Talking Treasures - Episode 9-Don't Judge This Library By Its Cover!

You are overdue for a Visit: Little River's Library is Having a Moment! 

When you think of your local library, you might picture quiet shelves and checkout cards, but the Little River Library is rewriting that story entirely. 📖

This week on Talking Treasures, we're pulling back the curtain on one of Little River's most beloved community anchors and trust us, there is SO much more happening inside those doors than you might expect.

From summer reading programs that keep kids engaged and excited all season long, to monthly book sales, activities, and events designed for adults too — the Little River Library is a year-round hub of learning, connection, and community fun.

And none of it happens without the incredible volunteers of the Friends of the Little River Library — the dedicated group of locals who show up, fundraise, and make sure this community treasure keeps thriving for everyone who walks through the door.

Whether you're a longtime library card holder or you haven't visited in years, this episode will have you planning your next trip before we're even done talking.

Little River's library isn't just a place to borrow books — it's where community happens. And this summer, it is absolutely the place to be.  

Tune in — then grab your library card and go explore.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome back to Talking Treasures, our podcast with the Little River Chamber of Commerce. And with us today, Wendy filling in for Jennifer.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

You could do a good job.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I mean, I'm gonna try to live up to Jennifer's standards, but you know, I don't know. Jury will be out on that for a minute.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

And we are also joined by, I'm gonna let you introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Jeff Pickens with the Friends of the Little River Library. The Friends of the Little River Library is what exactly? Friends of the Library. It's a nationwide thing. We're a group of volunteers who, our group, we support the library in anything they do. We do fundraising and we do volunteer work. For example, in the summertime, we have summer reading programs with children to get them into the library activities and things, so we help out with that. We meet once a month on the first Wednesday of the month. So this coming Wednesday is our next meeting. If somebody wants to join, just show up. No barriers to entry. How big of a group is it? We have about 10, 11 volunteers. So tell us a little bit about the Little River Library because it could be hidden. If you know where it is, it's not, but it's um most people discover it as I did when they go to the motor vehicle. Right. When I first moved to South Carolina uh three years ago, my wife and I came here to do our driver's licenses. Where'd you come from? We gotta find out Southern New Jersey. Southern New Jersey. No, Newark is northern New Jersey. Southern New Jersey is Camden, Cherry Hill, Glassboro, Atlantic City. Yeah. Outside of Philadelphia. I gotcha. All right. So I'm sorry. No, you came, but you were. I saw when I was milling around in the in the hallway waiting for my name to be called, I saw that there was a library here. When I got my shiny new South Carolina driver's license, I decided to get a library card while I was at it. And um I asked at the desk if they had any volunteer uh activities, and they told me about the friends and when the next meeting would be. So and and why why did you want to do this? Well, I'm retired, and I need to have things to do. Yeah. When you retire, there's a big hole, a big hole in your in your day. You don't realize how much of your bandwidth is taken up by your job. Between commuting, working 10 hours a day, maybe if maybe more. So I try to do volunteer things. Um, so that's uh I'm uh big fan of literacy uh advocacy, literacy promotion. So uh it was a it was a good fit. So let's let's talk a little bit about the Little River Library and um how how does I mean I know how libraries work, but what are the programs here? What are some of the specialty things that happen here? Okay, uh in addition to lending books, uh there are uh programs for kids of all ages. There's kids' programs, which is pretty heavy in the summer, a couple days a couple times a week. Well, we're doing this uh in the summer, and there's a lot of kids coming and going. Right, right, which is good. Uh we also have programs for adults. They have uh chair yoga. Uh they have uh a doctor comes in here once a month.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I might need info on that.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Ask the doctor a question. Chair yoga is yoga, but you're sitting in a chair.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Okay. Uh or you stand up holy. That's I'm not sure, but yeah. You don't have to stand on your head or anything. Okay, good, good. Or put your put your your ankle behind your head. Mainly for like our our demographic, not yours, Wendy, but yours and mine. Uh they have, you know, we're and we're you know, we're looking for more act more activities for adults as well. Like we've uh they have do arts and crafts. Uh they do uh there's a knitting group where they do knitting and crocheting uh I think every Wednesday. There's book clubs where they pick up one book and then they read the book and they talk about the book.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Do you guys do uh homeschool programs during the during the school year? Do you know?

