More than 90 family members of all ages showed up recently for the weekly Family Library Night at Housman Elementary School, 6705 Housman. The 9-year-old program meets for two hours every Thursday evening.
Organized by librarian Gusje Moore, the program hasn’t changed all that much from what began as a grant program back in 2000. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Parents are encouraged to get a library card and check out up to 10 books. On Oct. 2, parents and their children checked out armloads of books – 577 items in all.
“We often have parents checking out easy English books for themselves because they want to practice English. Ninety percent of the folks that we see are bilingual,” Gusje says. “It’s all very informal, and that is why I think that it has been successful – a family can come for a little while or stay for the entire two hours.”
The informal, come-and-go meeting even attracts a set of Moms who chat on the couch each week, the librarian says.
Over the years, Gusje has picked up at garage sales a variety of educational games, puzzles, and simple toys like cars, trucks and building blocks.
This year, she has noticed an increase in Housman Elementary graduates. “They flock to the computers to do their homework and research. Our poor, overworked Dell laptops are having a hard time keeping up with demand. Word is out that we have free Wi-Fi. Maybe we should consider adding an espresso machine!”