There’s more than meets the eye at Library

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The annual Canyon Lake Library Summer Reading Program began June 20 and includes prizes for kids, teens and adults who participate. “Read for the Win” is this summer’s theme and, in addition to weekly prizes from local businesses, the top extra-reading prize this year is a full-day pass to Rock Fitness in Murrieta, a local rock climbing facility. The program runs through July 30.

This year the Canyon Lake Library is participating with the California Library challenge to get one million people reading at least five books over the summer.  This includes adults and children of all ages. Summer reading program books can be used for becoming “one in a million” with the California Library challenge.

When you mention the word “library” to most people, what comes to their mind? Rows and rows of books, toddlers’ story time programs, or people quietly reading? Like the captain of the Titanic, people are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Ninety percent of an iceberg is under water, unseen. There is a whole lot more going on in our community Library than most people see or know.

The Canyon Lake Library was started by the Canyon Lake Woman’s Club in 1980 and was operated solely by volunteers that filed, categorized, shelved and helped people check books in and out. Becoming an official branch of the Riverside County Library system five years later, the Library continued to grow, eventually moving and expanding.

Thirty-five years after its inception, the Library that started out in a 750-foot space now occupies 2,725 square feet in the Towne Center, next to City Hall and the POA offices.

The Canyon Lake Library is connected with 35 other branch libraries in a cooperative that shares materials. Books, DVDs, magazines and music CDs can be requested from, picked up, and dropped off at any of the libraries in the Riverside County Library system.

The Library truly does have something for everyone in every age group. Many of the resources are online on the Riverside County Library website and can be accessed from one’s home computer. So, let’s take a look at the rest of that iceberg.

Adults, are you changing careers or looking for a job? “Career Transitions,” located online through the Library Database tab, provides free assessments to help people identify new opportunities, fast-growing occupations in the local area or across the country, and potential industries to pursue, based on their skills and interests.

For adults or seniors who want information on a wide range of health topics, the Library “Health Resource Center” is a full service resource for credible health-related research. The resource center gives you access to periodicals, reference books and pamphlets from Clinical Reference Systems. This is a valuable tool when doing research for loved ones suffering from diseases such as cancer, diabetes, ADD and ADHD.

For those traveling to another country, would you like to learn how to communicate in the foreign language before you leave for your business trip or vacation? The Library offers a free online language learning system called Mango Languages, which teaches actual conversation skills in a variety of languages.

Most teens know the Library is a better source than Google for credible references for their term papers (through Biography in Context and Literature Resource Center). And they probably know they can get homework help via free online tutoring with BrainFuse. But how many know that the Library is also a source of free music downloads through Freegal? My teens were excited to find out about this!

The Library also offers teens, and others needing to pass the DMV driving test, free online practice tests. In a new partnership with Driving-test.org, the Library system provides this resource to assist teens in passing the written test required to obtain a California driver’s permit and license.

For teens and young adults heading off to college, the Library can help you find a way to pay for your education. “Tuition Funding Sources” is linked to the Library and designed to help students find scholarships through its scholarship database that contains over $41 billion in awards. Career personality tests as well as college and career information also are available.

And finally, for the toddlers, elementary kids and tweens, the Library is a place that encourages reading readiness, reading enjoyment and life-long learning. Through the expanded children’s section, pre-school story time, children’s Spanish program, movie nights, and special performers throughout the year, the Library gives early exposure to literacy and learning communities outside of traditional education.

You may be wondering, how in the world is all this possible? How does the Library provide for all these services? Yes, the Library system is a recipient of state funding, but it’s also supported by the local clubs and people of Canyon Lake. It supports, and is supported by, our community.

One hundred percent of the funding for the Library’s special programs is provided by Friends of the Library and city and community partners. Sandra Brautigam, branch manager of the Canyon Lake Library, is grateful for the opportunity to offer programs like the Summer Reading Program because of community funding and support.

There is more than what meets the eye at our Canyon Lake Library. Explore the online Library resources, stop by to sign up for the many programs, and see for yourself the rest of the iceberg.

To sign up for the Summer Reading Program, stop by the Library during normal business hours: Monday, 10 to 7; Wednesday, 10 to 6; Friday, 10 to 6; or Saturday. 10-3. It’s located inside the City Hall building.