Fun at Flash Libraries

Kids could make a craft during our Flash Library at Concord Community Days

Have you seen one of our Flash Libraries yet?

We've popped up everywhere from Civic Center Park to Atlas Cinemas to Mentor Schools this summer. We also had a Flash Library during Concord Community Days last Saturday.

Kids made a craft (boliche, the classic cup-and-ball game,) while grown-ups could check out books and movies from Mentor Library.

We also brought one of our Little Free Libraries to Community Days, so people could look through them and find something to read.

A family checks out the selection in our Little Free Library Saturday.

If you’re not familiar with our Flash Libraries, they’re similar to Bookmobiles. We come to your neck of the woods with popular movies and books. If you have a library card you can check them out—same as if you were in a brick-and-mortar library. And if you don’t have a library card, well you can get one of those too. (And you really should have a library card.)

We still have more Flash Libraries coming this month. We'll be at the Mentor Senior Center this Friday afternoon during their weekly matinee and at the city of Mentor's Final Friday Farmers Market on Aug. 29 in Civic Center Park.

And you'll find us at Wildwood Cultural Center, James A. Garfield National Historic Site, Penitentiary Glen and more this September.

So always keep have your library card on you, just in case. You'll never know when you can use it.

Nicole (right) and her friend, Rebecca, try to catch the ball in the cup.

For more photos from our Flash Library at Concord Community Days, visit Mentor Public Library's Facebook page.

Flash libraries popping up in your neighborhood

Kristin, one of our reference librarians, at a flash library in Veterans Park.

In a perfect world, nobody would live more than a block from the library. Every person—child, teen or adult—could come to the library on a whim.

However, we live in a world of finite resources, and it would be impossible for us to build a branch on every block. So we try to do the next best thing and bring the library to you.

We do it in a lot of ways: our digital services that let you download eBooks, stream video and music, or download mp3s from home; our little free libraries; Beach Reads.

And our Flash Libraries are going to be springing up at parks, cul-de-sacs and farmers' markets this summer.

If you're not familiar with a Flash Library, they're similar to Bookmobiles. We come to your neck of the woods with popular movies and books. If you have a library card you can check them out—same as if you were in a brick-and-mortar library. And if you don't have a library card, well you can get one of those too. (And you really should have a library card.)

We have already brought our Flash Library to Lake Metroparks Veterans Park and you'll likely see us there again soon.

We're also bringing our Flash Library to the city of Mentor's Final Fridays, Headlands BeachFest on July 26 and Concord Community Days on Aug. 16.

Where else do you want to see our Flash Library? How can we help bring Mentor Library to you?