Shelley Orr: Cultivating Connections and Growth at Catawba County Libraries

Have you ever planted a seed of change that blossomed into a community cornerstone? Shelley Orr, the dynamic Library Services Manager for Catawba County, did just that as she helped transform a library corner lot into a thriving community garden. Our vibrant chat navigates her anthropological roots to her flourishing role, where she weaves cultural threads into a tapestry of library services. We swap tales of children's laughter echoing through storytime sessions and the magical way a garden can unite diverse volunteers for a common cause. Catawba County's libraries are more than just repositories of books; they are lively hubs where toddlers to teens bloom under the canopy of engaging educational programs.

Imagine a library where checking out a laptop is as easy as borrowing a storybook. In this place, technology is not a barrier but a bridge to opportunities. This episode is a journey through the modern marvels of Catawba County's library system, where Shelley Orr unpacks the treasure trove of resources available at your fingertips. From Wi-Fi hotspots to job interview prep, the library is a lifeline for those navigating the digital divide. It's a testament to how libraries have evolved, becoming beacons of learning and connection where entrepreneurs and students alike can grow their skills and dreams.

We conclude our episode with a heartwarming invitation to join the Catawba Chronicles community, where each voice adds to the melody of our county's story. With Shelley Orr's spirit of innovation echoing in our ears, we encourage listeners to discover the myriad of programs that stitch our community closer. From felting workshops to Dungeons and Dragons escapades, Catawba County's libraries are a crossroads where creativity, support, and learning converge. Tune in to hear how every page turned at the library is a step toward a more connected and enriched life.

Transcript

Connecting With the Community

Intro/Outro 0:00

Welcome to the Kataba Chronicles, where we connect you to amazing people in businesses from Kataba County, past and present. Whether you're new or have been here for what feels like forever, this podcast is for you. We hope this podcast will help you get to know our community better and make you feel more comfortable joining in on the conversation. So find a comfy chair and grab a cup and get ready to hear some great stories about our little corner of North Carolina.

Oliver Connor 0:37

I am Oliver Connor and this is Kataba Chronicles, and today I have Shelly Orr right.

Intro/Outro 0:43

Yes.

Oliver Connor 0:44

And you are with the Kataba County Government Library Services Manager. Yes, did I get that right, mm-hmm All right, perfect and really, just like you are unaware of all this falconry stuff, I probably have absolutely no clue what you do on a day-to-day basis. I'm very glad you're here. A little bit about Shelly it looks like she does have a Bachelor of Arts for Anthropology from the University of South Carolina, a Masters of Library and Information Science.

Shelley Orr 1:18

Yes.

Oliver Connor 1:19

And that's from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Yes, so where did you grow up?

Shelley Orr 1:26

I grew up in Lexington, south Carolina. Oh, perfect, yeah, yeah, all right that's not too far.

Oliver Connor 1:31

No, no, not at all, and so what brought you to Kataba County?

Shelley Orr 1:39

So when I started librarianship, I worked as a children's librarian in Jacksonville, Florida. Oh, cool. And then segued over to a community college. And then my husband and I decided we didn't like nine months of summer and decided to move back to North Carolina.

Shelley Orr 1:57

We lived in Charlotte for about nine years and this opportunity an opportunity for a digital services librarian opened up with the Kataba County Library, and I applied for that and got that job, and I've been here since 2015. First as a digital services librarian, and then I became a branch manager for our St Stephen's branch, and now I'm the library services manager.

Oliver Connor 2:21

That's really cool. So down in Florida, I can relate to the weather issue. I was down there in Miami for, I guess, three years after college. So I went to the North Carolina State University, graduated with a zoology degree and then that took me to Miami where I trained marine mammals. So Miami was like, and my parents will tell you. When I was a kid we went to Miami one time and I remember saying I could never live here and karma has a way of striking you down.

Oliver Connor 2:56

That was the first place that picked me up with that kind of degree and I imagine was it the same with the librarian thing. Is that what took you to Jacksonville, Like you've got your master's and you're like, okay, what am I going to do? And that just happened to take you there.

Shelley Orr 3:11

That's exactly what happened. I had a job offered to me prior to graduating, and so I went ahead and went down. I did my courses online, which went back then. It wasn't very usual, but I was able to do so, and then I graduated in May and became a librarian after that.

Oliver Connor 3:31

So yeah and then. So you came back up this way, katawa County had an opening for someone with that sort of degree and mindset. So tell me a little bit about what does a library services manager do on a day to day basis?

Shelley Orr 3:53

Everything. So I manage six of our seven branches. I'm the branch manager of the Sheryls Ford-Tarrell Library and I do a little bit of everything, which I love, because I love being a jack of trades. Last week I did three story times, I did pre-K play, I did a seed exchange, because I'm also in charge of our garden at the Newton Library and we're getting ready to kick that off.

Oliver Connor 4:22

There's a garden, yes, at the Newton Library.