SPEAKER_01 4:31

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

No, okay. Not mostly summer for kids. Okay. Yeah. Do you need more volunteers? Like where how many people are?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

We just had a new member join uh about two months ago, and she's a big time crafter. She knits these uh uh blankets, big blankets that we sell at our book sale. We we wrap them up with a book and we sell them. Oh, nice. Which brings us to another question the book sale. What is the book sale? Is that books? Is it ongoing or it's ongoing? It was every the third Wednesday of every month, once a month, and we've expanded it to uh also Mondays. So it's like every Monday, and then the third Wednesday. Uh we have a room outside in the hallway. That's where all our books are. And uh the books are the books are uh gently used, very good condition, very reasonably priced, mostly fiction. Okay. Uh, and that's our that's our main source of of fundraising. We get a lot of traffic from the motor vehicle because we we sit in the hallway, you know, when people are going in and out of the motor vehicle or go into the courtroom. Yeah, let me take a look. Or to see the sheriff or whatever. You know, the like the county being in the county building is really helpful for traffic in. So are these books that were in the library or donations? Oh, they're donated donated by by patrons. Oh, nice. Some of them are are books that were library books that were some right, right. But most of them are are donated by by people who walk in with a box of books in hand. Because I I we do a lot with bookends, the uh bookstore on Main Street, and they can't take a lot of hardbacks. Uh-huh. And so I'm going to make sure they know bring them up here. Yeah, yeah. Bring them here. Bring them here.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

And also, I just wanted to mention uh whenever you're looking for events for the Little River Library, they are really good about posting their events on our website. So make sure you check out uh LittleRiverchamber.org. They put all of their events on our calendar.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

So we greatly appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Absolutely. We are happy to help. And we are happy that you that Jeff has been a great asset to the Little River Chamber. He did some volunteer work whenever we had the Blue Crab Festival. He actually helped the guys uh with River Park. River Park uh senior living donated. Uh yeah, they donated uh where they uh had the ADA uh van or bus and they transported people back and forth from the um from the bank. United Bank to yeah, the United Bank and Little River. Um, so it was a great partnership. Jeff went out and helped him. He said he had a ton of fun. Um so yeah, we definitely appreciate all the help that you give us.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Everybody was grateful. All the people were great.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

It was a good experience. So let's uh talk about your books. What do you love to read since we're here? What are your favorites? I like fiction. Uh I like uh uh detective stories, murder mysteries. Uh I can read them while I'm relaxing uh by the pool or the beach, which is uh where I do most of my reading uh outside. So beach reads. But favorite author? Favorite author or author is some. Uh Caleb Weidel, who's a uh local guy guy. I've read every one of his books. Nice. Big fan of his. Uh there's a uh a detective writer named Tom Turner who does uh murder mysteries based in uh Palm Beach. Oh, okay. And uh he's uh I think I've read all of his books, but uh I started getting into that when I go to Florida for vacation, yeah, look for light, you know, not not uh not really mentally uh derived. I don't I don't want to over challenge myself. Just uh just for entertainment light energy. What did you do for uh your career? Um I was a uh an accountant uh and an audit manager in uh for the uh defense contracting industry. I was with uh Lockheed Martin for about 20 years and Raytheon before that. That sounds great. Most recently, right before I retired, I was with a company called IntelliSis Solutions Group. I'll give them a plug. They're a brand, they're a startup. Well, not anymore. They've been around for six, seven years now. Uh they do work for the Navy in Philadelphia. And then um, I just recently, about a year ago, retired for good, uh full-time retirement. And and then you came to work at the library-ish. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Well, and then showed up at the chamber and was like, I need something to do, I will volunteer.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

When it's budget time here, our chamber membership is uh discussion point, and we always we used to debate whether it was worth worth the fee. And one of my colleagues went to Chamber 101 session we have on the last Thursday. Oh wow, that's what the chamber is. Yeah, this is definitely worth it. Yeah, we're gonna get fully involved with this with uh chamber as as our partners because we're always uh again, we we it's our way of uh we need ways to generate publicity and uh get our names out. Now we should point out Little River Chamber, the Little River Library is part of Ory County Library Systems. Correct, right? Yeah, it it's it's a branch of the county library system. So if there's a book in Conway, you could get it here. You could do it. There's no more going through the cards, Dewey decimal cards. Yeah. You you can uh you go on the website, there's there you can either do it from home or you can do it here. Oh, see what you've got at the terminals. Find the book you want. They don't have it here, they'll tell you who has it. Just click, you know, hold, and then in about a day or two, it'll be transported here from the case. So you don't have to go there. Oh, that's nice. Or they'll just they'll just send it. They have a courier that that goes to all the branches. What a fun job that would be.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Rana, right? So is that something through the library or the county libraries? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

