. They give three main reasons for why they feel that way: libraries help instill a love of reading and books in their children; libraries provide information and resources not available at home; and libraries are a safe place for children.

Lower income parents (households earning less than $50,000) are more likely to view library services as “very important,” particularly because of free access to computers and the internet; programs for kids; job and career resources; and free meeting space.

Not surprisingly, parents of young children are more likely than other adults to use libraries, the report showed. In fact, 73 percent of parents reported having a library card, compared to 59 percent of other adults.

Parents’ ties to libraries are all the more interesting because parents are more likely than other adults to have computers, internet access, smartphones and tablet computers – tools that might make them less reliant on libraries because they have access to information and media through other convenient platforms.

When it comes to gender, mothers – more than fathers – report feeling more attached to their libraries, and say they are eager to see libraries expand and add new technology-related services.  They are more likely than fathers to have a library card, and to have visited the library in the past 12 months. Mothers are also more likely than fathers to read to their children every day (55 percent v. 45 percent), according to the study.

We don’t care which parent does the reading, or brings the child to the library – just as long as it’s happening.

This is a fun and easy program to do … just pick up a copy of that month’s short literary selections at Kyova, or read them online, using the links posted here. At the program, join in a brief discussion of each selection, and then enjoy some sweets. We promise to wrap it up within an hour.

We call it a quick taste of literature for busy people.  New participants are always welcome!

The selections for May 9 are:

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

“Old Timer” by Mike Krath

http://www.short-stories.co.uk/

In what is fast becoming one of our favorite times of the year (we have many), Get Caught Reading Month is a time for BCPL staff to go on the hunt in the community to find people reading – anywhere and everywhere.

The month-long observance has been around since 1999, when the Association of American Publishers launched it to help communities promote a love of reading. BCPL started celebrating it four years ago.

What we do is simple: Every day in May, we send a staff member out into the community, armed with an “I Got Caught Reading by BCPL” t-shirt and a camera. We go to parks, ball fields, the mall, laundromats – anywhere folks might be reading a book, ebook, magazine or newspaper. When we find someone, we politely introduce ourselves and explain to the reader that they have been “caught.” Then we give them the t-shirt and snap their picture.

The campaign has gotten so popular we have people calling or texting staff to alert them to where they would be reading that day. We appreciate that, but the idea is for it to be a random quest.

BCPL is one of hundreds of libraries and schools nationwide that have embraced the Get Caught Reading campaign – all in different ways. Many schools will give students extra time each day for leisure reading, and then take pictures of the students “caught reading” and put them on posters.

That’s the whole idea of Get Caught Reading Month – to recognize and encourage leisure reading. If your child isn’t old enough yet to enjoy reading on his or her own, then reading to them is a great first step.

Research indicates that early language experience actually stimulates a child’s brain to grow, and that reading to children gives them a huge advantage when they start school.

Many authors and celebrities have lent their support to the Get Caught Reading campaign. There is a “What Are You Reading?” campaign on Youtube, featuring more than 30 author videos, and many celebrities appear on posters supporting the campaign.

The movement is so popular that in 2008, the American Association of Publishers launched a Get Caught Listening campaign, which aims to communicate the pleasures of audiobook listening in all audio formats, and promotes the value of the medium as a beneficial learning tool supporting literacy and education.

So, read or listen, we don’t care. But wherever you are doing it this month, we will be looking for you.

This is one time it’s OK to get caught!

Starting the week of June 4, there are fun and educational programs each week for toddlers through tweens at the Ashland, Catlettsburg and Kyova branches.  The teen program is called “Beneath the Surface,” with weekly programs at both Main and Kyova.

All the fun aside, there are serious reasons for taking part in a summer reading program, said Library Director Debbie Cosper. “Studies show that kids who read at least a few books during the summer are less likely to lose the skills they learned during the school year,” she said.

Kids and teens can start keeping track of their reading hours on June 1 – register by clicking here - or fill out a registration form at any branch. Participants will receive a reading map/journal, in which they will record the number of hours spent reading, and the programs they attended.

Kids can add up their time spent reading to qualify for rewards, including seed packets, a browsing bag, a book of choice, bucket & shovel, bookmark timer and t-shirt. For every five hours over 50, kids will be entered into a drawing for the grand prize – a Kindle Fire.

Digging time starts Saturday, June 1, at 2 p.m. at the Kyova Branch, located in the Kyova Mall across from Elder-Beerman. Coyote Chris from Silly Safaris and a few of his favorite creatures will help get the summer fun going. All ages are welcome.

