Timeline People Services

1:33 p.m.

Minutes after Mr. Awothar leaves the desk to reunite with his family, Martha fields another library card question, this one from Zhiou An, who lives in a neighboring town. Martha encourages her to bring her children to story times, which do not require a library card.

1:35 p.m.

Martha notices Alyssa Donaire looking over her shoulder from the art table and leaves the desk to explain that the library is looking for young people to create art for a display that will appear in April marking Earth Day.

2:01 p.m.

Alyssa returns to the desk with her finished artwork, a mixed media tree with colorful leaves, birds and a word collage related to nature. (Editor’s Note: Alyssa’s artwork was included in the Earth Day display on the main bulletin board of the third floor.)

2:04 p.m.

Just as Martha is bemoaning the fact that her hour with the reporter and photographer didn’t include any readers advisory, Shefali Shah and her daughter, Emma, walk up to the desk. Shefali and Emma know Martha, who first met them when Emma was a 2-year-old attending story time. Emma and Martha head for the stacks to find new books for Emma’s upcoming Spring Break.

2:15 p.m.

Dina Bishay returns her art box, including the red crayon, to the desk as more people enter the third floor.

type toys you have here. They could spend hours and don’t want to leave. I’m really grateful to the staff for making it such a great and safe place for them.”

Outreach

The Marcy T. Crimmins Learning Center is one of several local preschool programs the library visits on a regular basis, providing story times and other educational support to students and staff. Youth Services staff also visit the Atkinson Child Development Center at Homefront and Princeton Nursery School. Staff hosts preschool visits, including a March visit by the Burke Foundation Early Childhood Center at YWCA Princeton. In addition, the department offers Library in a Box, a kit designed to freshen up a preschool classroom library.

Other Libraries

JAMADAY AWOTHAR is corporate director of internal audit for Crown Holdings Inc., which designs and manufactures sustainable and innovative metal packaging technology solutions. He said while disappointed that his family did not qualify for free library cards, he was very grateful to Martha for inviting his family to use the library and for pointing him toward the new library in Montgomery.

ALYSSA DONAIRE lives in Princeton with her mother, Sara, and her father, Dr. Michael Donaire. She attends Littlebrook School. Sara says the family spends a lot

Library card inquiries by those living outside of Princeton are a regular interaction at all service desks. Part of the reason is that Princeton shares its ZIP code with a half dozen other towns, some outside of Mercer County. Another reason is that multiple developments in three counties contain the word “Princeton” in their names. Those new to these communities naturally assume Princeton Public Library is their library. If a customer is not eligible for free borrowing privileges here, staff review how they can purchase a card, then how they connect with their local public library.

Story Times

One of the library’s foundational tools in building literacy skills, story times by library staff are offered five times a week in the Story Room and once a week in the courtyard at Princeton Shopping Center. In addition, story times in German, Japanese, Spanish and Urdu are presented monthly by guest readers.