That's that. Right. So let's make sure we know the library location specifically. If you've never been here before, we are in the county, the Little River uh County Complex, the Ralph Ellis Complex. Right. Motor vehicle, tax collector, uh courtroom, sheriff, fire department, and then behind us is the uh Little River branch of the county police department. Right. So you're you're in the back of this building, but back of the building. If you come in through the front, you go to the motor vehicle, you can't miss it. Yeah, or you'll walk right into our into our uh door. But we should point out it's it's just off of Highway 9. It's on 57. It's on 57, off Highway 9. It's a kind of a challenging at times. Intersection, yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Intersection. So turn it bell and bell.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

That's I think that's a really good landmark. Everyone knows where bell and bell is.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

But because we're in paradise and we're mostly retired, just take your time, you'll get here. No need for uh road rage. Yeah, yeah, left that back in Jersey. You really can't speed. Uh no, don't do that. Well, especially since this is the county center.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

So tell us the hours again, the library the hours of the library are nine to six Monday through Friday. Okay. Close on weekends, and close in the evening. Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Do you guys have employees that work or are most of them volunteers that work out front?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Uh three employees is a director and then uh two assistants.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Okay. And then the transporting is done from an employee, not a volunteer, is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 12:55

That's uh the county like system.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Okay. I would imagine that with the liability of the travel, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah. I kind of like that idea. I'll drive for the library.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

I know, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Deliver books. Uh okay. Oh, there's that. Yeah, that's okay. Wendy, we've have we covered everything? Are we in pretty good shape?

SPEAKER_00 13:13

So, yes. Summer reading four things.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Oh, summer reading. Summer reading, that's our big deal. Uh that's it, it's nationwide. The theme, the theme this year is unearth your story. Right behind you is a big banner of dinosaurs. All of our summer reading events are dinosaur related. Uh we had those chocolate chip cookies. Last week we had the kid a simulated archaeological dig where the kids did a cookie and dug out the chocolate chips where they took to act like they were.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Can we do that today? Those those cookies are looking really good down there.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Um we had a you know, we had a a uh a paleontologist named Dr. Diggory who did an interactive uh show uh about dinosaurs, which the kids really enjoy. Sure. So the idea is to get the kids in here, uh expose them to books, encourage them to read. They log their time their reading time in a website called BeanStack, which you can go to the library uh website for beanstack, that's where and and children and adults do that. That's great. Uh and uh they log in their hours and they're eligible for like prizes and stickers and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

And that's going on now? That's going on now until um first week in August is when it's done. Uh yeah, so I do have one quick question.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

As far as adult literacy, what do you guys offer here? Do you have anything on the schedule or not here? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Let me make a plug for my other volunteer group. I'm with the uh Palmetto Literacy Council. Oh, they're great. Based in Myrtle Beach. In fact, I was just there at a meeting and I had to leave early to come here. Uh so uh actually I tutor a student here in the library, but they do they do uh all ages, they do adults and uh and kids. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

So Palmetto Literacy.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah, I'm familiar with that. Our chamber or uh our uh rotary club helps support them. Right. So if you want to know more, you should contact uh them Palmetto Literacy Council.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

All right, great.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

The officially this is the Little River Library. We call it the Little River Library, but it's actually the Ori County Library in the Little River Branch. I got you.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

So we're still gonna stick with Little River Library. Yeah, it works. We have been talking treasures, it's all about Little River, a little bit of paradise. Thank you for being with us. Thanks for having me. And uh, Wendy, thank you for capably filling in.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Thank you. Hopefully, Jennifer will be proud.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

We're on us on social media. We're on Facebook, uh Little River Friends, and we're on Instagram, Little River Friends. We also have a little river, we also have a Facebook group, which is for discussions, but uh so there's three ways to reach us on uh social media. And we'll have a link to this.