Sweet Home Public Library has put out 72 new children’s VOX books that allow children to listen while they read and look at the pictures.
“We have a collection of picture books and juvenile nonfiction books,” said Director Rose Peda. Each one comes with a device and speaker that plays back audio of the book. “There’s a place in it for headphones so the parents don’t have to listen to the story over and over again.”
Research has shown that when children listen as well as read a book, it improves their comprehension, she said.
“Some of the stories from the patrons that we’ve had, the children just now learning to read love this,” Peda said. One mother, who has an autistic son, told Peda that when they get the VOX books, he listens to these books before going to his computer games.
The books give parents a break too, Peda said. Parents don’t have to read the same books a hundred times. The books can do that.
The books will hold enough to charge to play each about 100 times, Peda said. The library charges them when they are returned.
The books are on a standing order, Peda said, so when new ones are produced, the library will receive a copy.
“The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz gave me a grant for this, and we purchased the first collection of books,” Peda said. The grant was for $1,400.
Patrons are limited to five VOX Books at a time, and they are not eligible for renewal.
In other library business, staff members are preparing pop-up libraries for the summer using a $4,500 Oregon Community Foundation grant.
Staff members are obtaining and preparing materials they need to operate the pop-up libraries, including a canopy and books that will be given away. Pop-up libraries will appear during the summer at local parks, Peda said, taking the library to people across the community.
For more information about the library and its programs, call (541) 367-5007 or stop by 1101 13th Ave.