As the Arlington Heights Memorial Library celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, its celebrations include more than promoting books. At Thursday’s open house at the library’s Reading Room location in the Arlington Heights Senior Center the fun will include a scavenger hunt, teams of contestants competing in a game show, a photo wall, Kona Ice and other refreshments, as well as a visit by the library’s bookmobile.
Patrons enjoy a game of tic-tac-toe in the library’s new Engagement Station at the Arlington Heights Senior Center.
Officially called, Celebrating a Century of Fun, the free event takes place from 1:30- 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Arlington Heights Senior Center. Register for the event, here.
“We’re expecting a large crowd with nearly 200 people registered to attend so far,” says William Tolan, Communications Specialist for the library, “and we’re expecting a lot of drop-ins as well from people who stop by the Senior Center on a regular basis.”
Interest in the celebration reflects the library’s engagement with its senior patrons overall. Last year, the library’s Senior Center Reading Room location drew 19,766 people to visit.
Look for free library giveaways at Thursday’s open house.
“Just like the library, it’s a location where people can check out materials, pick up library holds, attend tech classes, enjoy book discussions and more,” Tolan says. “The collection there is made up of 1,753 items.”
The Senior Center Reading Room continues to evolve. One interesting update to the space this year was installing an engagement station that gets updated monthly. This station features activities such as crossword puzzles, coloring pages and more, and provides benefits for cognitive health and social interaction.
“It’s exciting,” says Katie Myers, Senior & Accessible Services Manager for the library. “Change can be hard sometimes, but we have found that by moving things around a little bit that we’re getting more engagement with different parts of the collection and we’re having different types of conversations.”
Just like the main library, Senior Center patrons can check out materials from the Senior Center’s extensive collection.
The library is one of a number of service providers located at the Senior Center, in order to offer its many patrons a one-stop-shop experience. Its partner agencies include: the Village of Arlington Heights, Endeavor Health, the Arlington Heights Park District, Meals on Wheels, Catholic Charities, the Nurses’ Lending Closet, Connections to Care and the library.
Senior Center officials say these partner agencies collaborate to create a vibrant hub for people 55 and over to thrive, by learning new things, meeting new people, creating, volunteering and exercising.
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