Shelley Orr 4:26

So there is a garden that started about six or seven years ago by one of the other librarians. There was an empty lot and they received a grant to basically clear out that lot, fence it, they added some sidewalks, they had raised beds, a shed, and she kind of got tired of it and I love the garden, but I live in a shady lot, so I took it over in 2020 and have been working with volunteers and growing produce since then, so it's been great.

Oliver Connor 5:04

So four years then you've been doing that. I probably would have killed every plant in the first six months because I cannot Now. Animals I can do animals I have a way with, but Plants are definitely not me. My wife is much better at that. How big is the lot?

Shelley Orr 5:23

I'll say I don't know the exact size. We have ten raised beds and we have room. We planted some blueberry bushes, so we have some room there. We also have a space outside of our fence where we plant melons and pumpkins and cantaloupes as well, and we have sometimes we'll plant sunflower seeds on the other side.

Oliver Connor 5:48

I got you and is it? You say we is there. Is there a Group or an organization that helps you?

Shelley Orr 5:54

there is a group of volunteers that come out and we have when it gets warmer. We will have monthly Volunteer days where people come out and they're different people or different organizations that come and help me. So sometimes it's the Girl Scouts I have the Good Earth Club that comes and they will help. But what we try to do is grow about a thousand pounds of food. That's usually our goal and we donate all of our produce to the corner table or, yeah, other agencies in the area.

Oliver Connor 6:22

I like the folks there at the corner table. That's cool, yeah, so if I wanted to be a part of this group and had away, you know, with plants, what, how, what? Is there a way to join, or you full up?

Shelley Orr 6:32

No, you could always just reach out to me. I love volunteers and even if you don't have away with plants- yeah there are always other things that I need help doing. I need somebody to refinish a table. There are things like that that need to be done, painting things. They're always Little things that can be done, and that's from little ones to to adults, to People that even may have a hard time bending over. We always have something to do in the garden.

Oliver Connor 7:01

Oh, that's really nice. Yeah, so, and you said there are, you manage six out of seven branches.

Shelley Orr 7:06

Yes.

Oliver Connor 7:07

How many like where. So Newton is one, then we've got one here.

Shelley Orr 7:12

Yes, and then we have Cheryl's Ford. Is our regional, one of our three regional libraries. Then we have Southwest and St Stephens, and those are in the hickory area.

Oliver Connor 7:21

Gotcha. We have neighborhood branches and conover and Claremont and in maiden very cool, and so no matter where you're at in the county, there should be something relatively close as far as that goes, and then, they all have like different programs like Mm-hmm.

Oliver Connor 7:36

So if, if I want to look at it, is there a website that has like all of the branches and I'm thinking here, I'm just like imagining, like what I would want to see if I, if I were in a part of the community and I were interested in volunteering, can I get like go see what all is is available?

Shelley Orr 7:55

Sure, there are a few ways that you can look and see what's going on. We have a calendar on our website so you can look at us at a daily, a weekly or monthly basis. Thanks we have a monthly newsletter that goes out each month, and then we always love to have people sign up. We have a weekly newsletter that goes out that will let you know the events that are going on for the next week.

Oliver Connor 8:16

Very cool and I know I have spoken to an organization called the Friends of the Library, that is. That is different than what you do right there. They're just helping the Cheryl's Ford Branch over here, the Cheryl's Ford Library.

Shelley Orr 8:30

Yes, they are our support group so they help us with programming. They help provide funding for programming for us, so they help us reach a lot of our goals that we have with the county.

Oliver Connor 8:41

So you can do work for them or volunteer for them. You can do it you. There's a different opportunity with it, with what you guys do.

Shelley Orr 8:47

Yes, yes very nice.

Oliver Connor 8:50

And what? What are some of the other programs or items that that you would like people to know about these different areas?

Shelley Orr 8:59

sure, so I always say we tie it back to the county. We have outcomes and outputs that we have for the county, so we always have story time. I mean, early literacy is just kind of the the pillar of what libraries are take your kids to story time. Get them reading at an Early age it's a wonderful thing.

Shelley Orr 9:18

So all of our branches have story time. We just did a Dolly Parton birthday story time because our birthday was on Friday. So we did birthday Books and we had cake and we sang happy birthday to Dolly Parton.

Intro/Outro 9:30

It was great.

Shelley Orr 9:31

It was so much fun. So we also have pause to read, which you can sign up at a few of our branches at Maiden, at Sheryls Ford and At Newton, where you can go and read to a dog. And this is yeah, this is really great for kids that are reluctant readers, are really shy about reading to. That's awesome. A judgmental person, yeah, you can read to a dog and you know, the dog's just gonna hang out really yeah, where, where do the dogs come from?

Shelley Orr 9:58

We have Sydney with haiku. I think it's. I may have pronounced your name wrong. No, that's okay, but she, her dog, is a therapy dog, so we have a few people that bring their therapy dogs.

Oliver Connor 10:09

Yeah, dog, so it's not like an organization, it's just. Is that another volunteer position, if you? Have a therapy dog or a well Like a trained, certified dog that you can link up and be a part of this program.

Shelley Orr 10:19

Yes, yes, that's really nice.

