Sunshine, Stories & Smiles

By David Specht, Digital Marketing Strategist

After over a year of strictly livestreamed library programs, it’s safe to say we were all ready to put down our tablets, turn off our TVs and remove our earbuds. That isn’t to say that we didn’t appreciate your tuning into our weekly lineup of virtual programs, but seeing your smiling faces in front of us is just so much more fulfilling than a comment on a YouTube video. Fortunately for everyone, summertime mornings in Michigan provide the perfect conditions to plop down on a picnic blanket or yoga mat and spend some time with your favorite librarian. Throughout the summer, we saw thousands of parents, guardians, teens and kiddos flock to our library branch lawns and nearby parks for a variety of Storytime programs that featured yoga, dancing, music, crafts and more. One benefit of holding our programs outdoors and at local parks is that passersby often took notice of the fun we were having and would stop by, some experiencing for the first time a taste of what their local library has to offer. And most of the time, Mother Nature was on our side, too. (Most of the time.)

So, while we appreciated your clicking the “like” button on our virtual Storytimes for those 64 weeks between March 2020 and May 2021, we much prefer to hear your comments in-person and skip the screen altogether. Because at the end of the day, the connections we experience in-person are stronger than any Wi-Fi connection we could ever have.

This column was published in the fall Kaleidoscope. We encourage you to read the whole magazine.