May 2024: Volume 3, Issue 5

Summer is almost here, and at the library, that means it's almost time for the Summer Library Pursuit! If you've joined us for summer programming before, we hope you're excited. If you've never tried our Summer Library Pursuit for yourself, get involved this year! We have plenty of fun events, activities and prizes planned for all ages and abilities.

The theme for this year's program is, "Adventure Begins at Your Library." Each week of the program, from June 17th to July 27th, will have activities, take-and-make crafts, in person events and more modeled after a different type of adventure. First, participants will go on a fantasy adventure in Week 1. You can look forward to experiencing crafts, stories, and events having to do with dragons, castles, fairies, and more fantastical things! The rest of the weekly themes are a surprise. Registration for the Summer Library Pursuit will begin starting on June 3rd. Stay tuned on social media, our website, and at your home library for more updates.

If you like to sign-up to receive a weekly (from June 17th to 27th) Summer Library Pursuit newsletter and other related email reminders please click the button below:

Centre Gives, a 36-hour giving event in Centre County run by the Centre Foundation, is coming up next week, from 8 AM on May 8th to 8 PM on May 9th! You may already know that Centre Gives is not your average fundraiser, and if you've never heard of the event, you're in for a treat! Centre Gives is a fundraiser that involves parties (namely Centre Fest), prizes, "stretch pools", and a bunch of local nonprofits that you love. You can learn more about how the event works by visiting CentreGives.org.

This year, we are trying to raise $23,000 during the event before prizes and "stretch pool" portions are given out. Money we earn from Centre Gives donations will go towards adding more items to our collections, supplying computer and wifi access, and providing services and library programming to the citizens of Centre County. The minimum donation amount for Centre Gives is only $10. If everyone who opened our April newsletter were to donate $10 to our libraries during Centre Gives, we would earn about $61,000! Wow. Consider the power of your support and look into supporting the library during Centre Gives. You can learn more about how to support us during the event by clicking the button below:

National Volunteer Week was just last week, April 21-27, 2024. We wanted to take some time to thank all of our volunteers and communicate how important volunteer work is our organization.

Volunteers are incredibly important to the every day activities and progress of our libraries, PA room, and historical museum. Have you ever wondered how all the items in our locations stay organized? Our staff help with library shelving and inventory, but volunteers do the majority of this work. One of our volunteers single handedly inventoried our entire Historical Museum artifact collection. Another painted the beautiful three panel "Be Kind to Your Mind" installation that you see in the picture above. Others cover, shelve, and repair books. The Centre County Library & Historical Museum (CCLHM) is built upon community effort, and much of that effort is given freely as volunteer work. Next time you see a volunteer (at one of our locations or somewhere else) give them a smile and a thank you. They are our community heroes.

Do you want to volunteer? Click one of the buttons below to either see volunteer opportunities at the Centre County Library & Historical Museum (CCLHM) or in the greater Centre County area.

Our Historical Museum is excited to announce the opening of a brand new exhibit about the Bellefonte American Legion Junior Band! The exhibit highlights the time period from 1939 until the 1960s, with its focus being on members of the junior band and the Bellefonte community’s response to their success. The Historical Museum was able to build the exhibit due to generous donations of artifacts from previous members of the Bellefonte American Legion Junior Band and the Brooks-Doll Post 33 of the American Legion.

Walking through the band exhibit takes the viewer back through history in a way that is unique compared to other exhibits in the museum. It progresses in a chronological fashion so that you can understand the junior band’s accomplishments over time and contextualize them with other historic events, including those of the American Legion. As many students of world and local history may recognize, the beginnings of the band came at an auspicious time globally and for the Centre County Library. Fall 1939 marked the opening of the Centre County Library at the Miles-Humes House, the first performances of the Bellefonte American Legion Junior Band, and the beginning of WWII. The band continued for the next 30 some years, earning state titles in pouring rain, playing original music, and traveling all over the country for national championships. At any one time, the band had between 66 and 90 members aged 10-21. You can learn all about it, see the tools they used and the uniforms they wore, even listen to the original music they played in the Historical Museum’s new exhibit. 

