Jennifer Rodewald attended the University of Missouri, where she earned a double-major in English and political science in 2007, and graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2011. She returned to Columbia in 2011, where she now lives with her husband, Brandon, and their two kids, Chloe (age 9) and Jackson (age 4). Jennifer is currently the government relations counsel at Shelter Insurance.

Congratulations to the winners of our 2023 Summer Reading bookmark contest! These folks drew, painted, and colored designs to celebrate this year’s theme, “All Together Now.” The 17 winning designs will be printed and distributed at our libraries this summer.

Carolyn Cain and Cletus Baurichter have been book buddies for over 20 years. It all began when Cletus and his wife moved to Lenoir Woods retirement center in 2001. One fine day, they decided to walk from their new apartment to the Lenoir lobby to check out the Daniel Boone Regional Library’s monthly lobby visit. Standing with a smiling warm face behind a table loaded with books to borrow, was Carolyn, the library staff member helping patrons during that visit.

The library now has a way to communicate with people in more than 240 languages with our new Language Link Translation service. This immediate over-the-phone interpretation service will enable our staff to be even more helpful to non-English speakers visiting our libraries or bookmobile.

Throughout May we are celebrating Women’s Health Week at the library by focusing on a basic need of many. There are people in our community unable to go to work or attend school because they don’t have the money to buy period supplies. This affects their mental well-being, their earning potential and their opportunity to learn.

Your local public library provides you with services to help bridge the digital gap. At the library, we often help patrons who have never used a computer apply for jobs or set up a laptop for the first time. Others have come in to get help building their résumés, to practice their keyboarding skills and to learn how to use their smartphones or tablets. Take advantage of the digital services at the libraries in Ashland, Columbia, Fulton and Holts Summit.

If you’re looking for fun active learning projects for kids, the library’s new online resource, Lerner Maker Lab, will give you all kinds of ideas. You’ll discover easy crafts, kid-friendly recipes, engaging experiments, simple building plans and fun party projects.

Who doesn’t love spring — the time of year when nature brings us renewal, warm fresh air and the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the sunshine? For me, spring also brings a reminder of our stewardship of the Earth. Here at the Daniel Boone Regional Library, we take our stewardship of public library resources seriously, not just in the materials and services we provide, but also in our four facilities.

The One Read reading panel of community members from Boone and Callaway Counties narrowed the list of more than 200 book suggestions for the 2023 One Read title to two top contenders. Between April 10-28, the public can cast their vote for either “When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky” by Margaret Verble or “Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life” by Lulu Miller.

LOTE4Kids (Languages Other Than English) has introduced sign language kids books into their collection of languages. You’ll now find picture books in American (ASL), Australian (Auslan), and British (BSL) sign languages as well as more bilingual and read-along stories and downloadable activities.