It’s easier than ever to track your summer reading with the library! For the first time, we are using READsquared for our Summer Reading program. There are separate programs for Children, Teens, and Adults within the app, so everyone can participate! Earn points for reading, attending virtual programs, playing games, and completing “missions.” Earning points will enter you to win prizes. You can find more information about each program here: https://chescolibraries.org/news/summer-reading-2020.
Join us for Yoga Nidra, Tuesday, July 7, 21, and 28, 7:00 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Yoga Nidra, which literally translates into yoga sleep, is a 45 minute guided relaxation class. The class is intended to put you into a hypnagogic state in which you are neither asleep nor fully conscious. There is no required equipment but you should try to find a comfortable location where you can lay quietly for the entire time. You may wish to have a blanket or pillow to allow yourself to be comfortable. This class is being offered again on July 21th and 28th. Take the class once or multiple times.
Please register for the program: Tuesday, July 7, 7:00 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. and/or
Tuesday, July 21, 7:00 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. and/or Tuesday, July 28, 7:00 p.m. – 7:45 p.m
A Zoom link will be emailed to registrants 2 hours before the program starts. Make sure to check the email address you registered with to receive the link. You do not need a Zoom account to attend the virtual program.
A short time ago, the application for grants to offset lost revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shutdown order became available. The COVID-19 Relief Pennsylvania Statewide Small Business Assistance program will provide grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to small businesses that have been economically impacted by COVID-19.
The application requires you to apply through one of the members of the Pennsylvania CDFI Network, a coalition of 17 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that are participating in this program. The application will be identical no matter through which CDFI you apply and all applications will be entered into one “pool” for a competitive review. There are a number of CDFIs that identify Chester County as a service area. The Chester County Economic Development Council (CCEDC) has worked with these three in the past:
To view the full list of CDFIs that service Chester County and to start your application, CLICK HERE.
Please note that this is not a first-come, first-served program and that there will be multiple rounds of application windows. The application window for the first round of funding will remain open for 10 business days. Please visit https://pabusinessgrants.com/ to stay apprised of news and updates.
The Penn Museum’s doors are still closed, but take a look at their virtual tours and activities for kids and adults. From Galleries at Home, to Lecture Playlists, to learning to write your name in hieroglyphs, there is plenty to interest you virtually.
See all of the Penn Museum’s offerings here.
While you can’t come into the Library and browse, let us browse for you! The Chester County Library and Henrietta Hankin Branch now offer Book Bundles for kids from preschool to high school. Just fill out the form for the library you prefer for pick-up at Book Bundles, and we’ll select 6 to 12 books just for you! A bag full of surprises!
If you need a specific book, please continue to place holds via the Catalog at https://chescolibraries.org.
For the diction disinclined.
Is writing just not for you, or is the thought of filling a page with just words and calendar spreads too daunting? Try keeping an art journal instead.
An art journal is similar to a sketchbook, but different in its approach. With an art journal, you want it to be a visual diary, a reflection of your life, your dreams, your feelings, your fears. For example, you could include visuals of your hobbies or passions. If you like gardening or plants, you can draw little representations of your plants, give them names, decorate with stickers. Or maybe you had a really bad day, and you just want to splatter a couple of pages with some dark colors. Whatever works for you, whatever allows you to unload, to relax, to express yourself, to reflect on your feelings or your life, is perfect for an art journal.
Another key difference between a sketchbook and an art journal is that you don’t have to be particularly artistically talented to keep an art journal. While having a sketchbook means that you have to, well, sketch, an art journal can be anything you want it to be. You can fill it with photos, polaroids, printed pictures, colorful washi tapes, aesthetic quotes, drawings and paintings and watercolors and sketches and scribbles – whatever suits your artistic fancy. If you can’t draw, fill it with photos. Print out titles in pretty fonts. Line the borders of your pages with washi tape and stickers. It’s up to you. The journal is your canvas.At the end, you will have a visual record of your life. But it also doesn’t need to be only visual. If an entirely visual journal is just as daunting as an entirely written journal, combine them. Write out something in the center and then draw or decorate in the margins. Or draw and decorate the middle and then write in the margins. Or mix it up throughout the entire page, turn the page on its side, write and draw on alternate pages, write something within your artwork.
Just have fun with it. Surprise yourself, and see what you can create.
Resources & Inspiration:
“How to Combine Drawing and Writing into Deeply Personal Art Journals” from My Modern Met
“How to Start an Art Journal” from Quiddity
Have you seen the latest issue of Yoga Journal magazine on Flipster? Inside are recipes to boost your immune system and articles about the science of better balance, how to deepen your practice with Mudras and how yoga and meditation can help overcome mental blocks and enhance focus.
Also included is a special feature about authors Elizabeth Gilbert and Jennifer Pastiloff, sharing their ideas for bringing self-care to women who need it most.
Between these pages are a variety of lifestyle tips and recommended yoga positions you can do at home.
It’s easy to read Yoga Journal magazine. Go to https://chescolibraries.org/downloads and scroll to Flipster to sign in with your library card.
In case you haven’t heard, you can currently access Ancestry Library Edition remotely when you log into your Chester County Library System account. This database is a substantial resource for genealogical research that encompasses records from the U.S. as well as many other countries.
Normally, this database is only available inside of the library. ProQuest and Ancestry have extended remote access through the end of July, and will reevaluate remote access on a monthly basis.
If you would like to start researching your family tree, you can access Ancestry by logging into your library account here. You will need your library card number and PIN to access your account (instructions for creating a PIN, if you don’t already have one, are here). Once you are logged in, you will see a link that asks you to “Click here to access Ancestry.com remotely.”
Happy researching! Please contact us if you have questions about using Ancestry or conducting genealogical research.
Now that it’s officially summer, will you head outdoors and sink into a comfortable chair with a new book on your device? What will you read? Something light, like a beach read or a summer romance? Maybe a mystery or some historical fiction. If you like nonfiction, perhaps a book on mindfulness or travel.
You can browse all these genres on OverDrive:
Maybe you want to flip through a new magazine. We have more than 100 magazines ready for you on Flipster. Visit https://chescolibraries.org/downloads and scroll to Flipster to sign in with your library card.
Or if you’re ready to try our curbside pickup, search our catalog at ccls.org or look for suggestions on NovelistPlus.
Learn more about curbside pickup here.
You’re just a download or a hold away from your next great read!
Stay Connected with Chescolibraries 