The Huntingdon Valley Library is celebrating its 70th year, with the busiest times coming up in June, July and August. This year, that period will be highlighted by the Summer Learning Program.
The program, sponsored by the Friends of Huntingdon Valley Library, will go from June 26 to
Aug. 6. The theme is All Together Now, celebrating community and unity, with flags and globes as decorations.
“It’s a nice theme,” said executive director Pam Dull. “It’s all about being in the community and helping others.”
The program is planned to help students continue to learn as school is out for the summer. Valley Christian School’s last day is June 6. St. Albert the Great and Lower Moreland schools let out on June 16.
“We have something almost every day,” said Vanessa Nelson, the library’s head of youth services.
The program, though, is for people of all ages, not just kids.
“We get to have fun, too,” Dull said of adults.
People are being encouraged to read, not just traditional books, but also audiobooks, ebooks and magazines. Or, parents can read books to their kids.
Huntingdon Valley, 625 Red Lion Road, is well stocked with some 60,000 items – books, DVDs, video games, audiobooks on CDs or Playaway and robotic coding kits. At the same time, staff members encourage patrons this summer to visit other libraries, including large ones such as Abington. Montgomery County has 33 participating libraries that share resources.
Registration for the Summer Learning Program takes place beginning June 26 on the Beanstack app or at https://hvlibrary. beanstack.org/reader365.
The library is offering challenges to four separate groups:
- Emerging Readers – babies through preschool
- Elementary – kids entering kindergarten through fifth grade
- Teens – kids entering sixth through 12th grades
- Adults – anyone beyond high school age
Participants can use Beanstack to register all families under one account, or individually. And you can add friends.
On Beanstack, users can log reading time and learning activities and write book reviews, all the while earning badges and raffle tickets for prizes and small giveaways.
Or, users can do the same thing on a paper log.
Last year, Summer Reading Program participants – including slow readers and fast readers – logged 468,222 minutes (more than 20 hours per person) reading an undetermined number of books.
“We do ours by the minute. It’s the most equal,” Nelson said.
The goal this summer is 500,000 reading minutes.
“We got close last year. I feel we can do it,” Nelson said.
On Aug. 2, as the program is winding down, there will be a big outdoor party with plenty of activities.
And then the library will go back to its focus on year round programming.
The library’s online calendar is filled with activities almost every day of the week, with plans being made for a 70th anniversary celebration. In April, there were 7,908 visitors on the 29 days the library was open.
“We’re hopping,” Dull said, while still maintaining that the library is the “best kept secret” in the rather small township of 13,000 plus residents.
The Lower Moreland School District will go back to its weekly schedule of picking up and dropping off books at the library. And school groups will visit the library, which has a teen advisory board and is a safe place to study for students at Lower Moreland High School, located a stone’s throw away on Red Lion Road.
Nonprofit, independent Huntingdon Valley welcomes library card holders from anywhere in Pennsylvania to visit its 14,000-square-foot facility, which includes a free book section, self check-out, a printer, parking in the front and back of the building, a 150-seat community room upstairs, an elevator, a learning lab for Zoom job interviews, an outdoor spot for Easter egg hunts and movies under the stars and plenty of space for kids to socialize on a rainy day.
And, as Dull noted, anyone – even those without a library card – can use the computers or attend a public event, such as Friday matinee movies that attract a lot of retirees.
“We’re always happy to see new faces,” she said.
Dull said, in this busy world, she wants the library to be like a community center, hosting events that bring the community together and allow folks to meet their neighbors.
“We want people to feel at home,” she said. “This is their building.”
The library is funded by Lower Moreland Township and the state, grants, donors and the Friends group.
The Friends of Huntingdon Valley Library is 330 members strong, each of whom makes a $15 yearly donation and organizes fundraisers.
“They work hard to make sure we’re a success,” Dull said.
The library’s board of trustees is also central to its success. And the Women’s Club of Huntingdon Valley helped form the library in 1953 and continues helping out to this day.
“I am honored to be director of this library,” Dull said. “We love our patrons, and I have the best staff in the world. The staff goes the extra mile.” — 19006
To apply for a library card, to learn about the Summer Learning Program or for more information, go to hvlibrary.org or call 215-947-5138.
