Chess, 3D printing, Hamlet the hamster: Monroe libraries go beyond books

The word “library” literally cannot be spelled without “book” — that is what the Latin “liber” means, after all. But as readers ditch the printed pages of yore for e-books and iPads, libraries have introduced a wide array of programming and services, almost always free of charge, to lure people back into the fold.

Western Pocono Community Library, for example, dramatically expanded its children's programming in 2021, setting up play spaces, purchasing gadgets including a 3D printer and even bringing in a hamster whom the library’s patrons named Hamlet – he bites, though.

“We have families that will come in here and they will stay for hours playing,” said Patti Weiss, the director of the Brodheadsville library, as four young ones buzzed around behind her. “What we wanted to provide was a safe place for the kids to play, and that's exactly what's happening.”

Rose Polat, who brought her kids to Western Pocono on their day off from school, said that they often tell her “Please Mom, we want to go to the library!”

Much of the library’s programming, while fun and games on the surface, is designed to teach children. This includes Western Pocono’s “first experience kits” — bags with costumes and booklets geared towards readying little ones for endeavors like getting a haircut or going to the dentist, sometimes scary situations according to Weiss.

Polat noted that her youngest daughter compares her experience at the library to that of her school-aged siblings.

“Here is my school,” Polat reported her 3-year-old daughter telling her.

In addition to children’s programming, Western Pocono has recently expanded its offerings for senior citizens. In January, the library began offering goodie bags of sorts geared towards those experiencing dementia.

“I've been here for 20 years. You get to know people and then you get to watch them age, which is not always a fun part of things,” Weiss said. “But when you see them kind of find those programs we have – we do rock painting and pressed flowers and things like that – and it brings them in,  they not only find friends that they can talk to but now we can help with their memory.”

Games have become a fixture of local libraries as well. Western Pocono has a raucous group of regulars who stop by for mahjong, a Chinese tile game, while Clymer Library in Pocono Pines has bridge and chess.

The library is “a perfect place for it,” said Ian Boyd, the soft-spoken leader of the chess club and an employee of Clymer Library. “I think people really crave that kind of connection after the pandemic, everybody was stuck at home for so long.”

Bob Price, a former commuter with a striking white beard, said he has played chess at Clymer almost every Thursday since the club was formed last summer.

“It’s the only place around here that does it,” said Price as he deliberately downed a rook.

Other unique Clymer offerings include video games – complete with gaming chairs and curved monitors – and Zumba, starting March 5. Clymer Library places a particular emphasis on STEAM programming, meaning science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

“We want to introduce people to different types of learning experiences,” said Melissa Lopez, the director of Clymer Library. Lopez noted that her library caters such programming to all ages, with unstructured LEGO play for the “real little ones” to the MakerSpace, which includes cutting machines for a variety of materials and, like Western Pocono Community Library, a 3D printer.

“If you have a few minutes and you want to kill some time talking with your friends, you can do simple projects,” said Miss Love, the tech-savvy Clymer children’s librarian who wished to only be identified by the name on her mug.

Clymer Library also offers yoga classes, as do Eastern Monroe Public Library in Stroudsburg and Barrett Paradise Friendly Library in Cresco.

“The ideas come from all all sorts of different places,” said Mary Ann Lewis, the director of Barrett Paradise Friendly Library, in reference to her library’s programming. “A lot of it is just brainstorming what would be fun to do.”

Barrette Paradise also offers tutoring and GED prep, holds parent-child workshops, has a jewelry sale table, sells art from local artists and hosts satellite office hours for State Rep. Maureen Madden, a Democrat who represents northern Monroe County.

“There are other libraries who do this just not right in this area,” Lewis said of the office hours, held four times a month. “It ends up being kind of a win-win for all of the parties involved.”

Lewis noted that the county’s five libraries, including Pocono Mountain Public Library in Tobyhanna, have had an agreement since 2022 allowing library card holders at one library to access all the books and services offered by the other four.

According to Bernadette A. Lear, an education librarian at Pennsylvania State University who wrote a book chronicling the early history of Pennsylvania’s libraries, “libraries were never just about books.”

Many libraries of yesteryear, according to Lear, were built with gymnasiums, swimming pools and even bowling alleys. Some libraries registered men for the draft and loaned out picture books – a sort of pre-internet Google Images.

“I like to joke that if you can slap a barcode on it, a library can probably loan it,” Lear said.

Trebor Maitin is a freelance reporter based in Stroudsburg and a student at Lafayette College, where he is the managing editor of the student newspaper.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Monroe County's libraries offer 3D printer, games, yoga, more