Share a Smile

We are collaborating with Milan Seniors for Healthy Living to share artwork and letters with individuals who are served by Meals on Wheels.

Teens are home from school, perhaps looking for extra things to do.  Individuals are home alone, perhaps looking for virtual connections to others.  We hope to connect these two groups by inviting children and teens to write a letter and/or draw a picture that we can share with the Meals on Wheels program.

If you'd like to participate, please scan or take a picture of your letter(s) and/or drawing(s) and email it to Jennifer at the library (jperryman@milanlibrary.org).  She will compile the submissions and email them to Milan Seniors for Healthy Living. Someone from Meals on Wheels will print them and distribute them to individuals through their deliveries.  Given the current health situation, we think this is the best option to share messages without sharing germs.

If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Perryman at jperryman@milanlibrary.org.

Thank you in advance for "sharing a smile!"

Share Your Story

We are all living through an unusual time now.  The current pandemic affects all of us, and each of us in a different way.

Our library would like to collect a local account of this time.  We invite you to send us anything you'd like to share - photographs, drawings, writings - anything that shares what your experience and daily life now is like.

We plan to compile your submissions into a collection to have in the library.  Our community will have access to this account now, and after this time becomes history, our future community will be able to read first-hand accounts of our experiences.

If you need ideas, here are a few suggestions:
What did you do today that you wouldn't have done on a "normal" day?
What did you not do today that you would have done on a "normal" day?
What do you miss about school or work?
What do you like or not like about being home and away from school or work?
How are you keeping in touch with family and friends while you can't visit them in person?
Have you done something to help someone else?
Has someone done something to help you?
Have you missed an event during this time?
What are you looking forward to doing after we return to "normal."

If you would like to participate, you can:

• Upload your submission here - A Gmail account is required for this option.
• Email us at info@milanlibrary.org and then complete this form.
• Bring information to the library once we reopen.  We can scan your documents if you'd like to keep the originals.

We look forward to seeing what you share.


A separate project:
The Library of Michigan is also collecting information through their COVID-19: Save Your Story project in collaboration with the Historical Society of Michigan.  If you are interested in participating in their project, you can see details are here.  (Please share with us, too!)

Online Reading & Learning Resources

Update: We add resources to the sections below as we discover them, but are highlighting this one at the top of the page since it is is happening only on May 1 and 2.

Everywhere Book Fest - May 1-2

The Everywhere Book Fest is a virtual celebration of authors, books, and readers that brings the book festival experience to everyone!  On May 1-2, the book festival will open its virtual doors and unveil two free full days of live and pre-recorded sessions with your favorite picture book, middle grade, and young adult authors.

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While your school and the library are closed, you may be looking for books to read, ways to prepare for the ACT or SAT, or other things to do during your time at home.  Here are some resources that may be useful. 

You can leave us a comment below or email us at info@milanlibrary.org if you have any questions or need help accessing any of these resources.

We have another list of youth resources on our children's page.  Some of those may be of interest to you as well. You can see that list here. 

For parents/adults:  If you don't have internet access: Comcast is currently offering two free months of their Internet Essentials plan to new subscribers.  Their website is here.  We are not affiliated with this program, but are sharing it in case it is of interest to you.  

Library Resources:

eBooks and eAudiobooks from our membership in Woodlands Library Cooperative

You can use your library card to download free eBooks and eAudiobooks here or through the Libby app here.

Tumblebook Library

Tumblebooks has provided free access to their resources through August 31.

Tumblebook Library - K-6th grade ebooks

TumbleMath - K-6th grade math ebooks

TeenBookCloud - ebooks for 7th - 12th grades

AudioBookCloud - all ages - audiobooks

Michigan Electronic Library (MeL) from the Library of Michigan

The Michigan Electronic Library (MeL) has a variety of reading, research, and learning resources for all ages – ebooks, youth activities, ACT/SAT/PSAT test prep, and more.  See all MeL eResources here.

ACT, SAT, PSAT (and more) Test Prep

Learning Express Library provides free test prep guides for the ACT, SAT, PSAT, and more.   See them here.  

Learn a new language with Mango Languages.  Set up your free account here to get started.

Additional resources - not affiliated with our library

The following resources are not affiliated with our library.  We are providing them as a convenience to you. 

Authors/Illustrators/Books

Many authors and illustrators are providing online experiences - drawing lessons, reading their books online, talking about their creative process, and more. 

Scroll down to the "Authors, Illustrators, and Books" section here to see some of these options.

You can also take a look at your favorite author's website or social media pages to see what they may be doing. 

Audible - free access to audiobooks. No login. Stories in 6 languages.

Sync: Audiobooks for Teens
SYNC is a free summer audiobook program for teens. Beginning on April 30, 2020, SYNC will give away two complete audiobooks a week - pairs of books based on weekly themes. Register for SYNC and sign up for email or text alerts at  www.audiobooksync.com.

