Lifelong Learning

LearningLIFELONG Books, movies, music and more at the Daviess County Public Library

By: Jacqueline Jordan // Photo by: AP Imagery

If your idea of going to the library is checking out a book from a dusty shelf, you’re due for a visit to the modern facilities of the Daviess County Public Library.

Serving 92,000 people in Owensboro and Daviess County, the library boasts nearly 200,000 books as well as 14,000 DVDs, 46,000 eBooks and much, much more.

The children’s area was recently renovated to be an enclosed, colorful space with a family bathroom. Erin Waller, Library Director, said the area has a strong play literacy element and includes a ball wall, Lite Brite wall, puppet theater, play kitchen, tool bench and LEGO table. The library offers several programs for children such as storytime, science experiments, character visits, summer reading programs, crafts and more.

But it’s not all kids’ play. If you’re in need of entertainment, the library offers Hoopla - a streaming service for music, audiobooks, eBooks, movies, TV shows and comics. The service is free with an active library card. Aspiring gardeners might want to visit the Seed Library, where they can “check out” up to five seed packets per month. Of course they don’t have to return anything, just sign the seeds out in the catalog and take them home to grow.

If you’re into genealogy, DCPL is a Family Search affiliate library and hosts one of the largest local history/genealogy collections in Western Kentucky.

For families up for a learning adventure, the library offers museum passes too. The passes allow up to four family members to visit not only the Owensboro Museum of Science and History, but also any museum affiliated with the Association of Science-Technology centers. That includes but is not limited to the Kentucky Science Center in Louisville, American Museum of Natural History in New York and National Museum of Natural History in the District of Columbia. They also offer YMCA passes, which provide individuals or families access to the facility for two weeks.

If you’re still not convinced that you need a trip to the library, here are a few more items from their non-traditional collection: • Laptops that can be checked out and used throughout the library • Roku streaming sticks • Wi-fi hotspots • Telescopes • Maker kits for children and teens to be used in the building

Find out about programs and services on all social media outlets and dcplibrary.org. O