Library Programs and Age Group

Oliver Connor 10:22

I can. I can relate to that, you know, and and as far as animals probably the only thing I might be able to relate to but I remember doing dolphin swim programs was part of my career and you know, having kids or anyone for that matter that has trouble with their confidence or or any sort of, you know, issues dealing with humans Sometimes they do relate better to animals and and it's very touching to see that I remember doing a program for Deaf kids and blind kids and just seeing how they interacted. So it's really cool that you're incorporating that with with the reading program. I think that's thinking outside the box. That's really. That's really cool. How is there an age Group or bracket that that partakes in some of these story times? Do you do it by age or?

Shelley Orr 11:13

so we do. It's it's early childhood literacy. So we have tiny to two at our Newton branch and then it's usually pre-k kids, three to five At all of our other branches. However, it's families that come usually, so it's a mother with a baby, with a three-year-old, with. For our Dolly Parton story time we had us, I would say the oldest was about six years old, but everyone we did a wide range of activities to make sure everybody was entertained, yeah.

Shelley Orr 11:44

So typically it's kind of a family story time that we have for all of our branches.

Oliver Connor 11:49

And you had about how many people attend that.

Shelley Orr 11:52

There were about 23 for the Dolly Parton.

Oliver Connor 11:54

That's pretty good.

Shelley Orr 11:54

I did story time Wednesday and Thursday and they were upwards of 35 people At those two story times.

Oliver Connor 12:02

That's nice. Yeah, I like that a lot, and then again those are probably on the calendar.

Shelley Orr 12:07

Sure, yeah, they happen regularly at every branch, except for the Claremont branch, because they just have limited hours and limited staff.

Oliver Connor 12:16

Right, well, and you can't read at every branch, so you have volunteers that do that as well.

Shelley Orr 12:20

No, we actually have our librarians or our library services specialists.

Shelley Orr 12:26

They schedule out the time to do the story times, oh nice, so yeah Very nice and I'm going to just I'll talk about programs and ages because we can move from age to age, but I will also say we do a pre-K play at a few of our branches the Conover branch they don't do story time regularly because they're a small neighborhood branch, but they started pre-K play and they have just different activities for the kids to do. So they have a tunnel and a balance beam and a ladder that they can jump through. So this is a great time, when everybody's inside and they don't want to go to the park because it's cold, to come and do pre-K play and just kind of get all your wiggles out. They'll play music, they will have certain activities that they'll. They pull cards and they say can you hop like a bunny?

Shelley Orr 13:14

and get everybody involved and active and we do encourage pre-literacy skills, but those early movement skills are just as important too.

Oliver Connor 13:22

Right. Yeah, that's really awesome. As the father of a kid in pre-K, I know how important, that can be, and it is a struggle sometimes when the weather is bad or if you don't have a place that you can afford to go to. Is there a cost?

Shelley Orr 13:36

for this. No, these, all of our programs are free.

Oliver Connor 13:40

Holy cow, that's cold right there. I mean, especially if you can't afford your preschool or something of that nature and use. The socialization of that is important as well.

Shelley Orr 13:50

Yes, and you see that a lot at the story times or the pre-K plays. At the end of story times, parents will talk to each other. Their kids will be around each other. One of the babies that was at our story time this past week. Her mother said that she'd only been around three other kids and then there was this room full of children that she was just happy and giggly and so excited to be around all these wild children. It was great.

Oliver Connor 14:15

That's very nice, yeah, so what else? What other kind of programs do we have going on?

Shelley Orr 14:20

So for older kids we do. At the Sheryls Ford branch we do Perler beads, so I don't know if you've ever done those. They're little plastic beads and they make them into shapes like hearts or they can make them into like cats or anything. They're just little plastic tubes and they use an iron to melt them.

Shelley Orr 14:40

So, it's just a chance for kids to be creative. They get to use their little hands for grip. There are dance parties at some of the libraries for the little ones. We do tails in the garden at the Newton branch and this is really great. They do it once a month. It's a bilingual story time and they work with a lot of partners in the area. So they had La Raza dancers come out and they were Mexican dancers that participated in the story time they had. They worked with the Humane Society and had dogs, one time puppies. They had a puppy party. But really neat, lots of families come to that. It gets a little hard when it's cold, but in the summer months it's really wonderful to see everybody out there and having a good time, so that's awesome.

Shelley Orr 15:25

Yeah, we do summer learning, which is what people are used to being known as summer reading but, we try to keep a learning aspect to that. So we partner with the green room and we typically have a play, which is, I think, is really wonderful that we get to have those at our library, because a lot of people are terrified to take their small children to a play, with the cost associated with that, and if they're at the library it's free. And if your child gets a little wild, and you have to leave.

Oliver Connor 15:57

It's okay, it's fine. So the green room does. Is it any specific type of play? Do they modify it or is it? You know, whatever they're doing at that point, they kind of come to for you.

Shelley Orr 16:07

They actually have a troop called the Green Bean Players and they do children's specific story story time not story times, but plays. So this past year during the summer they had the giant turnip, which I always want to call the big beat that is. It's a little fairy tale that they put on for the kids. And it's just a great way to expose your kids to theater.

