SWPL News

ProMusica - High, Low, Fast, Slow. Bring the whole family and join ProMusica's Brass Quintet at Grove City Library on January 18 at 2 p.m. for a free, family-friendly concert linking classical music and childrens literature. Come explore opposites in music in this interactive concert everyone can enjoy. 

ProMusica is proud to present free, family-friendly concerts in collaboration with neighborhood libraries. All ages welcome!

For more info on Promusica's Library Series visit https://promusicacolumbus.org/education-outreach/kids-families/

Supported by the Siemer Family Foundation and the English Family Foundation

Southwest Public Libraries seeks to offer free and equal access to all. Here you can read the article published in the Southwest Messenger and Westside Messenger about why SPL went Fine Free. 

On November 1, 2019 Macmillan Publishers will embargo eBook copies of their titles so that libraries can only purchase one copy initially and have to wait 8 weeks to get full access to purchase more.

Read this piece from Technology Services Librarian Katie Puckett on what Macmillan's policy means for libraries and patrons. You can find links to more information at the bottom of the article.

Update: Effective November 1, 2019, Southwest Public Libraries, in conjunction with their Digital Download Collaboration partner libraries, will no longer be purchasing newly released eBooks from Macmillan Publishers.

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Libraries create readers. This is not a controversial statement, but Macmillan Publishers seems to have forgotten that without readers, they wouldn’t have customers who want to buy the product they sell.

I grew up in a lower-middle class household where we had plenty to eat, a warm house and enough money for new shoes and clothes when we needed them (although I wore A LOT of my sister’s hand-me-downs – thanks, sis!) What we didn’t have was money to support the middle child’s (that’s me!) excessive reading habit. Enter the public library.

PRESS RELEASE

October 3, 2019

Southwest Public Libraries goes fine free, October 1, 2019

Grove City, Ohio—Southwest Public Libraries has officially gone fine free as of October 1, 2019. Joining a growing number of libraries in central Ohio, Southwest Public Libraries will no longer charge overdue fines on most items. The library Board of Trustees voted in favor of this decision in order to erase barriers to library use.

“The mission of Southwest Public Libraries is to serve as the community’s center for lifelong learning, not keep people away,” says Mark Shaw, Director of Southwest Public Libraries.

“Fines tend to keep patrons away whether from embarrassment or an inability to pay,” says Technology Services Librarian Katie Puckett. “We want to break barriers to access and encourage people to use and return to the library.”