Moorhead Public Library director Megan Krueger shows off the new Quiet Room for parents and young children, recently added to the busy kids’ section by Friends of the Library. (Photo/Nancy Hanson.)
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
Public libraries, says Moorhead director Megan Krueger, are as essential for thriving communities as their schools, their police and fire fighters, and all the other services that make local life good. But, like other amenities so familiar that they’re taken for granted, the gift of an active library available to all often falls off the radar.
That’s why the Moorhead Public Library, along with its counterparts across the nation, is celebrating National Library Week starting on Sunday. The annual event brings a calendar full of special public offerings, from the spring social expected to draw young and old to an afternoon of entertainment, appetizers, books and art to a programson Clay County history, the voluminous Friends of the Library used book sale, and Minnesota Poets Out Loud. The week also encompasses regular favorites like Storytime for youngsters and the Baby Bounce for the youngest library patrons.
The theme for the 2023 celebration is “There’s More to the Story” – a motto with which Megan heartily agrees. It highlights the diversity of stories that the library presents to the community in a variety of formats, from picture books for beginning readers to large print for those with failing eyesight, from audio books and video to countless ebooks and digital periodicals, and more.
The director, who was first hired as an assistant while attending college at Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2009, has headed the local institution since 2013. That decade has seen a dramatic expansion of the library’s services, while keeping to its mission as a center of information, education and entertainment for Moorheaders of every age.
Books! When residents think of their public library – especially when they haven’t visited lately – ink-and-paper volumes are naturally what comes to mind. And there remain plenty of titles to choose from. The collection today includes a collection of traditional printed books that totals 55,265, along with hundreds of printed magazines and newspapers.
Four to five hundred men, women and children visit the library in person every day, according to the director. But they’re just one part of the populace that the Moorhead library serves. An even greater number of patrons access its collections from a distance.
During her tenure, Megan has seen patrons adapt to the even broader collection of digital reading material, video and music that has become an essential part of of its service. “So far in 2023, Moorhead residents have checked out digital ebooks more than 18,000 times,” she reports, using the apps Overdrive, Libby and LARL Mobile They have accessed digital editions of 3,000 magazines with Overdrive Magazine and 350 newspapers with ProQuest.
Using Hoopla, another free app, enables patrons to borrow movies, music, e-audio books, e-books, comics and TV shows to enjoy on their computers, tablets, phones and TV. MN Writes MN Reads offers easy-to-use, free resources for publishing and sharing ebooks, and for readers interested in discovering books by local writers.
The apps that give access to books, periodicals, video and music are only one part of the library’s seismic shift to providing technology for the community. Its computer section provides 24 computer stations, along with 10 Chromebook laptops that can be used in quieter and more private settings around the facility. Patrons can also check out potshots for two weeks at a time, providing a way for them to access the internet.
“The pandemic taught us how much people really do need this service from their libraries,” Megan remarks. “We were closed for two weeks before we the use of computers by appointment. People told us they hadn’t been able to communicate with their families while we were closed. Sometimes we forget that a lot of people still don’t have that internet access that most of us now take for granted.”
The Spring Social on Sunday kicks off a busy week celebrating facets of Moorhead’s much-loved house of access to knowledge, entertainment and online access to the world. Among the attractions planned by Friends of the Library are music by jazz guitar duo Twelve Strings, light appetizers, a book sale and an auction of art and rare books.
The regular Story time is at 10:30 Tuesday morning; Baby Bounce starts at the same time Thursday. In addition to Sunday afternoon, the Friends used book sale continues from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and next Sunday.
Historian Markus Krueger of the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County presents a program on the founding of the county at 6:30 pm. Tuesday. On Saturday, the library sponsors Minnesota Poets Out Loud, a live poetry presentation featuring diverse voices from across the state. The Free poetry gathering starts at 7 p.m.
