In an effort to continue to provide valuable community services during a period of social distancing, the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library has begun to expand its suite of programming to include online options.
Traditionally, the Flagstaff Library has served its community with a variety of in-person programs, ranging from storytime for children to writing groups, book discussions and job-seeker workshops. During a period of extended closures and limited patron interaction, the library has transitioned these programs online and created new ones in order to embrace a community hurt by a global pandemic.
Among newly created programs is Goodnight, Flagstaff, a series of readings by various community members, such as Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans. In each, community members read a chapter of the Harry Potter book series, which is then uploaded and made available to the public both online and through the local Crater Radio station every evening. This series has seen great engagement, with views in the thousands across various video hosting platforms, such as YouTube, and through streaming services like Facebook Live. And, if you’re a creature of culture, then the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival has partnered with the library to offer virtual read-throughs of some of Shakespeare’s most famous works, including Othello.
Programs that are traditionally hosted in-person, such as book discussions, are also making their way online. The library has begun utilizing video conferencing services, such as Zoom, to host a wide variety of book clubs, running the gamut from local interest non-fiction clubs like Plotting the Plateau, to genre specific clubs like 30 is the new 13? Young Adult Book Club for Adults, and Lunch with the Nerds: Sci-Fi Book Club. Spanish speakers can get in on the fun with Nos Encanton, a Spanish literature club aimed at helping interested patrons get together and help build their language skills. If you don’t have the time to get a full book read, then plenty of FlagLib Book Talks are also zooming to a computer near you, where interested Flagstaffians can chat about their favorite novels and novellas with like-minded friends, all from the safety and comfort of their own homes.
And, if you’ve been stuck at home having to re-learn how to cook with so many local restaurants closed or without dine-in options, then Cooking the Books, a virtual cooking club presented by the East Flagstaff Community Library, is just the way to get some new tastes and recipes into your kitchen.
Online options for children are also being developed and old favorites are transitioning to the digital environment. Storytime, a long beloved library mainstay, has also begun to move online, with library youth services staff members reading children’s books and then making those videos available online. Kids also can grab a blanket and snuggle up for Nana Deb’s Bedtime Stories. The LEGO club has also migrated online, offering new challenges to aspiring builders and creators every Thursday. And, Virtual Scrolls and Rolls, a Dungeons and Dragons campaign group aimed at ages 12-17, is another way to bring social engagement, at a distance, for our teenagers.
On the business side, the library also has moved some of its services online. Online Resume and Cover Letter Help, normally an in-person service at the library, has moved to the web, with interested patrons looking for resume and cover letter critiquing and feedback able to send them via email to a librarian, who then responds with suggestions within two business days. Just this week, 43 Flagstaff community members participated in the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library and Grow with Google partnered online workshop, Reach Customers Online with Google. Speaker Dave Delaney spoke to a wide variety of business-focused community members, including small business owners, non-profit organizers, tribal representatives and, of course, many of those economically impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
With a very uncertain future as the city of Flagstaff and the whole state of Arizona recover from this unprecedented pandemic, the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library prides itself on the swift transition from offering in-person programs to online options. While we can’t wait to re-engage our public and community in person, we want to make sure both patrons and staff are able to do so in a safe, productive and healthy environment. In the meantime, we’ll continue to bring creative solutions to modern problems through online engagement and at-a-distance services.
Interested in learning more about everything the library is providing? Feel free to visit our library at flagstaffpubliclibrary.org and see the wide variety of material and programs we have to offer. And be sure to give us a follow on social media to stay up-to-date on everything in the pipeline; check us out on Instagram (instagram.com/flagstafflibrary/), Facebook (facebook.com/flaglib), Pinterest (pinterest.com/flaglib/) and twitter (twitter.com/flaglib). FBN
By Richard Tutwiler
Richard Tutwiler is the reference supervisor at the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library.
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