(*Spoiler coming) . . . A BIG thank you for the Town of Wilkesboro and The Health Foundation for providing our Check-Out Wilkes collection. The Check-Out Wilkes Program provides the community of Wilkes County with the opportunity to checkout equipment for various leisure activities. Not the traditional things you would expect to borrow from a library. Newly added items include; Pop-up Soccer Goals Set with Soccer Ball, T-Ball Bat and Batting Set, Tennis Racquets and Tennis Balls, a Rampshot Game Set, Slammo Game Set, a Skateboard, Ring Toss Games, and a Golf Practice Net. A free active library membership is all that you need.
During Open House hours, we are inviting patrons to visit our out-going director, Jane Blackburn. Jane has been leader of the Appalachian Regional Library System for the last ten years and is set to retire in January 2023. Under her leadership, we have strengthened collaborations with Ashe and Watauga to meet our community’s needs in a variety of ways. Her grant-writing skills have added new services and materials to our libraries. She brought us all together through two five-year plans, highlighting our service priorities of Reading, Technology, Life-Long Learning, and Library as a Place. With the recent pandemic years, Jane worked hard to provide safety measures for both staff and patrons in all three county libraries. She has been a great friend and mentor to me and I know we all will reflect back on the wisdom she leaves with us for years to come.
Following the library’s Holiday Open House, Wilkes Acoustic Folk Society will be entertaining with Christmas music and more refreshments from 4:30 -6:30 p.m. on the library’s top floor, around the Christmas tree. We hope you will join the festivities . . . it is sure to be a jolly good time!