[Guest post by Ashley Schoolman, Reference & Teen Librarian, and Ashley Meyer Cataloging & Reference Librarian]
Now that we’ve been abruptly plunged into winter, it’s nice to think back to warmer days.
Every year, library staff work hard to create a fun Summer Reading Program that includes valuable ways to bring the library and community together. Many patrons are still enjoying the summer kick-off art installation created by local artist Bekki Canine with financial support from the Friends. To close this year’s Universe of Stories-themed SRP, West Lafayette Public Library partnered with the Wabash Valley Astronomical Society to open the West Lafayette Observatory to library patrons and community members on August 3rd.
While waiting for darkness to fall, library staff offered an astronomical spelling bee and attendees could create a planisphere with materials provided by WVAS. Throughout the evening, about 150 patrons wandered through the Observatory and grounds to watch slideshows about new NASA missions and the Solar System, use outdoor telescopes to view the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and the Ring Nebula, and to get an up-close look at the surface of our moon through the Observatory’s installed 16” telescope.
Thank you to the Friends of the West Lafayette Public Library for providing refreshments for the evening and an honorarium to demonstrate our thanks to WVAS for their time, materials, and to support them in continuing their great work!
Learn more about Wabash Valley Astronomical Society at wvastro.org.