Praise God for Our New Library Facility

We praise God that the long awaited new library on St. Helena Island opened Wednesday, October 17.  Around this time last year we gathered for the groundbreaking for the new library and now it is completed.  You may recall these words from an article that appeared in the Beacon:

As the site of one of the country's first schools for freed slaves, Penn Center is a National Historic District Landmark. The Penn Center Campus is a natural location for this new library branch. In 1906, the Laura M. Towne Library, as part of the Penn School, was providing public library services to black residents on St. Helena Island; built by the school's carpentry classes, the 10-by-10-foot, small-frame building began a tradition that we are proudly continuing today.
 

Now the library is completed, ahead of schedule, and ready to be enjoyed by the community.  Take a look at the history of libraries on St. Helena Island.  These are bits of the History of the Beaufort County Library and its branches that are related to St. Helena Island. 

• The County Library continued the Bookmobile service established by the Laura Towne Library in 1958.
• 1958 Prior to the Bookmobile, Mrs. Wilhelmina Barnwell and Mrs. York Bailey  carried books in their own cars to the children on St. Helena and Lady's Islands, until they had more "Book Outposts" than their personal vehicles could handle.
• The Laura Towne Library at Penn Center, which had operated as a separate library on St. Helena Island since the early 1950s, became the first branch location of the County System.
• 1973 The Laura Towne Branch Library closed.
• 1993 The Saint Helena Island Branch location was established, sharing space with the Saint Helena Elementary School media center on Sea Island Parkway (Highway 21).
• 2006  Beaufort County Library and the Penn Center began discussions about construction of a new full-service branch library facility on property adjacent to the historic Penn campus on St. Helena Island.

This piece below comes from the Library Services to Blacks in South Carolina website.
 
Penn School On St. Helena's Island

Following the Civil War, a variety of religious groups from the North established schools to educate Blacks in South Carolina. Libraries were an integral part of each of these schools and continue today as the bedrock of the state's educational and library systems.

Assistant and Pupils	Books were scarce in the period following the Civil War, especially on St. Helena's Island. As a result, story hour became an important part of the curriculum at Penn School.
Northern philanthropists sent Christmas gifts of books to the Island children every year.	Dathan School Christmas, 1913
Library	Later, the Penn school's "Little Library" served the entire St. Helena's Island community for 25 years.

 As a homeschooling family, we  are thrilled about the new library.  We were active patrons and volunteers at the previous location and will continue to assist in the new facility.  As a person who enjoys reading and researching I am excited about this library.  As a member of the Friends of the Library board I'm actively involved in fundraising to support programs and purchase materials for all of our branches.  As library volunteers, our family is working to help our library with programs, shelving, and other areas where help is needed.  Our students are members of the Teen Board and also serve as volunteers. 

Home school families in the area, this library is a tremendous blessing to us; please use and support it!  Sign up to volunteer and get involved in the programs.  Join the Friends of the Library your membership fee will help purchase materials.  There have been many negative comments made about building this expensive facility with all of its technology out here and I for one look forward to proving all the nay sayers wrong.  We will not only use this facility but will also support and take the very best care of it!

Library hours are as follows: Mondays & Wednesdays 1pm-8pm, Tuesdays & Thursdays 10am-5pm, Fridays 1pm-5pm, Saturdays 9am-5pm and closed on Sundays.  Use the links to follow the library on Twitter and become friends with them on Face Book.  Come out, tour the public spaces of the library, meet the staff and volunteers and enjoy using the library.  We look forward to seeing you at our brand new facility!

From The Beacon: Summer reading kicks off at library

Every summer libraries across the country offer exciting programs to encourage reading during the summer months.  The kick off for the Beaufort County public library system began yesterday, June 6.  Each library in our system offers the local community it serves special summer programs and activities that support the theme.  You can read more about this year's summer reading program for all ages, the themes, prizes and more in the article below.  Get ready for excitement, adventure, thrills and more from the books you will read this summer!

Submitted by Traci Cox on Tue, 06/07/2011 - 8:19am

The heat has arrived, school buses will soon be in storage and the beach is beckoning -- summer is almost here. That also means it's time for the annual Summer Reading Program at the Beaufort County public library system. We have been hard at work planning and preparing for this exciting annual event.

According to the American Library Association, the annual Summer Reading Program began in the 1890s as a way to persuade school children to visit the library and develop lifelong reading habits. While it started as a way to promote literacy with children, the program has evolved over the past century into an enjoyable and worthwhile annual string of events in which all children, teens and adults can participate.

Funded by Beaufort County, our Friends of the Library groups and our Public Library Foundation, the official Summer Reading Program begins June 13th and concludes July 23rd. There will be branch-specific prizes and countywide grand prizes. This year's overall Summer Reading theme is "Travel." So whether you have plans to escape to a faraway destination or stay here in the Lowcountry, the Beaufort County library branches will provide you and your family with plenty of materials to keep you busy -- regardless of your travel plans (or lack thereof).

"One World, Many Stories" is the theme for children ages 4 to grade five, and "You Are Here" is the theme for teens (grades 6 to 12). Each participant signs an agreement to read (or have read to them) a minimum number of books. A visit to the library once a week will earn them a small prize. Once they fulfill their agreement, they earn a certificate, medal and a chance at winning one of our grand prizes.
Children and teens can visit their branch library to register beginning Monday. Check with your local library's children's room for more information for both teen and children's Summer Reading programs.
"Novel Destinations" is the travelworthy theme for adults ages 18 and older. Adults can read whatever they choose and submit reviews. Each review gets one entry into the prize pool, and names will go into prize drawings at the respective branches. Adults may submit their reviews beginning June 13 (there's no need to register). This year, reviews can be submitted online or to your branch's reference desk. Blank book review forms are located at all branches. There are no limits to how many reviews participants can submit. Reviews must have a minimum of 50 words in order to be eligible for prizes. If participants are feeling extra creative, they can submit their reviews in poetry form.
Hours at our library branches in Hilton Head, Bluffton and Beaufort will be changing starting Monday, so check out our website or contact your local branch for more information on all of our upcoming events.