OKEMOS, MI - Capital Area District Library is virtually celebrating National Library Month in the community.

This event began Sunday, April 19th and goes all the way through this weekend Saturday, April 25th. This year, due to the COVD-19 pandemic, libraries have been forced to close, so National Library Week is being celebrated in many innovative ways, such as providing access to ebooks, movies, music, virtual storytelling and activities for everyone of all ages.

HOMTV spoke with the Executive Director of CADL (Capital Area District Library) Scott Duimstra on Zoom, “It’s national awareness of libraries and library employees for the work they do in public libraries, and wanted to highlight some of the areas the libraries we specialize in by different STEAM activities throughout the week where kids at home can build something using materials such as blocks or legos, and share the finished products with us on Facebook or Instagram for a virtual display case."

“A special event is going on Wednesday, April 22nd from 4pm to 6pm where CADL will have a digital escape room with the topic being Pokemon, and we have escape rooms set up virtually in our libraries where you solve certain clues and you move from room to room in a timed environment and that will be a great family event.”

There will also be activities for adults like the event called “Books Sleuth” where an adult can give the last three titles that were read and based on the titles, CADL will recommend an author or title to read next. The title can then be can be checked out from the digital collection as an ebook or digital audio book.

CADL will also have a special guest, Jonathan Rand, who is the author of American Chillers and Michigan Chillers and will talk live on Facebook about his books with those attending online Friday, April 24th from 4:30pm - 5:30pm. Attendees will be able to chat with him and ask questions.

Duimstra said, “The engagement has been very high and it’s not only the people attending the virtual events, it’s also the people going back and watching our recordings. We have been getting from 1,000 to 2,000 views of the videos that are posted. There’s a need and an interest out there and we will continue to do it.”

You can watch the full interview on HOMTV’s Youtube Channel.