If you bring your children to one of the library’s events or drop by the library to visit or play, you might find a new staff member running the robots, preparing the paints or telling the stories.

We are excited to welcome Charlotte Miller to the library’s staff. Charlotte lives in Picton with her husband and two children (ages 1 and 4 years). She is a Registered Early Childhood Educator who brings experience planning programs and engaging environments for young children and their families. She is interested in supporting children’s intrinsic motivation to learn and to master and has provided parenting and breastfeeding support for parents of new babies. Most recently, she has had the opportunity to teach part-time in the Early Childhood Education program at Loyalist College helping her stay up-to-date on current research and practice in early learning.

Charlotte will be leading Saturday Storytime at the Picton Branch Library. The lively storytime happens Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and all are welcome. Charlotte will also be leading Toddler Time, which runs during the weekly Hub playgroup Tuesday mornings at the Picton Branch Library. You will also find Charlotte 3D printing, coding and more with school classes. If you are a teacher interested in bringing your class for stories, coding, 3D printing or if you would like us to come to your class, contact Charlotte at [email protected] or by phone at (613) 476-5962.

Another staff member who will be running children’s programs, Joanna Howard, has been working with the library for about a year and has been leading the Discover YOUth group Thursdays at the Picton Library at 3p.m. This group is an all-inclusive drop-in for 2SLGBTQ+ youth and allies. The program features guest speakers, field trips, art projects and of course – snacks! In addition, Joanna is leading the afterschool Maker Clubs at the Library and our Superhero March Break activities, including Super Spies, Ozobot Robots Tell the Story, yoga, and more.

Speaking of programs, the first event I get to tell you about features two guest speakers who have quite an interesting story to tell! Gary Smith and Alena Schram will join us to sign their books and talk about the ups and downs of diplomatic service on Friday, February 28 at the Picton Branch Library at 2 p.m.

Smith co-authored Not Mentioned in Dispatches which covers everything you didn’t know about how Canada’s diplomats operate abroad when they are ambushed by protocol, wrong-footed in cultural minefields or dodging stray bullets in a shooting skirmish. Read these sideways glances, discreet indiscretions, un-sung heroics and real-life adventures in foreign affairs, for an inside look at what your country’s representatives abroad do when they greet the day…or get up in the middle of the night. Schram is the author of Opinionated Old Cow: Ruminations From The Field, a collection of humorous essays touching on topics as varied as rogue chin hairs, sports cars for the post-menopausal, the defective rearing of grandchildren, and husbands who co-shop annoyingly from the “seen-it-all, done-it-all, — and know-it-all — sexagenarian, who spent a lifetime as a buttoned-up diplomatic appendage and ambassadorial adornment”. Both books are available at the library to borrow and will be for sale and signing at the event.

-Liz Zylstra