Oliver Connor 16:34

Yeah, I think we probably need to do that. I don't know that, I can't imagine. I don't know if my kids have ever seen a play.

Shelley Orr 16:40

Yeah, yeah, it's really neat.

Oliver Connor 16:42

That's really cool.

Shelley Orr 16:43

Yeah.

Oliver Connor 16:44

What else do we have going on?

Shelley Orr 16:45

So we have, we do. Oh, I will say this Last week my kids participated in Masterchef. They did a Takoyaki Masterchef.

Oliver Connor 16:55

I love. Now I'm a huge fan of cooking in Masterchef program. So this is right up my alley. Tell me more.

Shelley Orr 17:01

So they actually had four groups of kids. I want to say the youngest was around eight to maybe 13 years old. And they had to come up with Takoyaki balls, which are they made with bisque, which is, you know, kind of like a pancake base. And they got to choose a savory one, and they had a table full of ingredients for them and then they got to choose a sweet one. Now I told my child that one of the women judging was my boss.

Intro/Outro 17:33

And if he poisoned her that I would get fired, Right?

Shelley Orr 17:36

So they ended up making a Takoyaki with meatballs and rice crispy treats and peanut butter.

Oliver Connor 17:45

It wasn't terrible, I think. Okay, so.

Shelley Orr 17:48

I've had worse things in my life.

Oliver Connor 17:49

Yeah, yeah.

Shelley Orr 17:50

And then they made a sweet one and one of the groups did the the base with chocolate chips and they decorated it. They just did the most amazing things that I just I was so impressed.

Oliver Connor 18:03

In which location was this?

Shelley Orr 18:04

This was at the Newton location.

Oliver Connor 18:05

At the Newton. The Newton location's got a lot going on.

Shelley Orr 18:08

It's got a lot going on, yeah, if you're close to the Newton location.

Oliver Connor 18:10

This sounds like the hot spot.

Shelley Orr 18:12

It. You know, they have a bigger staff so they can have a lot more things going on. It's not to say that other branches don't have anything going on. I just feel like, well, I work at the garden, and then this Takoyaki thing was pretty amazing, so that sounds, that sounds great. Yeah.

Oliver Connor 18:28

And how often do they do the the Masterchef program? Was this something new that we they were just trying?

Shelley Orr 18:33

They think in November they did a Masterchef ramen program, so it seems pretty popular and they may do it again in the in the spring. So I'm hoping so.

Oliver Connor 18:45

And you were talking about the summer, people thinking about summer reading. When you say summer, is that a particular time period or is kind of like when the kids get out of school before they start back to school? Is that like your summer?

Shelley Orr 18:56

That's our summer, typically it is. It starts at the beginning of June, ends probably the second week in August. And we have kids. That our program is. We ask them to read so many minutes.

Oliver Connor 19:08

Yeah.

Shelley Orr 19:09

And they fill up a sheet and then they get prizes for that. But then we have extra activities going on throughout the summer.

Oliver Connor 19:15

Do you think? Just sorry, my mind is sometimes it goes down these rabbit holes and I just the you had mentioned, like you, taking online courses and how things have changed since we were younger obviously. And so the library's part that it plays in the community has, has it evolved over time as well, that you've seen.

Oliver Connor 19:36

I mean because I remember going to the library and I remember reading books and and and taking home books. But I realized as an adult, probably too late in life, that I don't read, I don't comprehend as well when I read, right I, and that's part of the reason that I started this program. I've spoke about it a lot on different episodes, so it's. I have a passion for podcasts because I've realized that I comprehend much better via audio, sure, and I can also like listen to things almost twice as fast or more and still comprehend them. So I can. Now I'm just, you know, I'm trying to learn everything and I'm just trying to learn as fast as possible. Let's open up this whole new world.

Oliver Connor 20:17

I actually completed like more than one Harry Potter book that I always wanted to do. Yeah, probably way too late in life. I'm sad to admit how nerdy I am at this point because of audio. So have you seen, and how like the library's place evolve, like it's not, as it is much going in and renting books? Is it more of the community events and socializations, or can you speak to more like different forms of media that the library can deliver? Sure?

Library Services for Technology and Education

Shelley Orr 20:49

Yeah, I we will. The library's always been a community resource, you know. We've always had books and information for people. Now we just have much more than that. So we serve in the capacity of technology. We have hot hot spots and laptops that people can check out for free.

Oliver Connor 21:08

Yes.

Shelley Orr 21:08

Catawba County residents can come by. We can reserve a hot spot for you. It's a two week check out. I love them because when I travel I can have Wi-Fi in the car.

Oliver Connor 21:20

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So you can actually as a Catawba County resident and you have to be like, you have to have your library card and be a member of the library.

Shelley Orr 21:28

You will yes Okay.

Oliver Connor 21:30

So I do that and I can go get a hot spot that is prepaid. Yes, Interesting this is this is, you know, mind blown. Right now I can get a hot spot and then take it for two weeks that I can access the Internet, yes, and then I bring it back, or it just kind of shuts down after two weeks and then.

