Paulding County Carnegie Library

Youth

The Youth Services Department

The Paulding County Carnegie library Board of Trustees has identified Create, Retain and Encourage Young Readers: Emerging, Early and Sustaining Literacy as the number one service role. The library will provide children from birth through middle school programs and services designed to ensure that they will be better equipped to enter school ready to learn to read, write and listen; as well as be able to continuously improve their literacy skills.

Children who are exposed to books and reading at an early age will be better equipped to become life long readers and able to make informed decisions about their lives. The Paulding County Carnegie Library's Child ren Services Department provides access to the world of reading and information for children of all ages.

From birth to tween, from parent to teacher, our well-trained staff will connect you with books and materials to enrich, entertain and inform.

Youth Programs and Family Events

The Youth Services Department plans events throughout the year to introduce children and their families to the library and to the importance of reading.

Storytimes

Introducing reading, literature and the library to preschoolers is an important component in childhood literacy development and the number one service response as identified by the Board of Trustees during their Strategic Planning Sessions. Our youth services department is a preschooler's door to learning and helps build the foundation necessary to create new readers.

Storytimes introduce young children to the excitement of books and allow them to gather and interact as a group and provide ideas for parents and caregivers to try at home when reading aloud to their child. The parent/caregiver is the child's first reading teacher. Children's librarians are part of that early literacy partnership.

Battle of the Books

The Paulding County Carnegie Library Youth Services department has sponsored and coordinated a county-wide reading competition called Battle of the Books for over twenty-five years. Fifth and sixth-grade teams made up of 6 students, read twenty-five books and are then quizzed during a competition first at the school level and then at the county level for the championship. Each school library receives up to ten new books each year.

For more information about Battle of the Books, contact the Children's Dept.

Youth Library Card

The Paulding County Carnegie Library Board of Trustees prioritized youth literacy in a 2017 Strategic Planning Session, aiming to foster reading skills from birth through high school. As part of this effort, the library introduced the F.Y.I. (For Your Imagination) Youth Library Card in early 2019 for Paulding County students, including homeschoolers, in grades K-12 (ages 5-17). This card allows young readers to borrow up to seven books at a time and access the Ohio Digital Library’s vast collection of children’s and teen eBooks.

The card has no late fees, and borrowing is suspended when the seven-book limit is reached. DVDs, music, Playaway devices, and recorded books cannot be borrowed. The cost of one lost or damaged item is waived per school year. No parental signature is required, and parents cannot use the card. It expires on the child's 17th birthday, at which point they can apply for an adult card with standard privileges. For more information, visit a local branch or call (419) 399-2032.