The Historical Museum is located on the 2nd floor of the Miles-Humes House and is open for visitors Monday-Friday in the afternoon from 12 PM to 5 PM. Stop by and visit for FREE! There is plenty to see and learn for both newcomers and frequent visitors.

Those of you who love history and/or genealogy may have noticed that the past year has marked exciting progress at both our PA Room and Historical Museum. New exhibits are abound throughout the Miles-Humes House, the porch and multiple rooms have been renovated, and volunteers continue to make progress digitizing historical collections and records. If you would like to receive more details about PA Room and Historical Museum work and collections, please sign up below to receive our brand new Miles-Humes House Quarterly Newsletter! The first edition will premiere this month and will feature an exclusive interview with our Historical Museum volunteer, Rick Rishel.

Come plant flowers with us! Join us at the Centre Hall Area Branch Library on Tuesday, May 14th at 10 AM to do some planting in the library's flower beds! Bring your own trowel and gardening gloves. If you plan to attend, please call 814-364-2580.

Both the Bellefonte Library and the Centre Hall Library will be having board game drop in events during the month of May. Stop by either library at the following times and you will find board games set out and ready to play with! No need to register.

Bellefonte Library Board Game Drop-In

Wednesday, May 1st

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Centre Hall Area Branch Library Drop-In Game Day

Saturday, May 11th

10 AM - 2 PM

Join us virtually or at one of our locations for any of our book clubs! We even have a book club for book lovers who prefer talking about books in general rather than a specific book. See below for details.

Wednesday, May 1st, 1PM: Stop by the Holt Memorial Library to discuss the popular mystery novel, "The Maid," by Nita Prose. No registration is necessary. Call 814-342-1987 if you have any questions.

Thursday, May 9th, 6 PM: The Centre Hall Mystery Book Club is discussing the mystery novel, "The It Girl" by Ruth Ware for the May meeting. Call 814-364-2580 or stop by the Centre Hall Branch Library to sign up to attend.

Saturday, May 11th, 10 AM: Book Lovers Coffee Hour. Come discuss what you are reading with other book lovers! Please register to attend by clicking the button below and receive a Zoom link via email!

Wednesday, May 15th, 6:30 PM: The Virtual Evening Book Discussion Group will be discussing the novel, "News of the World" by Paulette Jiles. We will be discussing the movie adaptation in an accompanying Film Talk as well (learn more in the next article). Please register to attend by clicking the button below and receive a Zoom link via email.

Thursday, May 23rd, 6 PM: Join us for our "Booked for Murder" mystery book club at the Bellefonte Library! This month, we will be discussing the novel, "Long Bright River" by Liz Moore. Click the button below to be added to our text message reminder group for the Booked for Murder book club.

Join us virtually or in person at the Bellefonte Library for a Film talk in May. On Friday, May 3rd at 1 PM, the club will meet in person at the Bellefonte Library to watch and the film, "Days of Heaven." On Friday, May 17th at 1 PM the club will meet virtually to discuss the film, "News of the World." This film talk will be in conjunction with the virtual evening book club that will be discussing the book, "News of the World," that the movie is adapted from (see article above). Please register for the virtual meeting by emailing film@CentreCountyLibrary.org so that you can receive the Zoom link and ensure that you can obtain a copy of the movie.

The Friends of the Holt Memorial Library run a book sale every month between Sept. and May on the ground floor of the Holt Memorial Library. Shoppers can browse hundreds of books displayed in two expansive rooms. This month, the book sale will be from 10 AM to 12:30 PM on May 11th. Stop by and pick up some new (to you) books at a reasonable price, all while supporting the Holt Memorial Library!

Saturday, May 18th, 11 AM: Come play BINGO and win some books at the Holt Memorial Library! Space is limited, so please register by calling (814) 342-1987, stopping in, or clicking the button below.

Mission

Centre County Library & Historical Museum is a free community destination providing books, information, Internet access, and technology resources to preserve our heritage and promote a lifetime of reading and learning.

Vision

Centre County Library & Historical Museum will be an inviting and vital part of our community by providing access to current technology and services to foster education and to enhance our community’s quality of life.

We are a PA Forward Library

PA Forward is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Library Association designed to increase awareness of the vital role libraries play in the well-being of their communities.

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