Shelley Orr 21:52

So you just bring it back, yeah, and then that's that, and then you can you know, you can always check out another one again. It's really great for people that need to well to access the Internet for work.

Oliver Connor 22:06

Yeah.

Shelley Orr 22:06

I have a few people that access it for school, whether or not that's an online high school or online classes through a university.

Oliver Connor 22:16

Yeah, so if you're a student and your family is going on vacation and you don't have another way to do, like your, your curriculum or you can take, you can go to the hot. That's crazy. Yeah, that's a while.

Shelley Orr 22:26

If you have a job interview, you could take out a hotspot and a laptop and do a zoom on there. We are also telehealth access points, so what that means is we have our regional library, so Southwest Sheryls, ford Terrell and St Stephens, as well as Newton. We have our meeting rooms are equipped so that people can do telehealth job interviews in our meeting rooms.

Oliver Connor 22:51

Wow.

Shelley Orr 22:51

So there's a large screen, there is a microphone, there's a camera and we can help get them set up to zoom or whatever platform that they need to be on.

Oliver Connor 23:00

So you can help them with the technical aspect of it as well.

Shelley Orr 23:03

Yes, we do a lot.

Oliver Connor 23:04

That's big I mean, as far as you know what I've seen, there are a lot of individuals who you know haven't. You know, doing an interview is is common practice, but doing one remote may not be, and there is a lot of extra layers to making sure that the audio sounds good or, you know, the headphones work right and that you're on when you're supposed to be. And then there's this technical and it adds layers to someone with anxiety. It adds layers to what is already kind of a stressful process.

Shelley Orr 23:38

Yes, yes.

Oliver Connor 23:38

Right. And so to have your own little tech support team right there. That's big too.

Shelley Orr 23:44

It is really big, that technology piece. You talk about anxiety. It throws a wrench into a lot of people. If you've never used Zoom, how do you go about knowing what to do?

Intro/Outro 23:56

Yeah.

Shelley Orr 23:56

You know, and so it's kind of an expectation that we all know how to do it now. But there's still people that don't know, and that's okay, yeah and it is okay, but I think this is really cool and I would never have guessed.

Oliver Connor 24:11

I hear a lot of people talk about sourcing. You know, we do some sales here at the insurance office and a lot of people are talking about some of the information that there's a whole like. There are databases of information that the library can provide, and at one point I went to try to find out you know just how much was out there. There's a whole online system, right? Yes, yes so if you're an entrepreneur or something and you need access to all kinds of information, the library can help with that.

Shelley Orr 24:47

Yes, so we have access, or if you have a library card, you will have access to NC Live, and this is a state-run service that provides databases for public libraries, also, colleges and universities, and some of the resources we like to highlight are there's transparent language, so if you're interested in learning a language, you can have free access to transparent language. There is a business research I'm going to say database that is in NC Live that provides information about new and upcoming trends, entrepreneurship. There is data axle, so if you're doing market research in the area, you can use data axle to pinpoint people that you may want to target for mailings, etc. Lots of really great stuff.

Oliver Connor 25:38

Yeah, I mean. So you know, there's no more excuse, right you? They have no excuse not to learn. You have no excuse. I mean, at this point I was going to say, all right. Well, okay, it's great that all these things are online. And you know well how do I get there? I don't have internet. These people are talking about something I can't access, but that's not true, Because the library can offer you the internet access in two weeks. The whole world has just opened up to you.

Shelley Orr 26:02

Right, yeah, it's pretty amazing for free. For free, I mean that's wild.

Oliver Connor 26:06

That's why, well, what else? What else are we missing? And we can go back to the kids.

Shelley Orr 26:09

I just thought that was really cool. I want to talk a little bit more about other programs we offer for teens. Oh yeah, I know at Conover they're doing college finances tomorrow, so I can get down with that. That is, for teens and their, their adults with them.

Oliver Connor 26:24

So tell me a little bit more about that. College finances Is it just finances as it strictly speaks, to affording college and going to college, or is it like overall, this is how you manage your money, sort of?

Shelley Orr 26:36

thing.

Oliver Connor 26:37

It is about finding funding per college, oh okay, all right, and that, and which is extremely important, yes, definitely. At this point, because I think the whole world's getting super expensive. Yeah, yeah, it is yeah, so do they help you with, like applying for scholarships and that sort of thing?

Library Programs and Community Outreach

Shelley Orr 26:52

So they're having somebody from another partner that we have in the area come and speak to the families about resources that they have available. Really, yeah, it's really great. Some other things that they've done they do felting in a movie, and felting is where you take needles and you stab wool roving and you make it into a something which could be an animal. They are going to do Shrek next month.

Oliver Connor 27:20

Oh cool.

Shelley Orr 27:21

And watch the movie Shrek. They have done, we do Dungeons and Dragons at the Sherylsward Tarot Library.

Oliver Connor 27:28

Yes, and I have. I have been and played with this group and yes, because, see, I always wanted to play with the group and there were some groups in Hickory and all that, sure, and unfortunately, due to my schedule and everything that I've got going on, I've not been able to go in the last few months. But if you've not checked out the Dungeons and Dragons group at the library, I think this is absolutely one of the coolest things that they could have done and when I was there, it was quite, it was quite the ordeal.

