Looking for a new source for online entertainment and educational resources while you’re spending time at home? Turn to Whatcom County's library. In addition to the wealth of digital content such as streaming music and movies, eBooks and eAudiobooks, genealogy tools and more on wcls.org, the Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) is now creating original programming for WCLS@Home. The daily online feature created by library staff is everything you love about your local library --- at home.
The WCLS@Home weekly schedule is posted Sunday evenings at wcls.org/info. The programming is available on WCLS’s Facebook page (@wclslibraries) and its website. WCLS@Home features include daily lessons for the youngest readers, virtual book clubs, videos from the library system’s archives, and poetry written by local teens. There are also short, creative videos from library staff showing how they are spending time at home and which library resources are keeping them inspired.
If you need a recommendation for a new eBook or eAudiobook, library staff will be taking requests and making recommendations in a WCLS@Home feature called MatchBook every Wednesday from 7- 8 p.m. on WCLS’s Facebook page. In the first MatchBook session, library staff matched 35 bibliophiles with recommended titles available for download with their library cards. The library system is also inviting the community to read and discuss the same book: The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle written by author Leslie Connor. WCLS has arranged for unlimited digital copies of the eBook and eAudiobook for download with a library card. Sign up to receive discussion questions and to participate in video chats with the author at wcls.org/masonbuttle.
As part of WCLS@Home, library staff are also creating brief and authoritative resource guides to help community members navigate the COVID-19 health crisis and related economic impact. The two-page information sheets are carefully researched by library staff and will be available on WCLS’s website at wcls.org/help as downloadable and printable documents. Staff will also send printed sheets through the mail or email upon request for people who do not have reliable access to the internet. The first resource guide provides information on unemployment assistance and the Federal Stimulus Payment. A new information sheet is available every Thursday. To have guides sent via the mail, call library staff between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. daily at (360) 305-3600 and ask for assistance. Or email refwcls@wcls.org to request help via email.
In the coming weeks, WCLS@Home will also feature a collaborative art project, online scavenger hunts, and the introduction of this year’s Read & Share book. For more information, visit wcls.org.info.
In accordance with public health guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19, WCLS closed library buildings to the public on Monday, March 16. The closure affects all 10 WCLS library branches in rural Whatcom County, the Bookmobile, and the Administrative Services building on Northwest Drive. The library system has also closed its book drops and has discontinued until further notice delivery of library materials to homebound individuals and to the Whatcom County jail. Patrons are asked to hold on to their library materials until library buildings reopen. Due dates have been extended. There are never overdue fines. Library events and meeting room reservations have been postponed until further notice. For more information about library services and operations, visit wcls.org/info.
