As the weather heats up in the villages, libraries in Hastings and Dobbs Ferry are preparing for the summer months, which routinely see even more people coming in and checking out their favorite titles.
July for the last 10 years has been our highest month of circulation, said Sue Feir, director of the Hastings Public Library. Last year for the first time it was August, followed by July. People have a lot more time to do discretionary reading, vacation reading. So circulation in the summer is much higher than in the winter by a couple thousand a month for us.
One of the most talked about books recently is still the most popular one being checked out of local libraries.
Obviously one of the most popular books checked out is Fifty Shades of Grey, said Dobbs Ferry Public Library Director Jeff Ault.
Feir said Hastings has experienced the same demand for the E. L. James title.
Right now its Fifty Shades of Grey, easy, she said. Its blowing everybody out of the water.
Even though summer time may mean a break for many groups and all the schools, Ault said the library is working to provide residents with content for the season.
The book clubs basically take the summer off, but were working on putting together some programs for adults, he said. Mainly we focus on summer reading programs for the children over the summer and encouraging them to read.
Childrens reading programs range from online reading games to workshops and discussion groups and the library is also working on highlighting some of its favorite titles.
The staff is focusing on putting together its summer reading picks and that should be put together by the end of June, Ault said.
The Hastings Library has picked up extra copies of This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman for the summer reading.
Its going to be the all community read for Hastings, just announced by the school on Monday, she said. Its the third year theyre doing it, theyre trying to get the students and adults to all read the same book and then have a joint program thats held here at the library in September.
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