On Saturday, January 4, we’ll transform the Dubois Children’s Reading Room into a life-sized Candyland Game. Kids of all ages are invited to drop in any time between 11 – 1 p.m. to play the game and to make a craft.

No registration is required; just stop by the Youth Services Desk to pick up playing cards when you arrive.

The Kent Free Library will offer several programs in December to help kids get into the holiday spirit!

Music Times

Tuesdays, December 3, 10 & 17, 10:30 am
Join Mr. Jim for an all ages story time.

Pick up a Boarding Pass up to 30 minutes before each program.  Space is limited.

Crafternoons

Mondays, December 9 & 16, 4:00-5:00 pm

Children are invited to drop in anytime to make a craft.  Young children may need adult assistance.   Supplies are available on a first-come,  first-served basis.

No registration is required.

Holiday Music Time

Monday, December 16, 7:00 pm
Join us for an all ages event and special holiday story time featuring seasonal songs with Mr. Jim.

Pick up a Boarding Pass at the Children’s Desk up to 30 min before the program.  Space is limited.

Elf School

December 17, 18, & 19  at 4:00 pm
See  if you have what it takes to be an elf.  Read holiday books, play reindeer games, make crafts and enjoy delicious treats.

For children in grades K-2.  Registration is required and begins December 10.

Candy Cane Corner

Saturday, December 21, 11:00 am
Join us for holiday crafts, games and treats.

Children 3-6 year olds.  Registration is required and begins one week in advance.  Space is limited.

The library is pleased to offer Zinio for Libraries.  Zinio, billed as “the world’s largest newsstand,” provides instant digital access to popular magazines.

Director Stacey Richardson notes that Zinio is an important addition to the library’s current digital collections.  “Our patrons have had access to ebooks through the Ohio Digital Library and Axis360, and to free music downloads from Freegal,” says Richardson, who adds that the use of those services has increased 45% in the last year.  “Now patrons will also be able to access their favorite magazines digitally,” Richardson says.

Through Zinio, digital magazines can easily be viewed on most Internet-enabled devices inside or outside of the library.  Zinio digitally recreates a magazine page for page, including full color pictures, and can be “flipped through” or searched easily.

According to Richardson, magazines will be available on their release date, and there will be no waiting lists.  “Any number of patrons can look at a magazine at the same time,” Richardson explains.  “Also, the magazines download to the patron’s computer or device, so there’s no ‘checkout period’ to worry about and no late fees,” she continues.

There are currently 84 magazines available, including Bicycling, Cosmo, Esquire, Men’s Health, Rolling Stone, Us, and Women’s Day, to name just a few.

Zinio is available through the library’s website, www.kentfreelibrary.org.  Librarians are glad to show you how to access the service—drop by the Information Desk or call 330.673.4414 for assistance.

Zinio for Library is a service provided by RBdigital from Recorded Books

If you love to check out new bestsellers and the latest DVD releases, but don’t love long waiting lists for those popular items, then it could be your lucky day!

We’re introducing “Lucky Day Collections”: the hottest books and movies, with shorter loan periods than the copies in the regular collection and no holds or renewals.

According to Director Stacey Richardson, this new collection will mean you have a better chance of finding high-demand items on the shelves, ready to check out.  “The books in this collection are chosen to match the community’s reading tastes for new and trending titles,” says Richardson.  “We think our patrons will enjoy the option of walking in and finding items they used to have to wait for weeks to read or watch.”

To help keep a supply of titles available for Kent Free Library visitors to check out and enjoy, this collection has a few special borrowing conditions: Lucky Day books and DVDs have a 7 day loan period and cannot be renewed.  Items must be returned to the Kent Free Library and not another library in the Portage Library Consortium.  Fines for late returns will accrue at the rate of $.50 per day.

Lucky Day copies cannot be placed on hold online or over the phone and cannot be held for pickup—first come, first served only.  Patrons may check out a maximum of 7 Lucky Day items at a time, and Kent Free Library staff may not borrow the items.

“This new collection has been one of our goals toward increasing and improving service to our community,” says Richardson.  “We anticipate that it will be very popular and are committed to making it a fun and hassle-free way for our patrons to enjoy their favorite titles.”

The library will continue to purchase these same titles for the regular collection, and those copies will still circulate for the regular loan period (14 days) and can be reserved or renewed if there are no holds on the title.

Look for the Lucky Day Collections on green carts with matching green signs and labels in the new book area.  You never know what will be waiting on the shelf each time you visit; it could be your lucky day!

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to meet authors who call Ohio home and maybe get some holiday shopping done! On Saturday, December 7 from 2:00 -3:30 pm, discover new books and talk one-on-one with local authors about what they’ve written. The Kent Free Library Foundation will be selling copies of each title, and the authors will be on hand to sign your selections. A signed book by a local author might make the perfect holiday gift!

Local authors in attendance will include:

G.T. Anders, author of the Vaulan Cycle Books The Tower of Babel and A Chair Between the Rails

Edwin Bixenstine, author the historical westerns Purgary Sands and Marshall Sands and Mrs. Molly

Contemporary romance writer Sharon Hunter, author of The Ranchers Wife and Love on the Ranch

Radford Lee, author of Starlight City, a techno future novel

Dianne Lenihan, author of the children’s fiction book about bullying called The Little Sombrero

Ronald Reed, author of Tallmadge Hill, a non-fiction pictorial account of the 1935 All American Soap Box Derby

No registration is required for this informal afternoon and light refreshments will be served.