Did you know there will be a Solar Eclipse on Monday August 21st at 11:45am? Some of our customers do, and they're already asking what the Library plans to do, so please read the following to inform yourself about the activities we have in store...
Our Special Collections department procured 1,000 eclipse glasses to give away to our customers. We will hand out about 50 glasses at the kickoff and the rest will be available at all library locations starting in August. There is a limited supply, one per customer, while supplies last.
In addition, to prepare and educate our customers for this event I've worked on creating several eclipse events as part of the Library's Leadership program with Kayci Barnett and Amy Martin, which was funded by a grant from the Friends of the Library.
Out Of This World First Friday Art Walk
Friday, Aug. 4, 5-7 p.m., RA, courtyard
Family event. Enjoy live music, appetizers and see beautiful prints of planets and galaxies of the universe. Visit the Discover Tech exhibit and learn about the upcoming solar eclipse. Plus 3 craft stations: Galaxy Dough, Make Your Own Spacecraft/Rover/Alien, and space-related coloring pages. In the InfoZone - Say it with Stars: An Astronomy-Inspired Fiction/Poetry Reading - Get excited for the Great American Solar Eclipse by listening to local writers read short pieces relating literally or thematically to space and astronomy. Refreshments provided.
Build a Solar Eclipse
All Ages
Friday, Aug. 4, 4 p.m., RA, Youth Program Room
Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2-3 p.m., GV, 4-5 p.m., GI
Friday, Aug. 11, 3-4 p.m., BK
Wednesday, Aug. 16, 4:30 p.m., LU
Thursday, Aug. 17, 5-6 p.m., RA, Idea Factory-2nd floor
Saturday, Aug. 19, 3-4 p.m., LB
Monday, Aug. 21, 11-1 p.m., PW
Build scale models of the Earth, moon and sun to create a solar eclipse.
Observe the Solar Eclipse
Monday, Aug, 21, 11-noon, all locations
Use solar viewing glasses to see the solar eclipse safely from the library. The eclipse will hit 90 percent totality around 11:45 a.m. Some locations will also screen the total eclipse from locations that are in the path of totality.
This information will be coming out as a flyer and poster soon, but it's also on the back page of the Adult Summer Reading Guide.
If you'd like to learn more about the Great American Solar Eclipse, here are some links:
Eclipse 101 from NASA - https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-101
Eclipse Crash Course - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRgua7xceDA
Glossary of Terms - https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/SEglossary.html
Day of Eclipse - We should start seeing it at 11:45am https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/nation/