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Author announced for James V. Brown Library’s annual fall gala

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For those who like to plan ahead, save the date, because the James V. Brown Library has announced this year’s Author Gala will be held Oct. 9 at the Williamsport Country Club, featuring musician and author Brendan Slocumb, who will appear virtually at the event.

He is the author of “The Violin Conspiracy” and “Symphony of Secrets.” His latest novel, “The Dark Maestro,” will be available May 13.

Slocumb also hosts the podcast, “How Music Can Save Your Life.”

More details will be available later in the year.

Another event being planned by the library is the 2025 Summer Learning Program Kickoff which is scheduled for June 14. The program runs through most of the summer, ending Aug. 9.

This year’s theme is “Color Our World” and is focused on the arts. Again, more details will be coming as summer approaches.

In her report to the board of trustees, Amy Resh, the library’s CEO and executive director, said that a new self-checkout kiosk is ready for use in the first floor of the Children’s wing.

“The reason that we added that is we’ve been closing the children’s wing desk intermittently when we have less staff,” Resh explained.

“This is an opportunity for patrons who don’t want to come to the main desk for whatever reason to check themselves out,” she said, adding that it has been “very well received.”

Statistics from the past year shows that in-person visits to the library have increased as have visits to the library’s website.

“We had a decrease in checkouts, but we had a huge increase in electronic checkouts, so it kind of washes out,” Resh said.

“Wi-fi has increased and footsteps in the door have increased,” she added.

“I just want to highlight that last year we expanded a lot of services. We made some changes to things to better meet the needs of our community,” Resh said.

“We made some changes in staffing and some other things…the number one thing that I want to highlight is before last year we really weren’t getting outside the walls of this building — we were really focused on bringing people here which, I think, there’s value in that. But, I think we need to meet them where they are and we’re doing a better job of that than we have been in the past,” she said.

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