Oliver Connor 28:00

I mean they were running more than one table.

Shelley Orr 28:02

Yeah.

Oliver Connor 28:02

And there were people of all ages as well. So it wasn't just this you know thing for adults or this thing for for younger kids, it was just everyone coming together and playing you know, the tabletop.

Shelley Orr 28:13

Yeah, yeah. So that next one is going to be at the Sherylsward Tarot Library on Saturday, february 3rd, at 1pm, if anybody's interested, Saturday, February 3rd at 1pm. They always have a great turnout. It's monthly that it meets there.

Oliver Connor 28:27

That's right.

Shelley Orr 28:28

Just I'm always amazed at the turnout there.

Oliver Connor 28:31

Yeah, I'll have to. I'll have to put that one on my calendar. Maybe I can come back and jump back in. But there's some great people that play. Yeah, I even think that you know there's some father daughter combos and so it can be this whole family thing. So if someone's you know interested in learning about, they do a great thing for people who want to learn about Dungeons and Dragons that don't know anything about them and they will walk you through.

Oliver Connor 28:55

So if you show up a little early, I know some of them will help you build your character.

Shelley Orr 28:59

I think that's really cool. So, yeah, and it's a really laid back. No fuss, they're not pretentious, they're just very welcoming and I think D&D is pretty intimidating when you go in?

Oliver Connor 29:10

Yeah, it can be.

Shelley Orr 29:11

And so it's a lot to learn off the bat.

Oliver Connor 29:13

Yes, so hopefully we not scared you off of D&D, but it is. It's really cool.

Shelley Orr 29:22

Yeah, and this is one of the few environments where it is free, that's true.

Oliver Connor 29:26

And the library actually helped with a lot of the material to play, which I thought was cool. I mean, they offered the space, so they've got the room, and then they said what do you need us to provide for people? So if you don't have I mean I think it's if you don't have dice, if you don't have character sheets, if you don't have any of the books or the material or anything, I mean they will just show up, right. Yeah, it's really cool.

Shelley Orr 29:50

Yeah, it's really nice, so we enjoy that. For adults, we have lots of lifelong learning. So we did pottery, a pottery series where we had a potter come out and she showed people how to make a mug, just flat base mug, and then they glazed it. In a second series there is Music Bingo. They've done bullet journaling at some of the branches. Anybody that's an adult caregiver, the adult caregivers of aging parents. It's ACAP. They have programs at Newton specifically for people that are caring for their older parents, their aging parents which I think is always great.

Oliver Connor 30:34

So it's like a group. They share this common thing that they get together and what share ideas or learn things.

Shelley Orr 30:41

They will typically have a theme, so one of them will be resources in your backyard. And so they'll talk about what resources are available to them in Catawba County, how to deal with fatigue when you're taking care of your aged parent, things like that.

Oliver Connor 30:55

Very important.

Shelley Orr 30:56

Really good resources. They have done sourdough starter and this has been I like it. Yes, this is the big thing right now. This has been great. Casey, who works at Sheryl's, Fort Errol. She is our library services specialist and she started this sourdough starter program. Yes, and it has been so great because she will make sourdough starter for people that don't come to the program or they've killed their sourdough starter.

Oliver Connor 31:24

Yeah, because if you don't know, I mean this is one of the things and I do like to cook, I can't bake, so I will get that out of there because there are so many rules and measurements and that's just not my thing. But sourdough, I do know enough about that. It can be kind of, again, intimidating, and here the library is stepping in saying we will decrease this barrier to entry. Get rid of your anxiety, just show up will help you out. Yeah, that's awesome.

Shelley Orr 31:48

And it's been such a great community builder. We had somebody come and she one person had made cinnamon, cinnamon swirls with theirs. And then somebody else had made a Hawaiian roll I don't know their sourdough starter and they bring them all to us for treats.

Oliver Connor 32:07

Oh, that's very nice. I like that a lot.

Shelley Orr 32:08

Yeah, we have a bunch of health programs. So at Sheryls Ford, kc once again is a certified yoga instructor, so we have chair yoga twice a month and then on Fridays we have a gentle flow yoga Nice For anybody that's interested. Once again, it's a free yoga class.

Oliver Connor 32:26

Yeah, we can't beat that.

Shelley Orr 32:28

Yeah, at Newton they have Zumba on Mondays. We've offered CPR classes, healthy lunch classes. They're stretch and meditate. At the St Stephen's branch For job and career we offer resume help.

Oliver Connor 32:45

Oh, wow.

Shelley Orr 32:45

We have a resume online service that we can show people how to use. We've had job fairs at our branches.

Intro/Outro 32:52

We have.

Shelley Orr 32:53

Goodwill, career specialists come to our branches to help people. We partner with NC Works to provide online Zoom programs that help with interviewing, writing job applications, anything like that.

Oliver Connor 33:09

So I mean just all aspects of life, really. Sure, the library is a great resource at this point for anyone that feels like they need help with almost anything.

