Can Raymond Library Save You on Back to School Costs?

Looking for peace and quiet? Looking to expand your horizons, learn more, live vicariously through great books? And how about seeing your children do the same? And as a bonus, save some money when sending the kids back to school this year? If you answered yes to any and all, you might want to look inside Raymond Library. 

September is the 25th anniversary of Library Card Sign-up Month, a national campaign that seeks to put a library card in the hands of every student. Thousands of public libraries and school libraries will take part in the effort this year by hosting special programs on the free educational resources that libraries offer to students, according to the American Library Association.

At your local library "just 10 hours of computer use, reference assistance and database searches can save families more than $380," the library association says in a press release. "Getting information is easy, but getting the right information takes practice. Why pay for computer training when a library provides free technology workshops for the whole family? More than 90 percent of libraries offer formal or informal technology assistance to library users and 35 percent offer one-on-one technology training by appointment – all for free."

Raymond Library, 832 Raymond Hill Road in Oakdale, is closed today, Thursday Aug. 23 for staff training so Patch was unable to reach them for comment on the ALA initiative, but if we know director Joanne Westkamper, we'll be hearing much more about this program. 

According to the town website, at Raymond Library people may borrow books (regular and large print), magazines, audios, and music CDs.  The library has a large Children's Department and many children's videos are available.  Our collections are updated every month with new books, and several times a year we borrow large print books and many audios from the State Library. The Connecticard System, copy machine, ILL loan system, and Macintosh computers with Internet access are available for use.  The library also participates in a paperback book exchange and Read-Aloud Day.

Raymond Library is a private business supported in part by public funds.