EMQ Families First Holiday Event

EMQ Families First held its holiday crafts event at the Boys and Girls Club of Fresno.  WoW! attended and introduced information about library services for children and teens.  Making new library cards (for many their first one!) is the first step to lifetime learning.

Terrance and Kenny getting ready!

Shannon explaining library services 

Even Librarians can Zoomba!

   

Kenny making library cards

Teens especially are excited about the upcoming grand opening (January 9, 2016 @ 1pm) of the Betty Rodriguez branch (located at southeast corner of Cedar and Shields) which will feature a "maker space."  "Maker spaces can be any area where people gather to make and create. These spaces often include 3-D printers.  In maker spaces, people share supplies, skills, and ideas, and often work together on projects."  http://library-maker-culture.weebly.com/what-are-they.html

"You have more than just books?!" questioned one child.  Many are surprised how many of our resources are available from your mobile device.

Our newest online service to get a "WoW!" is  Freegal, which lets you download 3 songs a week (to keep) and 3 hours of streaming- all for free with your library card.

WoW! Staff Helps Bring Storyland Back to Life!

You never know where the WoW! library team will turn up next. How about the middle of Roeding Park? We were there!
Entertainment, crafts, and new library cards were on the bill when The Fresno County Public Library helped bring Storyland to life during their recent grand opening weekend.  Entertainment joined with literacy for fun, interactive family events. The  craft area was a popular spot for children and young-at-heart adults.

After being closed for renovation, the longtime Fresno attraction reopened with safer walkways, brighter colors, and live characters to go along with the ever-popular statues, buildings, and interactive play equipment.

 

Beautiful art from Doug Hansen's "California Mother Goose" series surrounded library volunteers as they helped children make creative crafts, while WoW! staff issued cards on the spot.

Joanna Chase makes another library card. Go, Joanna!

This event took place September 5th through the 7th, 2015 at Storyland, located inside Roeding Park. For more information, contact Storyland and Rotary Playland at (559) 486-2124 or their website page: http://savestoryland.com/

--Mark Halvorsen 

What to Do? What to Do?

School's over, and you're...bored. Looking for something to do? Wander in the Internet to the Fresno County Public Library’s database page, down to the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center, and you’ll find a world’s worth of things to do.

Articles, book chapters, and other sources on various pastimes are ready to read, look at, or spark creativity, and it’s all FREE with your library card! You can find information on hobbies as common as:

Scrapbooking

  
     or Chess

    


or as unusual as:


Bell Ringing

or Bungee Jumping.

You can learn about:

• Mosaics (tile and grout are extra),
• Woodburning (Be careful! It’s hot!),
• Sketching (landscapes, still lifes, and more),
• Coin Collecting (foreign or domestic),
• Basketry (coiling and weaving and twining, oh my!),
• PEZ Collecting (Did you know they have the Star Trek crew on dispensers?),
• Candlemaking (dipped or poured),
• Postcard Collecting (“Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here”),
• Board Games (from Monopoly to Snakes and Ladders),
• Batik (wax-dyed fabric),
• Crochet (Hook it!),
• Knitting (Knit one, purl two, OOPS!),
• Origami (It looks like…folded paper),
• Model Trains (All aboard!),
• Cross Stitch (decorate clothing and ornaments),
• Lego Models (You’ve seen the movie, now step on the blocks in the middle of the night),
• Macrame (Knot, knot! Who’s there?),
• Bird Watching (the original tweets),
• Hang Gliding (“Is this thing safe?”),
• Geocaching (Hide-and-Seek for the GPS generation),
• Scuba Diving (“Under the Sea”),
• Magic Tricks (“Now you see it….”),
• Puppetry (strings, hands, and shadows),
• Piano (tunes at your fingertips),
• Astronomy (Star light, Star bright....),
• Robotics (Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto),
• Papermaking (What’s a deckle?)

and a host of other pursuits, trivial or otherwise.

Look at all the things you can do, and you’ll go “WoW!”