Our summer story walk is up at Grove Lake Trail! Take a stroll and read a book with the family, page by page. Mark in the box the number of people who did the story walk with you. The story will stay up unless the weather turns stormy.

The Grove City Library Knitting Club will meet in the library one Thursday per month from 4-5 p.m. this summer:

June 20
July 18
August 22

Note the change in the day of the week.

Bring your knitting or crochet project and work alongside others who share your hobby. Get expert advice from Kristin. Open to all ages.

Stop into the Grove City Library to sign up kids ages 3-18 to participate in this year’s summer reading program Read, Renew, Repeat, beginning June 3!

This summer, the theme of the summer reading program is “Read. Renew. Repeat.”  The library will be celebrating things like conservation, recycling, ecosystems, plants, and animals.

Kids and teens up to age 18 can sign up for the self-paced reading program starting Monday, June 3. No need to worry if you can’t get to the library that day; sign-up continues all summer. The Grove City program ends August 30.

When kids sign up, they’ll get a book bag, a bookmark, and a reading log.

The summer reading program is always self-paced. Children work their way through the reading game sheets, earning spaces by reading or being read to for 20 minutes (counting up to an hour a day), and by doing other activities like being active for at least 20 minutes, reading aloud to a person or a pet, or attending a library program. For teens, there’s a more straightforward sheet for tracking hours of reading. Whenever kids bring in a completed sheet, they can choose from a wide variety of small prizes. At the end of each month, the library will hold a drawing from the sheets turned in that month, giving kids the chance to win a bonus prize.

The goal of the summer reading program is to encourage kids to read all summer long so that they keep up their reading skills and return to school in the fall ready to learn. Because of that, kids can do one reading sheet after another all summer until late August and keep earning prizes.

Grove City Library is offering a storytime on the 2nd Monday of each month at 11:00 a.m.:

November 13
December 11
January 8
February 12
March 11

No need to sign up. Drop by with your little ones for stories and activities in the library!

Grove City Library will offer curbside service indefinitely. Call the library at the number on the sign, 320-857-2550, if you’d like your materials brought outside. Have your library card number ready.

Library staff can hand your bag of library materials to you on the sidewalk or bring it to your vehicle parked in front of the library. Let us know where you’d like us to bring it when you call.

Curbside service may be useful if you have mobility issues or a sleeping child in the car, or because of illness. Regardless of your reason, you are welcome to use the service!

by Beth Cronk, Meeker County Librarian

Here are some useful facts about the library in a Frequently Asked Questions format. I hope you learn a little something you didn’t know before!

How much does it cost to get a library card?
A library card is free! It’s part of the public services available to you as a resident of Minnesota. Once you have a library card, it’s also free to check out anything in the library collection, both ebooks and physical items. If you had a library card and it’s lost, there is a $3 charge for a replacement card.

How many books are in the Grove City Public Library?
The Grove City Library has about 6,900 books. It also has about 1,800 DVDs and about 300 CDs.

What if I want to check out something that the Grove City Library doesn’t have?
You can request things from other libraries in the Pioneerland Library System, which has a collection of about 620,000 physical items. If Pioneerland doesn’t have something, you can often request it from another library in Minnesota, using the MNLINK catalog. You can search both the Pioneerland and MNLINK catalogs online and request things yourself, or library staff can help you and place those requests.

Does it cost money to order things from other libraries?
No, the service is free to you as part of the interlibrary loan network in place in Minnesota. Our state is outstanding at providing access to library materials! Grove City Library gets two deliveries of those interlibrary loan materials each week.

How long can I keep a book?
Most books are loaned for four weeks. Some bestsellers are limited to just two weeks while they’re new; you’ll recognize these by the sticker on the spine that says “14 day loan.”

How long can I keep a DVD I’ve checked out?
DVDs are now loaned for two weeks.

Can I check out magazines?

Yes, magazines can be checked out for two weeks.

A book I checked out had a due date coming up soon, but now I found out that it’s not really due for a few more weeks. What happened?

Automatic renewals! This is a brand-new service our library system is offering. If no one has a hold on an item that you have checked out, and you haven’t renewed it before, the library’s computer system will automatically renew it for you once, three days before its due date. If you are signed up for email updates about your account, you’ll be notified by email when those renewals happen and when you have items that will be due soon.

I’m late returning a library item. How much will I be charged?

There is a charge of ten cents per day for late items, although there is a three-day grace period before those start being charged. Materials for children and teens no longer have late fees. If your item is a month overdue, you’ll get a bill for the replacement of that item. If that happens, once you return the item the charge will drop to a $3 late fee (or to $0 for materials from the kids’ section). If an item is damaged or lost, talk to library staff about how you can resolve that charge.

Can I use my library card in other libraries?

Yes, you can. Your Pioneerland library card will work in all libraries in the system. Our system stretches from Graceville to Glencoe and from Canby to Dassel. If you want to use a different library system in Minnesota, you can do that, too. Bring your card to them, and they will help you register as a reciprocal borrower in their system.

If you have more questions, stop in or call the library, and we’ll be happy to answer them.

We are very excited to announce that juvenile materials in Pioneerland Library System will no longer accrue late fees! This includes books, CDs, and DVDs with call numbers beginning with J, E, B, and YA.