Calling All Readers! Special Friends of the Calhoun County Library Book Sale

            Our shelves are crowded and we have to make room at the Calhoun County Library; therefore, we have a great offer on lots of books for you!

            Listen up all of you readers out there! This is going to make your day. We have begun making room on our shelves and the extra books are going to be sold to you! The Friends of the Calhoun County Library have so many books that they want to see on your shelves. There are dozens, if not hundreds, to choose from! We have audiobooks, large print books, DVDs, and more in almost every genre. We have what you’re looking for!

            Here’s the DEAL! Come fill up a tote bag of any materials you like and pay a set price of $15. That’s a steal! The Friends have a Book Sale every Tuesday from 2 PM - 5 PM. See what magical finds you can score!

                        Hardback books $2 (3 for $5)

                        Paperback books $1 (7 for $5)

                        AudioVisual Materials $2 (3 for $5) *BluRay $4 (3 for $10)

                        Board Books for Babies $ .50 (5 for $2)

                        Jigsaw Puzzles $5

Celebrating New Babies

            The Calhoun County Library held its annual Community Baby Shower last week and it was a huge success for welcoming new babies in our county.

            They say raising a child takes a village; therefore, we wanted to support as many new parents as we could by showing that the library is a part of that village. On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, we had fifteen new parents along with their guests attend our Community Baby Shower. We have many community resources here in Calhoun County for parents and there are numerous professional healthcare offices that you might not know are available. We had representatives from the area give away free goodies and information. Representatives from Early Learning Academy, First Steps, OCAB, Family Health Centers, Inc., and MUSC are here to make your life easier with a new baby.

            Of course, we couldn’t have an event for new parents without refreshments and door prizes. There were so many prizes that every parent walked away with items for their new addition. These prizes included diaper genies, toys, white noise machines, and more. We even had Pack n’ Plays, bassinets, bouncy seats, and walkers that were brand new to give away!  Very special door prizes we offered  were handmade blankets from our very own Mother Goose, Mary Jo Springs! As a thank you for attending our event, every parent received a goodie bag with diapers, wipes, bibs, blankets, and multiple board books to start their very own library for their little one.

            The only requirement that we had to attend this event was be a Calhoun County resident and either be expecting, adopting, or having had a baby within 12 months. That’s all!

            We would like to thank so many people for making this event possible. We would first like to thank all of the parents who came to celebrate their child with us. We hope that we made them feel welcome and helped them get ready for their bundle of joy. We would like to thank all of our volunteers who helped to make sure this event ran smoothly, and we would like to especially thank all of the donors who donated funding or items for our door prizes. We would also like to express our gratitude towards all of our speakers and sponsors: Calhoun County, Calhoun County Public Schools, Family Health Centers, Inc., MUSC Health, Help Me Grow South Carolina, Tri-County Commission on Alcohol & Drug Abuse, Head Start, Calhoun County First Steps, OCAB, Friends of the Calhoun County Library, DHEC, and Natural Teacher.

            We had a blast celebrating all of our new parents! This event is so important to our community and we love that we can help ease the stress of welcoming a new life. If you attended and took pictures, feel free to share them with us. Good luck to all the new parents of Calhoun County. We look forward to seeing you return to the library reading to your child and enjoying our children’s programs!

Boo Bash! Extravaganza!

The Calhoun County Library is getting ready to have a scary good time on Halloween night!

If you are out and about trick-or-treating in the town of St. Matthews, stop by the library for some indoor fun! If you need a break from walking around getting candy, come play some games and get books, prizes, and even more candy! We will be having Boo Bash! on Thursday, October 31, 2024, from 5 PM - 7 PM. We will be playing games, which includes Toss Dem Bones, Pin the Spider on the Web, Eyeball Toss, and many more. We will even be bringing back one of the favorites, which is Bat Bullseye! Come take your chances and see if you can shoot hanging bats with a Nerf gun! In addition to winning prizes, we will be giving out candy and something even more exciting: freshly spun cotton candy from Twisted Sugar!

Last year, we had almost 700 trick-or-treaters visit us throughout the night. Let’s see if we can top it this year!

Bookmobile’s Outreach

            The Calhoun County Library has a very active Bookmobile schedule that allows everyone in the community to have access to our portable library!

            Are you an avid reader or movie watcher? Do you want to get free materials without having to leave your home? If you answered yes to both of those questions, we want to help you! We offer home deliveries on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. This is when we come to your house and drop off the materials you requested. You don’t even have to leave your house for the library to come to you.

            In addition to home deliveries, we take our very fancy, full Bookmobile out to many places. We visit The Gressette Center, Counsel of Aging, Press Academy, Beulah United Methodist Church Afterschool Care, and more! During these visits, we do many activities such as making ice cream in a bag, playing BINGO, reading stories, and having fun. We also invite everyone to take a look around the Bookmobile and see if any books, movies, or Playaways spark your interest. You can check out everything right then and there. If you don’t have a library card, there’s no need to worry. We can sign you up for one!

            The Calhoun County Library wants everyone to be able to have access to library materials. So, if you can’t come to us, we will come to you!

Reading Has Never Been So Easy!

            Reading has never been so easy at the Calhoun County Library.

We have a variety of audiobooks ready to be checked out. We have standard CD audiobooks, Playaways that are audiobooks on the go, and even brand new read-along books designed for children called Wonderbooks. Wonderbooks by Playaway are books that have a ready-to-play mechanic that allows kids to hear the words as they follow along with the book. With each player, you can adjust the volume, start and pause, switch the reading modes, and so much more! Wonderbooks make it easy for a child to learn to read with all the great stories and fun sounds. 

Come check out a Wonderbook today and see what all the hype is about!