Derek and Darla's Summer Roadtrip Part 5: Northwestern Suffolk

Welcome back one and all for the fifth installment of Derek and Darla's Summer Road Trip Diaries! This one is SO LATE, EVERYONE! September was a blur of programs, and I'm not entirely clear on how we're four days into October already. Yikessss. Believe it or not, there are still two more summer visit blog posts to come! But this time you'll read about our July 31st visit to four libraries in the Northwestern corner of our lovely county. Let's begin with Commack Public Library.

As many of you have probably heard, Commack is undergoing a full renovation of its Hauppauge Rd. building. We can't wait to see it when it opens (November 18th!!!), and I'm sure the staff and community members feel the same way! If the way they've managed to make their temporary Jericho Turnpike location feel like it never wasn't a library is any indication, they're going to do an amazing job in their new space when it opens.

Children's librarian Anissa demonstrates a highly effective welcoming pose.

The Youth Services desk is at the back of the building. That brick wall behind the reference desk? That's actually a window...a window that's usually covered with horses. The location used to be an OTB, but the mural is the only way you'd know. Apparently the staff like to dress up the horses seasonally, but decided to give them a much-deserved break for the summer.

The reporting desk in all its glory.

I was a big fan of these signs - any kids and teens who won raffle baskets had their pictures displayed. What a great way to get community buy-in and keep kids excited about reading as the baskets start to disappear.

Forgive my blurry photography, but this is a great demonstration about how no space is too challenging to be able to include an early learning nook!

Next we headed up to Northport-East Northport Public Library, my hometown library! We visited the Northport branch on Laurel road.

First we popped into the Teen Room on the main level, where we were drawn in by bright and cheerful colors.

The central banner reads, "Books are not made of pages and words. They're made of hopes, dreams and possibilities"

The teen raffle prize board, filled with goodies!

We loved the kindness aspect of Northport's decorations.

Hardhats and tools feature names of busy readers.

Derek tries out the DIY tool bench - super cute laminated paper tools velcroed to a poster on the wall. Love it!

The NENPL reporting setup. Fun fact - that Summer Reading Page used to come to all my sister's birthday parties when she was little. I'm not in denial!!

Next up was Huntington Library, where they've been testing out a summer learning-type program that incorporates activities besides reading into folks' summer goals.

A look at Huntington's activity book, received by each child who signed up.

Love this use of the official SRC artwork! So colorful!

Some prizes, including wiki stix and little planter pots.

Raffle prizes were for local businesses.

An awesome mural that anyone could contribute to!

Our last stop of the day was Cold Spring Harbor Library, where Caitlin Sempowich gave us a tour of the children's area!

Happy window workers are ready to build a better world!

Nothing like a friendly face to greet you at the library ;)

Love this lego board - had to go for the side angle so you can see how tall some of the stacks are!

The In BeTween section features a charming rainbow of ALA Libraries are for Everyone posters.

READ signs decorated by patrons.

Check out those prizes!!

A flock of Little Free Libraries waiting to be decorated.

That's it for today! Stay tuned for two more one-season-late road trip blogs!

(Before you go, if you want to discuss past and future Summer Reading Club plans, don't miss our Children's Summer Reading Wrap Up/Planning Meeting on November 21st!)

Derek and Darla's Summer Road Trip Part 4: South Fork!

Here's what Battle of the Books did to my brain: I meant to write these blogs in strict chronological order of when we made the visits, but not only was the last post out of order, I can't figure out what day we actually went! But there's nothing for it except to keep going, so on to the South Fork!

Derek and I made our first of two full-fork forays on Thursday, July 26. We made some stops on the way out and some on the way back, which helped to break up the long but beautiful ride.  Our first stop was the Hampton Library at Bridgehampton, where we were given a tour by library director Kelly Harris.

this corner in the teen area beckons invitingly, with cheerful sunlight, an inspirational cork board and lotsa duct tape

Derek demonstrates the proper way to enjoy an amazing reading nook

FRAGGLES!!! 

loving this global SRC participation poster

vines make an inviting addition to the children's room reference desk

Our next stop was the East Hampton Free Library, which has a fantastic old-world ambiance that's kind of hard to describe (I've tried and deleted several), so you'll just have to visit it yourself to see what I mean! This was my first time seeing the completed teen room in all its glory, so get ready for a YA-heavy photo set!

a festive call to action greets you in the welcome area

looks like the kids got into the legos in the children's area!

still has that new car smell!

Derek found this craft station, which is for the best - I would have used ALL THE SHELLS

"Draw what you Feel" drawing contest with gallery display - LOVE IT! 

both the giantness of the whiteboard and the ready-to-go attitude of the markers make me happy

Next stop, Amagansett! This cozy library is nestled right in the heart of the town, a great location! We explored the children's area, which is small but mighty! I'm all about their Summer Reading progress tracking setup. One of the stacks has been transformed into a path with five stops. Whenever you finish a book, you add a sticker to the next stop. Kids who read five books could have their artwork of where they want the path to lead at the end of the aisle! I love this because it creates a physical manifestation of their progress over the summer, and gives the kids a chance to show off artistic skills! Check it out in the pics below:

the path!

