Libraries Plan Summer Fun, Helped By Grant

    With the weather warming up, it feels like summer is fast approaching. One of the local highlights of summer for area youth are the Summer Reading Programs offered by the county’s libraries. Both Britton and Langford Public Libraries are gearing up for their special summer offerings and again this year, both libraries were helped in that endeavor by a grant. 
    The Stephanie Miller-Davis Library Summer Reading Grant Program is now in its fifth year of supporting summer reading programs in small rural communities in partnership with the South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) and the South Dakota State Library (SDSL). The program to date has distributed nearly $200,000 to libraries in rural communities across South Dakota.
    Stephanie Miller, who the grant memorializes, loved books. She started her legacy by donating children’s books and bookcases to the school library in her hometown of Murdo, SD. She wanted to provide the children in the community the books she longed to read as a child growing up on the South Dakota prairie.
    Both Britton and Langford received $1,500 grants through this program, as did many other South Dakota libraries. These funds will no doubt prove to be helpful as the libraries gear up for their big summer reading initiatives. 
     Langford Library’s  Summer Reading Program will run from June 5 through July 31. Registration will take place June 5 and the program will end on July 31 with a celebration and awards. The library will work off the Collaborative Summer Library Program theme “Adventure Begins at Your Library.”  “We are going to narrow that down a little to an ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ focus,” explained Librarian Nicole Hoines. “Each week we will explore different places around the world and learn about the different foods, and get to taste them, plus learn about customs, clothing, geography and more.”
     At the Britton Public Library, the summer reading theme is also Adventure Begins at Your Library with the library inviting kids to join them on a Jungle Safari.  They will be having a kickoff event on Wednesday, June 26 from 5:00 - 7:00, and will be serving hotdogs, chips, baked beans and bars at the library. At 7:15 p.m. that evening, they will do a presentation on how to sign up for the app R2 (Read Squared) which is how readers will track their minutes this summer rather than on paper. 
    Program sign up will then start July 1. Participants will be able to start tracking books on Monday, July 8 with the program ending July 31. Different age groups will meet on different days throughout July. Kids can track minutes read with the opportunity to receive a free pizza at the end of the program if their goal is met. Check back later for full information on the Britton Public Library Summer Reading Program.
    Both libraries are grateful to have received the Stephanie Miller-Davis Grant. “My mother would be so excited to see the impact this money is having on so many kids lives,” said Stephanie’s daughter Kate Davis. “Access to books was a passion of hers and she would have loved to support the work of so many parents, teachers, librarians, and other community members in towns across South Dakota,” added her daughter Anne Franz.