Like other branches of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the Driving Park Branch has worked hard to offer children, teens, and adults alike with unique activities and opportunities to earn prizes for reading through the Summer Reading Program. Quay Barnes, Customer Service Associate, and Brian Johnson, Homework Help Center Coordinator, have helped lead the effort along with two community interns, Brittany and Torre, to organize Summer Club activities and offer summer lunches to young people in the community.

Throughout June and July, Driving Park has offered activities in conjunction with the Columbus Museum of Art and the Columbus Zoo, among others, to provide interactive learning opportunities to the community. The library has also offered specific opportunities for teens, such as Team Gaming, to provide and promote access to their local library.

Though the Summer Reading Club’s schedule ends July 31st, Driving Park’s Summer Lunch Program continues through late August. The program has served as many as 40 children and teens on certain days to provide an appreciated community service. As always, the Friends of the Library are proud to help support the Summer Reading Club and Lunch Program across the Columbus Metropolitan Library system.

Momentum is starting to build around the library levy with the launch of two important sites. KeepCMLstrong.org is the official campaign site, and it is up and running. Visit the site to register to volunteer, sign up for yard signs and donate.

Facebook.com/keepcmlstrong is the levy’s Facebook page. Right now the aim is to get as many friends signed up as possible. Visit the page and friend it, then encourage all your friends and acquaintances to do the same.

Let’s do all we can to make sure this levy passes on November 2!

Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Arts & Media Division and the Friends of the Library proudly present the Staff Art Show. The show will feature original works of art by CML staff members. Work will be selected through a blind jury process of distinguished art professionals, including Ohio Art Council’s Ken Emerick, CCAD Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Graduate Studies Kelly Malec-Kosak and Carnegie Gallery Curator Stephanie Rond.

Please join us for the opening reception Thursday, July 15 from 5-7 pm in the Main Library’s Carnegie Gallery (2nd floor). The show will run until August 27.

Join us again this Saturday for another great concert! Click here for more details.

Library Journal and Gale, part of Cengage Learning, today announced Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), has been named 2010 Library of the Year. Click here to read the full story.

You’re invited to the Topiary Park on Saturday, June 12 for the first PBJ & Jazz concert of the season! It’s sure to be a fantastic afternoon with storytime, a concert, and an art activity. For details click here.

PBJ & Jazz at the Topiary Park: Jazz for Kids and Families is presented by Friends of the Topiary Park and sponsored by the Jennifer Michel Keefer Memorial Fund at the Columbus Foundation, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and Friends of the Library. Exclusive media support is provided by WCBE 90.5 FM. In-kind support is provided by Columbus Recreation and Parks and the Discovery District Special Improvement District.

While the Friends are quick to point out that libraries are vital resources within our communities, it is clear that library patrons and supporters around the state recognize this as well.

Check out this Columbus Dispatch editorial. It reminds us that, indeed, citizens do take great pride in their local libraries and appreciate the value and services they provide.  

And it is more than just lip service. That sentiment was confirmed at the voting booth on May 4 when 86 percent of all library levies were successful in gaining voter support.

Keep supporting your public library!

Friends of the Library and ROY G BIV are pleased to announce their latest exhibit: Borrowed Words. It is an exhibition exploring the use of words as visual and appropriated elements. The words in these artworks are “borrowed” from such sources as speeches, novels and songs. This exhibition examines what happens when these words are transcribed into visual media. The exhibit will run May 6 through June 16.

Please join the Friends of the Library and ROY G BIV for an opening reception Thursday, May 6 from 5-7pm in the Main Library’s Carnegie Gallery (2nd floor).

Java’s Cafe is open for business at Main Library today!

Check out all the great things our library did in 2009. The Annual Report is now on-line. You will be proud and excited, and, given the budget cuts we sustained last year, amazed and grateful. You can check it out here.

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