by Jill Forman
Two important events to cover this issue:
One – The Friends of the Library book sales are back!
(Have to say here, the next sale is approved and happening, but as always any Public Health ruling could intervene.)
The Friends are having a book sale on Saturday, October 24, in the H.P. Foster Library back parking lot, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. There will be quality used books, arranged by category. Books will be in car trunks and a couple of tables. Buyers must wear masks and stay six feet apart. Flow and number of customers will be directed. Gloves and hand sanitizer will be provided. Books will be placed in bags by the customers, and paid for with exact change or credit card. In other words, every safety precaution will be observed.
A good idea to check the Friends’ website before going: venturafriendsofthelibrary.org
Two – Halloween is happening at the library!
No trick-or-treating? No costume parade at school? No parties? No problem! The library has you covered. Philip Yochum, whose official title is
“Librarian Specialist, Children & Teen Services” but I suspect is a big kid when it comes to Halloween, and his awesome Teen Action Group (TAG) have been working to make Halloween special no matter what.
In the past this was what they did, per Yochum. “For the past four years (this year would have been our fifth year), we turned the 2nd Floor of the E.P. Foster Library into a haunted house (library). We call the event Horror in the Stacks. Each year I had 50-80 volunteers from all over Ventura in both middle and high school. The volunteers would break into smaller groups with different scary themes and costumes and plan a 90 minute haunted library. Last year we offered a Halloween craft table for anyone who wanted to do that.”
Since that can’t happen right now, here is his plan. “This year since we can’t do a haunted library, we are going to read spooky stories on Zoom. I have a few volunteers and myself pre-recording ourselves reading aloud spooky stories. There will be two age groups. One for ages 2-8 and the other for 9-17. The second group will be a lot more scary. We will have stories in both English and Spanish. We are excited to engage with the public in Halloween activities in the way that we can this year. The spooky stories should be a lot of fun!”
Stories will be accessible on October 29. For the younger group, 6:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. For the braver, older group, 7:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. To access the link, go to the Ventura library home page, vencolibrary.org/calendar. Scroll down to October 29 and there is a link to Virtual Horror in the Stacks: Spooky Stories 1 and 2.
For Halloween and the rest of the year, you can be afraid of many things but know your library is there for all of you!