 I was silly and forgot to take a close-up picture of the current main destination, so here's a blurry zoom-in. Ten points to whoever can guess what it's a scene of!

I was distracted by this Dungeons and Dragons fantasy scene. An artist after my own heart! Check out those shop names!

More past-featured artwork

After a quick lunch in Amagansett, we made our next visit to the island's farthest-East library, Montauk! We felt like lucky ducks for arriving at almost the same as Youth Services head Jackie Bitonti, who let us photograph her also small-but-mighty area.

Jackie's command station

a fine array of raffle options on display

oddly welcoming for two carnivores

Summer Reading Superstars light the wall/sky above some computer stations

For our final stop of the day, we took a long drive back west to Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton, where there were many delights in store for us, from fantastic decorations to an in-progress program. This was another first visit for me, and it didn't disappoint!

a fleet of busy readers welcomes you into the children's area

THAT MURAL THOUGH!!!!

UH BUT WAIT, THERE'S A DRAGON??? And is that...

A BOAT!!!! I, a fool, didn't photograph the other side, which is an early literacy playspace (be still my heart)

 There was also an art program going on in the back room with some very soothing classical music that made me want to grab my paintbrush and jump right in! I thought I had more pictures but I guess I was distracted by the boat (what can I say but ahoy); the entire room is gorgeous! Very spacious, with an awesome second level that currently features middlegrade fiction (moving up in the most literal sense!). Next we headed downstairs where we found YA head Casey Feyhn with her afternoon summercamp group set up playing games!

I see so many games I want to play!!

the kids were clearly having a blast - what a great place to spend a hot afternoon

And that wraps up our South Fork day! Thanks as always to everyone who tolerated our intrusions!
Stay tuned for more!

Derek and Darla's Summer Road Trip Part 2: Southwestern Suffolk

On Thursday, July 21, Derek and I set off west on that great highway called Sunrise to hit some of the libraries tucked in the Southwestern corner of our lovely county. In this post you'll find: West Islip, Babylon, West Babylon, Copiague and Amityville. It's on the long side, but only because we want the pictures to be nice and big so you can see all the details!

Our first stop was a serendipitous last-minute addition - we got to visit West Islip Public Library to drop off our button maker for their Library Lock-In! And boy were we glad we did, because they have some truly adorable decorations going on in their children's area:

Loving these building-themed endcaps

A construction-themed window treatment that has fooled some patrons

The ever-glorious window fish looking lovely on a sunny day

Construction vehicles: the perennial toddler-pleaser

Next we headed to the beautiful village of Babylon to poke our heads in and see what they had brewing. As always, it was some really great theming, as you can see below! We chatted about their summer programming and fantastic array of raffle baskets, which includes parent baskets - a clever idea that boosts involvement and even gets the kids excited!

Summer Reading prizes greet you in the library lobby

LOVING the I-spy fishtank trend

A Lego-licious themed bulletin board

zoom in on that Lego board detailing

Real building models from the child of a staff member who's
studying to be an architect

 Our next stop was West Babylon Public Library. One of the first things we noticed when we went in? A furry friend!! Check out their new library guinea pig, Winston Turbo, meeting with some young admirers:

Currently planning a training to discuss the perfection of the name Winston Turbo

In the main lobby there was another new feature we loved - a Kindness wall wrapping around one of the big columns near the circulation desk. Children, teens and adults add on sticky notes with their ideas of what it means to be kind and how to build a better world with kindness!

We also checked out the teen area, where some fantastic raffle baskets were on display:

Next we stopped in at Lindenhurst, where we committed the reprehensible crime of forgetting to photograph the bearded dragons. I'm upset at myself for this because they were being really adorable  spiky scaly friends. Next time I'll take extra dragon photos. Maybe we'll do a whole post just about library pets! Annnyway, we were greeted at the door by some delightful dragons, after which we checked out the newly-rearranged children's area -- looking fantastic!

don't the colors draw you right in?!

Inside there were some fantastic decorations, including a fun gear bulletin board and a construction-themed photo backdrop, which Derek took full advantage of:

this picture makes me really happy

Afterwards we checked out the upstairs teen space, the Teen Zone. They redid it a while back but this was my first time seeing it, and WOW!

librarians in their element

Love those bright bright colors!

Our penultimate stop was at Copiague Memorial Library, and its freshly-painted children's room fits right in with our set of delightful color schemes (not to mention dragons):

LOOK AT THE DRAGONS:

I want my house to look like this

They also have a too-adorable Summer Reading reporting setup, the Book Burrow:

I spy one happy reader

Not only do these lucky kiddos get to chat in a cozy cabin, they also have the opportunity to win the best of prizes, a Number Two Pencil:

GET IT? :)

Our final stop of the day was Amityville, where they've really outdone themselves with decorations! The main part of the building is "Twilight at the Museum" themed. Check this out!!

Amazing!! Over in the children's area, they did it up construction style. There are cozy tents for reading in:

A Lego wall:

HOMEMADE POOL NOODLE LINCOLN LOGS:

And a Lego-man book return slot:

Too cute!!

Thanks to all the libraries who let us barge on in and took the time to hang out with us! Stay tuned for more road trip post goodness!