“Dig Into Reading” is for children 4-12, but the older kids (tweens) will do different crafts and activities than the younger ones. Weekly program times are as follows: Main Branch (1740 Central Ave., Ashland): Wednesdays at 2 p.m., ages 4 to 12; and Fridays at 11:30 a.m., toddlers; Kyova Branch: Tuesdays at 2 p.m., ages 4 to 12; and Fridays at 1 p.m., toddlers; and Catlettsburg Branch (2704 Louisa St.): Thursdays at 2 p.m., ages 4 to 12; Mondays at 10:30 a.m., toddlers.

There are special summer reading programs again this year at the Highlands Museum: Discovering Your Roots” is for teens, on Saturday, June 8; and “Digging Deeper” is for kids 4-12 on Saturday, June 22. Participants in summer reading at BCPL can pick up a free museum pass for themselves and a guest at any library branch during the week prior to the museum programs.

The program for kids wraps up Saturday, July 27, with a big party at the Kyova Branch. Kids must reach the five-hour reading goal in order to attend.

“Digging Deeper” movies are also being shown each Friday at noon at the Main Branch, starting June 7. Snacks will be provided. That schedule is:

• “Scooby Doo in Where’s My Mummy?:” June 7
• “Gnomeo & Juliet:” June 14
• “How to Eat Fried Worms:” June 21
• “Holes:” June 28
• “Journey to the Center of the Earth:” July 5
• “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs:” July 12
• “FernGully: The Last Rainforest:” July 19
• “The Goonies:” July 26

The teen summer program, “Beneath the Surface,” meets each Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Main Branch, and Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Kyova Branch. Weekly activities include Mystery Box, Mirror Mirror, Tie-Dye, CSI and Mystery Ink. Just like the younger set, teens are rewarded for the time they spend reading in June and July. Teen rewards include a lanyard, sport bag, t-shirt, book of choice and headphones. When teens reach 100 hours, they will be entered into a drawing for a iPad. Every 25 hours after that gets them another entry.

Teens will have their own wrap-up program – a lock-in at the Kyova Branch on July 25. Only teens who attended at least one Beneath the Surface program and read at least 25 hours are eligible for the lock-in.

The adult summer program is back again this year, and is called “Groundbreaking Reads.” It is longer than the youth programs – running from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Adults fill out brief (about 25 words) book reviews for each book they read and earn rewards based on the number. Book review forms are available at any branch, or at www.thebookplace.org.  Adults are rewarded based on the number of books they read.

The Highlands museum will be the site of a special “Groundbreaking Images” photo exhibit in August (opening reception is Friday, Aug. 2, at 6 p.m.), and the adult program ends with a Groundbreaking Party on Friday, Sept. 6. All reading rewards will be given away at the final party, as well as the tablet computer grand prize. Each book review written during the summer enters the adult one time in the drawing for the grand prize.

Click here to register for Summer Reading 2013!!!

Summer is when our monthly Pictures in the Park program returns to the Library Commons area adjacent to the Main Branch, 1740 Central Ave.

This free outdoor family movie night is held the first Friday of May through August. At dark, we show a movie on our large outdoor movie screen. We even provide popcorn and drinks. All you need to bring is a chair and blankets (it can sometimes get pretty chilly in the evening).

The first one is this Friday, May 3, when we are showing “The Little Mermaid.” The 1989 animated film, rated G, is about a mermaid princess who makes a bargain with an unscrupulous seahag in order to meet a human prince on land.

We will start around 9 p.m. In case of rain, the movie will be shown the following Friday. If weather prevents us from showing the movie the second time, it won’t be rescheduled.

The remainder of the Pictures in the Park lineup is:

• June 7: “The Smurfs.” In this 2011 animated movie, rated PG, the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, and they tumble from their magical world into New York City.
• July 5: “Independence Day.” We couldn’t pass up the chance to show this 1996 movie so close to the Fourth of July. Will Smith stars as a pilot who tries to save the world when the aliens arrive and intend to destroy it. The aliens have the superior technology, but mankind fights back with its strong will to survive. Rated PG-13.
• August 2: “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Our final film in the series is the 1981 Indiana Jones classic, starring Harrison Ford as an archaeologist hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. It is rated PG.

Something new – or should I say, “someONE new – we are adding to the First Friday Fun this summer is a visit from The Story Lady. She will share a special story hour with kids at the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center (1629 Winchester Ave.) at 6 p.m. on the First Friday of May through August.

The Story Lady @ First Friday program includes an interactive story or two, followed by a fun craft and activity. The program will last about a half hour or so, leaving plenty of time to grab some dinner and get over to Pictures in the Park, just a couple of blocks away.

