Category: Adult Resources

Curbside Pickup Now Available

~ Jenna P ~ 2 Comments

We are happy to announce that the Chester County and Henrietta Hankin Branch Libraries are offering Curbside Pick-Up starting Monday, June 15. The Chester County Library will also resume our outdoor Holdit Locker service on this date.

While our buildings will remain closed to the public, we are excited to be able to serve the community again by offering a way to deliver your pre-ordered materials that is safe for you and our employees!

To place a hold, use the catalog or the mobile app; or call or email us at:
Chester County Library 610-344-5957 or ref@ccls.org
Henrietta Hankin Branch 610-344-4191 or hhcustomer@ccls.org
Find help for placing and viewing your holds.

Curbside Pick-Up Procedures
Follow these 4 easy steps to schedule your curbside pick-up:

  1. Know Your Library Card and PIN Numbers
    • You will need your library card number and PIN to reserve a time to pick up items.
  2. Confirmation of Order Fulfillment
    • You will receive an email or text message, or paper notice via USPS mail, when your items are available for pick-up.
    • You can only make a reservation if you have items that are currently ready for pick-up.
  3. Reserve Your Pick Up Time
    • In your email, there will be a link you can click on to go to the curbside reservation platform where you will be able to choose a date and time to pick up your order.
    • You can also make a reservation and manage your reservations online using this link.
  4. How to Pick Up Your Items
    • Your materials will be checked-out to you, and placed in a paper bag, prior to pick-up. Your checkout receipt will be attached to your bag.
    • When you arrive at the library, please remain in your car and call us at the number listed below to let us know you are outside.
      • For pick-up at Chester County Library, call: 610-344-4642
      • For pick-up at Henrietta Hankin Branch, call: 610-344-4191
    • Once our library staff have placed your items on the table outside the front door you may approach and retrieve your items.
    • If there is another patron at the table, please wait until they have returned to their car before you approach the building.

See our website for more details on both the Curbside Pick-up services and HoldIt Locker.

Kids’ Update: Summer Begins TODAY!

~ clancygirl1 ~ Leave a comment
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Believe it or not, summer arrives at the Chester County Library and Henrietta Hankin Branch on June 15th! You are invited to join our Virtual Summer Programs. Imagine Your Story: Patch Power 2020 encourages you to discover your own stories while reading others’ stories in fiction and non-fiction.
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Participants from Pre-K to Grade 5 are encouraged to read or listen to books every day for 30 minutes or more all summer and record your accomplishments through the Imagine Your Story: Patch Power 2020 website or app. You can also complete Missions, by completing at-home activties and attending Virtual Programs, to earn the 2020 patches!

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Students in Grade 6 and up may join the Imagine Your Story: Teen Reading Club 2020! Teens are encouraged to read or listen to books for at least 60 minutes every day to earn a Reading Grand Prize at the end of the summer! They may also complete independent Missions to earn collectible mini-buttons!
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Even children under 3 years can participate this summer by signing up for 1000 Books Before Kindergarten! Research has shown that listening to 1000 Books Before Kindergarten helps children to develop the important pre-reading skills that provide a solid foundation for learning to read — a key to learning and school success. Read at least 100 book this summer to earn a special award!  

Adults can sign up, too! Sign up today! Imagine Your Story

Special Edition: Quarantine Journaling

~ rmanuel191 ~ Leave a comment

Journaling as a primary source document depicting turbulent times.

At this point in our journaling series, we’ve introduced the idea of journaling to your life and expounded upon its benefits as well as given you a couple ideas for formatting and content structure.  But some of you might be at a loss for what precisely to write about.

I was watching a webinar a few weeks ago that was talking about something totally unrelated.  It was a question and answer session with a group of authors of middle grade books.  One of the questions asked was something along the lines of “how will this time of quarantine and COVID-19 affect your writing?”  And one of the authors had an answer that honestly blew my mind a little bit.  She said that writing about this time was important, not just for authors like her, but for everyone, because those documents chronicling life during this period will someday become primary sources for students and historians in the future.

Maybe this is not as mind blowing for you as it was for me, but it’s a perspective that I never considered before, that we can actively become a part of history in this way just by writing down our experiences.  Historians are already beginning to compile primary source documents from regular people in order to gain a broader picture of what this time looks like in various parts of the world.  

Furthermore, we might feel like we’re stuck in this time of sickness and anxiety and isolation, but thinking about it in terms of history like this is, frankly, a little reassuring.  Humans have survived multiple pandemics before, just like we all learned as children in school; and while I don’t want to diminish the suffering and the death that many people are facing, and while we will certainly not come out of this unscathed, it is nevertheless comforting to know that we will be okay.