Shelley Orr 33:18

Yeah, yeah, and it's free, and it's free. Yeah, man, I'm blown away.

Oliver Connor 33:23

I just feel like there's so much going on and I didn't know any of this. Yes, and I say this a lot, but clearly I'm not getting the right communication, so I need to go online and find sign up.

Shelley Orr 33:37

You can sign up for our newsletter that comes out once a week.

Oliver Connor 33:41

And it'll kind of tell me when kind of stuff is happening.

Shelley Orr 33:44

Yes, it'll tell you everything that's going to happen the next week.

Oliver Connor 33:46

Got it.

Shelley Orr 33:47

Yes, at all of the branches.

Oliver Connor 33:48

At all the branches.

Shelley Orr 33:49

Yes, we also have a print newsletter for the month, which you can find online, but we have print physical copies in our libraries that we always try to give everybody.

Oliver Connor 34:00

Yeah, yeah, lots of good stuff. So is there anything we're missing? I mean because this is covered. This is covered a lot. I can't imagine there's much more.

Shelley Orr 34:07

Yeah, there's a lot more.

Oliver Connor 34:09

We could be here all day.

Shelley Orr 34:10

We could be here all day. I would like to say we have a library to go, and what is that? So this is. You know, everybody remembers the library, the library van the library, bookmobile.

Oliver Connor 34:25

Okay, okay, yeah.

Shelley Orr 34:26

So this is kind of that same concept, but instead of everybody going on board to pick out their book, she pulls all of the Sam is our library to go library? She pulls all these cards off the book, she sets up seating, she sets up activities for people to do and she goes out to different events in the area. So, she's goes to parades, she goes to senior centers. In the summer she'll go to Sipes Orchard and run programs out there. So she's reaching community members that aren't even close to the library.

Oliver Connor 34:57

Yeah.

Shelley Orr 34:58

So it's great.

Oliver Connor 34:59

That's really cool.

Shelley Orr 35:00

Really wonderful outreach going on over there. Of course we have books at the library. I could have books all day long.

Oliver Connor 35:08

And, like I said, I may not be great at reading them, but I have a lot of respect for books, I love books. I have this thing where if I listen to a book, then I buy the book, but I can just I just keep it. I don't know why I do that. I love books so much, yeah, but then I've just never been able to read them like I can now.

Shelley Orr 35:26

So it's right. Well, I am an audio book listener, yeah.

Value of Audio Books and Libraries

Oliver Connor 35:30

Okay, let's get into this then. Is listening to an audio book the same as reading a book? What is your opinion Of?

Shelley Orr 35:37

course it's the same as reading a book. That's what I feel.

Oliver Connor 35:39

I mean if you're getting the material right. Yeah, I mean because in some people's heads and they talk about how you learn and visualize, right. So if you're reading things and it's in your, you're viewing the pages and the words, it's going to the brain and you're creating these images. It's just can't be that much different than listening to the words, right?

Shelley Orr 35:58

Right, so my best friend will tell me I cheat all the time. That's what I do too, Because I listen to audio books, but I, if people are auditory learners and that's how they learn, and they're not going to grasp the same information as a visual learner may from a book. So we all learn in different ways, and that's why we provide materials in different ways. So now, can I get audio books at the library too, then? Oh, yes, you can. Oh, so we have traditional CDs that you can check out.

Shelley Orr 36:25

Okay, we have little things called playaways and these are kind of three by five, a little bit bigger than a business card. Okay, it'll have your audio book on it. You just plug up a headset.

Oliver Connor 36:37

So you don't even need a device. You don't need a device for that, wow.

Shelley Orr 36:41

And that will play you can. It'll keep your space. We also have access to Libby and Hoopla, which are two online resources. They're app-based resources that give you ebooks as well as audio books.

Oliver Connor 36:53

So it's like, instead of using, you know, audible or some sort of program that may cost, you have access to certain apps like that, yes, so for free.

Shelley Orr 37:04

So we have Libby, which is available through the North Carolina Digital Library. It's a statewide consortium and you get access to ebooks and audio books. It is kind of like a real library. So if you checked out a book, I might have to wait for you to return that book, but we have access to Hoopla, which is whatever you see you can check out immediately, which is nice.

Oliver Connor 37:29

That is cool. Yeah, I didn't know that either.

Shelley Orr 37:32

Right, and so those are all free. I know with other subscription services there's a cost associated to it. Yeah.

Oliver Connor 37:41

Yeah, that can be a huge barrier to entry. Is you know, just all these extra costs and we don't have like subscriptions?

Shelley Orr 37:47

and all that stuff.

Oliver Connor 37:47

So, again, again, you're thinking well, I don't have internet connection or whatever to get some of these app based things. There are the devices that you can rent out that you don't need any of that stuff. Sure, it's like checking out a book. Instead, you check out the little thing, and then there's also the hot spot that you could get, maybe to use some of the other things.

Shelley Orr 38:10

Sure, and we have Wi-Fi at our library, so you can always even sit in your car or Wi-Fi broadcast out to the parking lot and you can download the books that you want to download.