Did you know there’s more than one type of smart? There’s “book smart,” of course, an area in which libraries can help a lot. There’s also “street smart,” an area where the library might not be the best expert.

But what about “money smart?” Do you know what that is, and that the library can go a long way toward helping you achieve a high level of “money smartness?”

First, we have books and electronic resources to help you make money, save money, invest money and just become better money managers, in general.

Now, Boyd County Public Library is offering some programs to help you get smarter with your money. And we’ve found the perfect time to do it: Money Smart Week 2013 (April 20-27).

Money Smart Week is a national observance that’s just a couple of years old. The American Library Association and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held the first one in 2011, as a way to promote personal financial literacy.

BCPL is sponsoring two programs. The first, on Wednesday, April 24, at 6 p.m. at the Kyova Branch, is Couponing 101, starring our own Jamie Bayne. By day (and some evenings and weekends), Jamie is the library’s information services supervisor. But the rest of the time, she is a wife, mom and extreme couponer. Jamie will show you how to save tons of money by finding, collecting, sorting and using coupons. The program is free (of course!) and no registration is needed.

Our other Money Smart program is designed to keep you from becoming a victim of identity theft. It’s called Document Disposal Day, and it takes place on Saturday, April 27. Just visit any branch during regular hours that day (Catlettsburg is open 1 to 5 p.m.; Main is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Kyova from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and staff will shred and dispose of your documents. There is a limit of five bags per person.

Why shred? Because when you put a piece of paper in the trash, you never know what happens to it. It’s likely that your piece of paper passes through several stages on its way to a landfill or incinerator. And with every stage there is a risk that someone will find your personal information, and use it to steal from you or otherwise harm you. One way to safeguard against that is to shred it before it goes into the trash.

Personal documents that you might want to consider shredding when you no longer need them include: tax information and returns (older than 3 years); investment records and statements; bank statements and canceled checks; paycheck stubs, credit card statements and receipts; utility bills; insurance policies; deeds and mortgages; and ATM receipts. It is also recommended that electronic files with personal data be shredded.

When you come to Document Disposal Day, make sure you don’t bring any personal documents that you need to hold onto, such as: wills, powers of attorney, birth certificates, marriage licenses; divorce or child care orders; trust documents; and military records.

If you can’t attend any of our Money Smart programs, then make sure you check out all the resources on this site, and in our catalog. That way, you can get “book smart” and “money smart” at the same time!

Such a short sweep of time; such an enormous sweep of change.

When I came to work at the library very few people had computers in their homes or any real contact with computers. These days I listen to grandmothers on devices they carry in their pocket talking to a grandchild and watching a live feed of that grandchild’s birthday party being held halfway around the world. Broadcast television, which once seemed to be an irreplaceable medium for entertainment, has been replaced in some homes with shows watched on the network’s website or through computer-based subscription services.

Twenty years ago I came to work full-time at the library and asked to be put in charge of the computers as an addition to my work in the reference department. The library’s enormous collection of computing resources consisted of three standalone single purpose computers for the public. Just as the public’s relationship with computers has grown, so has the library’s. We’re now talking about more than 100 computers for public and staff; a dozen servers; gigabit connections between all four branches; phones that run over a computer network; a library catalog you can use to put library resources on hold from anywhere in the world; and digital books, audio and video available for download to smartphones, tablets, and home computers.

As these changes have taken place, Boyd County Public Library has always worked to make the best use of its resources to meet the needs of its patrons, and we continue to do so by staying aware of changes in the field of technology as it applies to libraries. We’ve also tried to control the costs of maintaining and replacing public computers on a regular basis while trying to keep sufficient computers available for public use.

An experiment we’re trying in our newly remodeled Catlettsburg Branch, to manage costs while still providing dependable computing access for the public, is the installation of a zero client computer network. Zero client computing involves not putting an electricity-guzzling computer at each station. Instead we’ll install a computing server and just place a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a small electricity-sipping box the size of a paperback book with no moving parts at each station.

The small box (zero client) will transfer all the keyboard and mouse input back to the server for processing and then display the processed information at the station – just as if the patron was sitting at the computer. This green initiative will also let us keep the computers more up-to-date with things like the latest versions of Adobe Reader. If the operating system does need to be updated, it’s simply done on the server and all the zero clients are instantly updated.

I was watching an interview a few years back with someone who’d worked on one of the first computing projects for the U.S. government who was asked to tell something about this first amazing breakthrough in computers. His reply, which may have been a bit exaggerated, was that what had been the size of a house and all its computing power could now be put into a watch and given away with the purchase of a box of cereal.

Times change, our lives change, and libraries continue to change.