By Payton Tholstrup

The Clay Center Carnegie Library recently hired Brittany Girton as their new director. She shared some of her plans and hopes for the future of the library, as well as what the next several months will look like with the upcoming holidays.

When school starts back up, it can be challenging to get kids into the library for programs, especially with all the extracurricular activities going on. Despite this, Brittany still has new ideas she is hoping to implement. One idea is starting a crafting club for teens and adults, as well as a homeschool hub where homeschooled families can meet up and do activities together.

Another idea she has is implementing new collections, such as a board game collection, home steading collection, and a tool collection. “Did you know that police officers don’t carry unlock kits in their cars anymore to help people who have locked their keys in their cars? I’m hoping that the tool collection can contain things such as unlock kits, jumper cables, and a variety of small tools that patrons can check out,” she shared. She wants the community to know that libraries can offer more than just books and magazines.

The library also acquired two new telescopes patrons can checkout and use. She is currently researching programs to use in tandem with them.

Lately, Brittney has been working on a propagation plant station. “As a plant enthusiast, this is really exciting for me. With the new houseplant trend, I thought it would be fun to set up a propagation station at the library where you can bring an established root cutting of your favorite plant and exchange it for another.”

While she is still researching various programs and ideas and deciding what she wants to try to implement, Brittany has been working on adding more diverse materials to the current selection of books. She has also been going through the reference section to remove any outdated materials.

The next several months are busy at the library. With the solar eclipse on October 14th, the library has purchased 500 pairs of solar eclipse glasses to hand out to the community for free. In December, the library will also be celebrating National Gingerbread Day. They will host a Christmas pajama party where kids can decorate gingerbread cookies, drink hot chocolate, and visit Santa. “We’re still ironing out all the details for this event, but we’re very excited,” she said.