Oliver Connor 38:19

That's such a great idea oh it's amazing.

Shelley Orr 38:21

Yeah, I love it because I'm always listening to an audio book. Yeah, I travel around to all seven of the locations. And so I get a lot of audio books done traveling across the county, yeah.

Oliver Connor 38:33

I can imagine that's cool.

Shelley Orr 38:35

It's great, though I love. I love listening to books, and it brings a different experience to it.

Oliver Connor 38:40

Well, and I think you know one of the things that's also a problem that I have an issue with, and, of course, I tend to lean more towards business development, self-development, sure, non-fiction, I guess, sort of things. I like fiction, of course, but I've always reserved that to maybe video games or the tabletop or movies, right, sure. But what I have found is that I can also listen to these fiction books and it helps me because the authors a lot of times do voices, right, yes, and you don't get that Like, if you're not someone that can read and keep the characters apart, I'll read one chapter of a fiction book and not remember who's who, what they look like.

Intro/Outro 39:30

Sure.

Oliver Connor 39:31

Or have any idea of how to make them differentiate the dialogue. But when you do the audio version you get a lot of that stuff handed to you by the author If they're reading their own work or someone that's reading it for them. So I've found that that's really helpful for me.

Shelley Orr 39:48

Yeah, it's really great, Especially if you like sci-fi and fantasy and you wonder what these names are somebody's already pronouncing them for you that is a great point.

Oliver Connor 39:58

You get to this name and then you've got to put the book down for a week because you don't know how to pronounce that's great, that's a great point.

Shelley Orr 40:04

Yeah, I just listened to the Wing Feather Saga and the author reads the book and it's kind of a fantasy. It's a children's fantasy book and he has this. The children, they live in a place called there we Are and I don't think I would have understood that it means there we Are.

Oliver Connor 40:22

Right? Is it all like strung together?

Shelley Orr 40:24

I don't know I haven't read the book, I just listened to him say it.

Oliver Connor 40:28

That's a great point.

Shelley Orr 40:29

He was one of those authors that could do a lot of wonderful voices and a lot of these names that I would have probably made up in my head. They probably make more sense now that he's said them out loud.

Oliver Connor 40:41

Well, we have covered a lot of stuff. I don't know if you have anything else. Now's the time. Oh my gosh, I don't know how much more listeners can take in, but what else you got?

Shelley Orr 40:54

I would like to say we do have a community navigator Navigator.

Oliver Connor 40:57

What is a navigator?

Shelley Orr 40:59

So she is a social work student that is interning with us. We've had one for a few years. We have different interns and she works at the Newton branch. She helps our citizens find resources that they need, and that's more than books. So, whether or not that's finding housing resources, finding mental health resources, job information, she just goes a little bit further than a lot of our staff is trained to do to help people find what they need, and you said she works remote.

Oliver Connor 41:31

Is that right?

Shelley Orr 41:32

She actually she works at the Newton branch.

Oliver Connor 41:34

Okay, very cool.

Shelley Orr 41:36

Yeah so.

Oliver Connor 41:37

Another great resource.

Shelley Orr 41:38

Really, it's really great. We have tons and tons of partners. We love volunteers. Don't be shy, come and hang out with us. We have lots of book clubs, whether or not you want to read it or listen to it.

Oliver Connor 41:51

Oh, that's nice.

Shelley Orr 41:53

Yeah, we don't judge.

Oliver Connor 41:54

That's good. I feel like the rest of the world. There's too much of that going around.

Shelley Orr 41:58

Well, I feel like I'm just like a good story, whether or not I have to read it or listen to it or watch it on the screen. A good story is a good story, whether it's fiction or nonfiction. I mean, there's so much great narrative nonfiction out there. Yeah, I just like stories and information.

Oliver Connor 42:16

Well, I can't thank you enough, unless you have something else that's super important, we'll just go on and on.

Shelley Orr 42:22

We have given everybody enough to chew on for a while.

Oliver Connor 42:26

I think we probably should come back around at some point. It sounds like all these programs are always evolving, they're always changing and, of course, the library has to adapt to the times. And I think it's important for us to know, especially if you're like me and you're not doing a good enough job at making sure you're signed up for the newsletter and getting the emails. Again, this is a reminder to all of us that the library is still very much important part of the community. They are there, they are closer, probably, than you think, and the most important thing is that they're free.

Shelley Orr 42:58

Yeah, they're free.

Join Catawba Chronicles

Oliver Connor 42:59

And which is a lot of a lot of people's hang up, I think, on trying to get out and do things today. It's just called so much. Yeah Well, Shelly, I really do appreciate it. I know our listeners will as well. So it has been very nice talking to you.

Shelley Orr 43:13

Sure, thank you so much.

Intro/Outro 43:15

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Kataba Chronicles. If you're enjoying this show, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. That helps others find the show and we greatly appreciate it. Once again, we really appreciate you taking the time to listen and getting more acquainted with all of the wonderful things Kataba County has to offer. We hope you'll join us again in the next episode of the Kataba Chronicles.