Summer Reading Program & Storytime start this week!

Quick reminder to those of you with children: This week starts the annual Summer Reading Program (SRP) and Summer Story Time (SST). Don't forget to get your children signed up, complete with their own library card! Our staff is looking forward to signing up your child today!

Also, be sure to come to our Ramadan themed Sunday Storytime events all month long! Children participating will get a chance to make their own Ramadan themed crafts and hear fun Ramadan stories.

Are You Ready for Summer?!?

With Memorial Day having just passed us by, I wanted to send out a quick reminder to everyone that the Summer Reading Contest, Summer Storytime and a monthly summer family film series are just around the corner. That means making sure all your little ones have library cards and visit us a few times to participate.


The Summer Reading Contest will run June 6th through September 2nd. One grand prize winner will be announced Friday, September 16th, and will receive a movie night with popcorn and snacks for themselves and up to 10 of their closest friends. No reading logs will be accepted after September 2nd.

Summer Storytime will run weekly starting Thursday, June 9th. This year, Storytime also includes some bilingual books, so if you are interested in exposing your child to the Arabic language, now is the time to start. We will be finding ways to continue these storytimes on a monthly basis throughout the year.

Also, this summer we are bringing back monthly film screening events to the center. Once a month on a Friday, patrons will be able to visit the center to watch family-friendly Islamic films. Once the titles are finalized we will post the list, so stay tuned for more thrilling announcements.

IRC Expands Storytime: Gains Bilingual Series

I am here to announce two amazing things for the Islamic Resource Center and you:

We have been tirelessly working to add books into our library and not only provide you with the first lending library of Islamic materials of its kind but also to expand our collection into Arabic materials. I may have mentioned this before, but with the inclusion of some of our newest arrivals (208 Arabic Scholastic books working their way into our collection), we officially have enough materials to not just have a Children's Arabic collection, but have its own space. Many of these books are well-known English books that have been translated into Arabic. Titles include "Heidi," "Princesses Don't Wear Jeans," and "Is Your Mama a Llama."

In addition, we heard your requests for more children's programming during the school year, in particular your requests for children's story time. So, "back by popular demand," we are starting this expansion by adding monthly story time sessions year-round to our already quickly expanding lineup of events for the community. Starting this summer, these will be bilingual events with all stories being told in both Arabic and English in addition to our regularly scheduled story times.

We can't wait for you to discover our collection!

Summer Reading at the IRC

     Summer has officially reached the IRC and we have been hard at work on summer programming for you. I'm proud to say our Summer Reading Program has had a strong start as has the Summer Story Time.

Summer Reading Participants Reading for Fun

    The IRC's Summer Reading Program has managed to reach over 40 kids this year so far! For such a small, but growing organization, that is a lot of kids. And these children aren't just plentiful, they are exuberant and enthusiastic. They don't even wait to go home to read, but make their own space of our facility and read stacks of books while their parents do their own library visit. I think this year might just be the most successful year yet and it isn't even halfway over.

Summer Storytime Participants Getting to Know Each Other

     The Summer Story Time program has been equally successful so far. In this last session, we had over 60 people show up for the event. It has been so successful in fact that we are planning to make this a year-round program. This wouldn't be possible without the support of our community and the help of volunteers.