The Greene County Librarians Association is rolling out “Around the World in Greene County” this month. The county-wide multicultural program, featuring all six Greene County libraries, will debut with a Culture Café on Tuesday, May 12, from 5 to 8 pm at the Rippey public library.
The event will showcase the new materials purchased for the Rippey library with funds from a grant awarded to the GCLA to promote multiculturalism. Guests will have the opportunity to explore the materials while enjoying refreshments from 5 to 6 pm. The program will begin at 6 with Sara Huddleston, director of the Multicultural Family Resource Center of Greene County, as the featured speaker. The topic of her presentation is “Cultural Awareness and Cross-Cultural Communication.”
Two more Culture Cafes will be presented at the William Paton Public Library in September and the Churdan public library in November. Each event will have the same format with new materials, refreshments and a program. Huddleston will be the featured speaker at both, addressing “What Connects Us” on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at Paton and “Don’t Underestimate the Power of Self Confidence” on Thursday, Nov. 12, at Churdan.
Libraries in Scranton, Jefferson and Grand Junction will present CultureALL Open Book events in the months ahead. Open Book, a partnership with CultureALL, is a story-sharing experience where trained Books (people) share chapters of their lives and facilitate a discussion around common themes. Dates, topics and times for each Open Book program will be announced later.
Another component of “Around the World in Greene County” are Spanish language classes to be taught by Huddleston. A youth class will be held for ages 7-10 in August. An adult class will be held in September and October. Each class will be conducted in four weekly sessions.
“Around the World in Greene County” is sponsored by Greene County Librarians Association, Greene County supervisors, Greene County Community Foundation, CultureAll and Multicultural Family Resource Center of Greene County.