Everywhere Book Fest

The Everywhere Book Fest is a virtual celebration of authors, books, and readers that brings the book festival experience to everyone!  On May 1-2, the book festival will host two free full days of live and pre-recorded sessions with your favorite picture book, middle grade, and young adult authors. If you miss it live, you can watch the videos on their website after the events.

Harry Potter at Home

Simon Teen has provided free ebooks, each for a limited time.   

See all the library's resources at the top of this page, too!

Music/Theater

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra provides recordings of a variety of their performances here. 

Virtual Museum & Location Tours

A variety of museums through Google Arts and Culture

A variety of events and places from Discovery Education

7 Wonders of the World

Anne Frank's House

Arconic Manufacturing

Dairy Farm

Google Sky

Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas

The Louvre

Mars

Mt. Everest

Mount Vernon

Museo Galileo

NASA

Polar Bears and the Tundra

Smithsonian: Museum of Natural History

Yellowstone National Park

Science

Michigan State University Science Festival is online this year.  See digital presentations, virtual tours, STEAM you can do at home, and links to partners with even more fun science information and activities.

Library Closing

In the interest of public health, our library will be closed through April 5, and possibly longer.

Update 3/23:  Following the "Stay Home" Executive Order, we will be closed through April 13.
Also, please do not return any items to the drop box.  We want you to stay safe and want to prevent items from accumulating in the drop box while we are not able to access them.  No fines will be charged during the time we are closed. Please keep your items at home until further notice.  

Online Resources

While we are closed, you can still access the following online options:

You can check out eBooks and eAudiobooks from our library cooperative (Woodlands Library Cooperative) through Overdrive here or by downloading the Libby app here for your mobile devices.

The Michigan Electronic Library (MeL) has a variety of online resources for reading, learning, and research for all ages – ebooks, youth activities, ACT/SAT test prep, and more.  See all MeL eResources here and options specifically for children here. 

Items checked out and/or reserved

You will NOT be charged fines for items you currently have checked out during the time we are closed. 

You can renew items online here for items from our library and here for items from MeLCat, but don’t worry about items that can’t be renewed. We will backdate returns when we reopen (and for one week after), so fines will not be applied for the time we are closed

If you have books on reserve that are currently being held for you, we will continue to hold them for one week after we reopen.

If you had a MeLCat request that had not arrived at our library, yet, the request has been canceled.  New requests are not able to be placed at this time. We will provide updates on our website as we have them. 

Updates/Additional Information

We will post updates and additional information on our website and social media accounts: primarily Facebook and additionally Instagram and Twitter.  

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@milanlibrary.org.

Read Away Your Fines

We are offering a "Read Away Your Fines" program to help youth with fines have the opportunity to reduce their fines and be able to check out books.

Children and teens can read away their fines during the following times:

Monday, January 20, 10:00 - 8:00

Tuesday, January 21, 3:00 - 8:00

Friday, January 31, 3:00 - 6:00
Stop by the library during any of those times and check in at the circulation desk to get started.

If you can't come during any of those times, please let us know and we'll arrange a time that will work for you.

Details:

• This program is for youth - under 18 or 12th grade and under.
• $5 will be waived for every 30 minutes they read. 
• Only fines will be waived.  Lost and damaged items will still need to be paid for.
• Youth can read to themselves or parents/adults can read to children; any reading counts.
• The reading must be done in the library during designated Read Away Your Fines times.

If you have any questions, please let us know here, call 734-439-1240, or stop by the library.

Gingerbread House Event

TNT Gingerbread House Event

for 6th - 12th graders
Tuesday, December 17
4:00 - 5:15 P.M.

Join us to make gingerbread houses with graham crackers and candy decorations. Registration is required. Please register here.

Summer Reading Prize Packets

Everyone who completes the 3rd goal (30 days or 15 hours) on our reading logs will receive a prize packet.

The prize packets contain:
a certificate for a free book from the library's book sale
a certificate for free ice cream from McDonald's
a certificate for 2 free games of bowling at Bel-Mark Lanes
a certificate for a free game at Zap Zone
a coupon for a free ride or snack item at Saline Community Fair (if you respond to the email about the fair coupons)

If you turn in your 3rd reading log ticket by Tuesday, August 13, your prize packet will be available to pick up on Friday, August 16 - or any time after that.

If you turn in your 3rd reading log ticket after August 13 and by the end of the program on Saturday, August 31, your prize packet will be available to pick up on Friday, September 6 - or any time after that.

On Friday, August 16, we'll have the following in the meeting room:

• prize packets 
• space-themed craft projects remaining from our summer events and board games - Stop by to create and/or play!
• space-themed props for you to pose with and take photos

Everyone is welcome on Friday - even if you don't have a prize packet, yet. Stop by to create a project, play a game, and/or take a picture - and then keep reading/listening!