'We're thrilled': Local summer library programs return for kids, adults following pandemic

After jumping over coronavirus-related hurdles, local library programs are back this summer — and there are offerings for all ages.

Murrysville Community Library’s annual summer reading program, titled “Tails and Tales” this year, has begun and will last through Aug. 6.

“We’re really grateful that we can be open,” said Amy Riegner, the library’s director. “Last year was so depressing. We were a library … without our physical building.”

Riegner said “out of necessity” last summer, the library introduced Beanstack — a virtual reading tracker for all ages to receive badges that earn virtual raffle tickets redeemable for prizes.

“There wasn’t really a feasible way of doing a summer reading program at that time,” Riegner said, referencing the height of the pandemic.

Murrysville Community Library is keeping its reading tracking largely virtual with Beanstack as opposed to switching back to paper this summer, even as coronavirus mitigation efforts are eased.

Most of its children’s events will be held outdoors, Riegner said, and many adult programs will be held in the library’s new TechNook indoor programming space, with some larger all-ages events held at the Murrysville Community Center.

“Turtle Tales: The History and Recovery of Turtle Creek” was an all-ages program held at the community center last week, featuring a presentation by the Turtle Creek Watershed Association and live turtles.

Todd Seitz and two of his daughters — Caisee, 9, and Bailee, 5 — enjoyed gazing at the turtles. Seitz said it was the family’s first time at a summer library program.

“These two love it,” said Seitz of Murrysville. “They love to learn.”

Seitz said the family will look to get more involved with the library as “things open back up” following the pandemic.

Though the reading program only began June 14, Becky Martinazzi, coordinator of youth services at Murrysville Community Library, said a lot of kids already have logged enough hours to complete their reading goals for the summer.

“(It) shows reading is a priority, still, for a lot of families,” Martinazzi said. “The summer reading program has been the perfect opportunity to get families back checking out books.”

Throughout the pandemic, Martinazzi said the library’s staff didn’t have the chance to engage with families like usual. This summer, though, it’s almost all “back to business,” Riegner said.

“We’re overjoyed,” Riegner said. “There’s a lot of excitement on staff.”

Hungry for activity

At Greensburg Hempfield Area Library, all summer programming will continue virtually aside from outdoor Stage Right! performances and storytime.

Similar to Murrysville, the Greensburg-based library also began using the app and website Beanstack for its summer reading challenge, which runs until Aug. 9 this year.

“Last year, obviously, we had to really reinvent (ourselves),” said Jessica Kiefer, head children’s librarian. “That was kind of our training wheels.”

Kiefer recalled it was “a minor miracle” the library was able to pull together Zoom events last year, which have “doubled or tripled” this summer.

“A lot of the programs have been pretty filled over Zoom,” Kiefer said. “Parents and children are very hungry for things to do.”

Some of its virtual programs this summer include a gardening program through the Michael J. and Aimee Rusinko Kakos Fund, STEM and STEAM programs for kids, “beebots” to practice software coding, a kindergarten readiness program and the “Great Greensburg Scavenger Hunt.”

The hunt includes “secret codes” housed at 15 local businesses in downtown Greensburg, Kiefer said, which can be entered on Beanstack for virtual badges redeemable for prizes.

“Summertime can be challenging keeping kids occupied,” Kiefer said. “This is a way to explore and get off screens.”

Kiefer said students tend to “lose ground academically” during the summer, even before the pandemic, which requires many teachers to spend the beginning of school in the fall catching them up.

“I think that’s something that’s on a lot of families’ minds,” Kiefer said. “By engaging in these kinds of enriching activities that we can offer … that’s one of the easiest ways that families can stop that ‘summer slide.’ ”

Though this was prominent before the onset of coronavirus, Kiefer said she predicts “we’ll see it even more” this year because of the hardships everyone has experienced.

Cesare Muccari, executive director of the Westmoreland Library Network, previously was director of Greensburg’s library for 27 years. He said he believes people are ready to get back out into the world.

“Obviously, the timing is perfect… that people want to get back in the groove of things,” Muccari said.

Learning environment

On the other hand, Delmont Public Library “didn’t really feel the impact” of the coronavirus pandemic, said Denni Grassel, the library’s director.

The library’s new location — an eco-friendly building complete with solar panels — opened for business in January, and the outside of the structure mostly was complete already when the pandemic hit.

While the library was closed last summer, Grassel said the library pivoted its focus to what was important to its staff.

“What we found … was we wanted to shift from a place you come to for entertainment to a place where you come to learn,” Grassel said. “Ninety-five percent of what we do at the library now has a learning focus to it.”

Grassel explained the “pause button” and “refocus” covid-19 provided the library was “beneficial.”

Since the new location opened — across the parking lot from the old one — Grassel said she’s seen increased circulation, foot traffic and overall program attendance.

“(It’s) just a tremendous response from our community,” Grassel said. “We’re thrilled.”

This summer, Grassel said community members can expect interactive learning. For instance, patrons can watch the library’s 120 caterpillars grow into monarch butterflies and be released into its garden.

Grassel said Delmont’s library has become more of a “gathering place” and “community center.”

“It’s a really nice thing, just to see young moms come who interact with grandmas who interact with preschoolers,” Grassel said.

Muccari emphasized the importance of summer library programs for kids’ development and said parents can play their part by setting an example of reading themselves or reading to their kids.

“(Kids) tend to take out books when you bring them into the children’s programs,” Muccari said. “If children read when they’re younger, they will be better citizens.”