Summer’s a great time to try something new, to explore the world around us and enjoy all that longer
days can offer. The Library’s a great place to do all these things with dozens of programs each week, access to thousands of movies, music, books and more in both physical and electronic form, free passes to museums or the many other services we offer our patrons.
One of the big trends in today’s marketplace is what many are referring to as the “experience economy.” A recent Eventbrite study found that 3 in 4 Millennials would prefer a desirable experience than buy a desirable object. Of course, Public Libraries have been providing “desirable experiences” for a long time.
Here’s a quick overview of some of the “experiences” you can have by visiting one of our libraries this summer – many of which are designed for the whole family. We hope you find something fun to do, see or learn about.
The Wild Series brings the outdoors indoors and our upcoming programs continue the trend. Wild Napa: California Oaks (July 10 at 7 p.m.) and Wild American Canyon: Lampreys (July 25 at 6:30 p.m.) are just two of the programs we have coming your way.
For the gardeners in your life, our monthly partnership with the UC Davis Cooperative Extension means the Master Gardener’s series (American Canyon and Napa) will ensure your garden thrives. And the summer tie-in with our annual “Tomato & Herb Days” lets you share the bounty (and growing secrets) with your neighbors.
3D printing for tweens and parents/caregivers (Napa), “crafternoons” (American Canyon and Calistoga) or our (Yountville) programs let you stretch your design legs and come away with something truly unique.
Our Library of Things collection lets you test out a guitar, ukulele or sewing machine before you commit to permanently sharing your home with one. Or, you can go birding or star gazing with our binocular pack or telescope kit.
Finally, Discover & Go (napalibrary.org/databases) gives you access to dozens of free venues throughout the Bay Area including favorites like Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences, local museum di Rosa, or some off the beaten path venues like the Pacific Pinball Museum or the Presidential Yacht.
So if you’re part of the shift to the “experience economy,” come in, explore and try something new. Plus like all library activities, you can leave your credit card behind. Find out what’s happening at your branch at napalibrary.org/events.
Now that we’ve told you all the great stuff you can do at the library, we’re making it easier for you to actually come: Expanded hours at all locations.
The Napa County Library offers many things to engage families – be it books, movies, music, guitars, telescopes, ebooks, and so on. But there’s one thing our patrons frequently requested that we weren’t able to provide more of until recently:
Open hours.
That will change on July 1 when all four of the Napa County Libraries will be open at least one additional day per week.
In Napa that means we’ll be open every day of the week. In American Canyon and Calistoga it means we’ll be open Monday through Saturday and in the Town of Yountville we’ll be open Tuesday through Saturday.
These new hours are a direct result of your requests for many years. While online resource use has literally doubled in the last 18 months, there’s no substitute for a friendly face at the front desk, an unknown gem found randomly while browsing our Hot Picks or the mad dash to the Reference Desk for help on the just remembered project due “tomorrow!”
Over the last 10 years we’ve had the opportunity to either move into an entirely new facility or completely remodel an older one. Once the task of making our buildings meet the needs of today (and tomorrow), we took a look at how else we could make certain that your visits helped achieve the goal of “enriching lives with books and information.” And it became clear that additional hours were how we could do that.
There were a lot of people that helped make these changes possible. Our Library Commission, Friends of the Library groups, Library Foundation, the Board of Supervisors, and many more – all of whom continue to champion our role in the community. If you see one of them, please tell them thank you. Your voices and their support made this possible.
So with that, we hope to see you again soon – on whatever day and time works best for you and your family.