So if you’re looking for something to write about, write about your life.  Someday, your life will be important to many different people, and at the very least you’ll be able to look back and say, “I survived that.”

Resources & Inspiration:

“The Quarantine Diaries” from The New York Times

Lion’s Roar magazine on Flipster

~ Book Club Mom ~ Leave a comment

Do you know about our Lion’s Roar magazine on Flipster? It shares Buddhist wisdom for your heart and mind. Inside this month’s issue are articles about how to be calm and resilient, tips for meditation, what to do in an emergency and book suggestions.

You can read Lion’s Roar for free with your library card. Here’s how:

Visit https://chescolibraries.org/downloads and scroll to Flipster to sign in with your library card.

Looking for more? Try these keyword searches for eBooks and eAudiobooks:

Buddhist meditation
mindfulness
resilience

Treatment & Recovery Hotline

~ lshupp13 ~ Leave a comment

Gaudenzia has launched The Treatment and Recovery Hotline! 1-833-976-HELP(4357)

Our new Hotline offers screened linkage to treatment facilities across Pennsylvania for the entire spectrum of care, including detox/withdrawal management, residential treatment, co-occurring residential treatment, outpatient treatment services, women and children’s services, and other programs tailored to specialty populations.  

When can I call the Hotline?

The Hotline is available 24/7.

Who can call the Hotline?

Anyone from first responders, warm hand off staff, loved ones, people seeking help for themselves, all of our partners, and other treatment providers.

Where is the Hotline Located?

The hotline is located right here in Pennsylvania at the Coal Twp. Facility of Gaudenzia’s Central Region. Our Hotline team is made up of trained Gaudenzia staff.

To access help through Gaudenzia’s Treatment and Recovery Hotline, please call 1-833-976-HELP(4357).

COVID-19 Testing Expansion

~ lshupp13 ~ Leave a comment

The Health Department and Department of Emergency Services are partnering to expand availability of COVID-19 testing in Chester County. Starting today, PCR (nasal swab) diagnostic testing will be available at multiple locations. This testing is prioritized for individuals with symptoms or who have had a close contact with someone who has COVID-19. No prescription or referral is needed but registration is required. 

Learn more and register at: 
 https://www.chesco.org/4514/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Nasal-Swab-Testing

Black Voices digital collection

~ Book Club Mom ~ Leave a comment

Take a look at our Black Voices digital collection on OverDrive.

These titles are currently available for you, with no holds.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo – eBook

Solitary by Albert Woodfox – eBook

Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom – eBook

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom – eBook

Our Black Voices collection includes many other eBooks and eAudiobooks to download or reserve. You can view the entire collection here.

Virtual Program: The Road To and Through Impressionism

~ Jenna P ~ Leave a comment

Join us for The Road To and Through Impressionism, Thursday, June 18, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Discover how art history progresses as the art pendulum swung throughout the 19th century. See their art and discover how the painting styles of Renoir and Monet changed during their careers. Hear how Impressionism got its name and why it was considered vulgar and ridiculous early on.


Fred Dixon and his wife Martha have traveled to major museums in the U.S. and Europe and to the great cathedrals in Italy to view Renaissance and Baroque art. There were two years of study at the Barnes Foundation followed by a docent training course. Fred and Martha were docents at the Barnes for ten years. All of this background culminated in the publication of Fred’s book 700 Years Of Art History: Pre-Renaissance To Modernism.

Please register for the program: Thursday, June 18, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 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.

Virtual Program: Armchair Traveler

~ Jenna P ~ Leave a comment

Join us for Armchair Traveler: Jamestowne Uncovered, Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Travel to Jamestowne, Virginia with Dick Calef for a virtual adventure from your armchair. Jamestowne, as our history books tell us, was the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607. But, information being unearthed through archaeological digs, is shedding new light on the hardships endured by these early pioneers. Travel through the site and discover the new findings in this old place. This presentation will include colorful slides of an October 2019 visit by Dick Calef.

Dick is an active member of the Lifelong Learning community, having been an instructor, student, board member, committee chair and a frequent presenter as a guest speaker for both Immaculata and Widener universities, Chester County Library and adult communities.

Please register for the program: Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 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.

Virtual Program: Virtual Book Chat

~ Jenna P ~ Leave a comment

Join us for a Book Chat on Books versus Movies, Wednesday, June 17, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. 

What books will always be your favorites? Were the movie versions better or a disaster? Let’s discuss!

Please register for the program: Wednesday, June 17, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 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.

This program supports PA Forward’s Basic Literacy.