The library is free and open to everyone, but we know that for some, access to our services and facilities can be a greater challenge. We are always looking for ways to overcome barriers to our services. For many years, the library has offered assistance to those with mobility issues and vision and hearing disabilities. As we learn more about other challenges people face, the library is expanding our services to be even more inclusive and training staff about those challenges so we can better serve all of our friends and neighbors.

Tonya Hays-Martin was born and raised in Fulton and still calls it home. She and her husband live near Calwood, known locally as the Crossroads of the World. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her two adult sons and one amazing granddaughter. As a librarian, she loves libraries, and has served on the DBRL Board of Trustees for 16 years.

The Daniel Boone Regional Library is proud to announce that librarian Hilary Aid has been awarded the Show Me Youth Services Award by the Missouri Library Association’s Youth Services Community of Interest. This prestigious honor recognizes librarians who demonstrate outstanding performance in planning, developing and promoting library services for children and teens.

The Callaway County Public Library will receive a $10,000 gift from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the foundation established by Andrew Carnegie. The award is part of Carnegie Libraries 250, a special initiative celebrating the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and honoring the roughly 1,280 Carnegie libraries still serving their communities across the United States.

Among our readers, the popularity of eBooks and digital audiobooks continues to grow, along with some questions about where the library gets the books you can borrow and why there is a waiting list on some titles, but not others. It can be confusing! Read on to get some answers.

When I was director of the Johnson City Public Library in Tennessee, I was introduced to a national initiative called “Seeding Artful Aging.” The program’s goals were to demonstrate the power and impact of creative aging programs and to encourage the development of arts education programs for older adults. Creative arts programs are key in fighting ageism, or discrimination based on age, by redefining how society views older adults. When older adults are able to highlight their strengths, or gain new strengths, they are positioned to showcase themselves as active creators and learners.

Helen Washburn grew up in Idaho and spent a lot of time in the Boise Public Library which was a lovely Carnegie building. She says, “I was always encouraged to read as much as I wanted and when I wanted.” Helen served as the president of Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri for 18 years before retiring to Columbia. She has lived in Boone County for 21 years and served on the DBRL Foundation board for seven years.

Literacy begins with a baby’s earliest experiences with books. Snuggling with a little one and pointing out the pictures as you read along helps the child understand the words you’re reading. Pictures have been a part of our desire for information since prehistory, when people made the famous cave paintings at Lascaux in Europe and the pictographs in ancient Iraq and Egypt. They can illustrate something concrete like an apple or inspire an emotion, memory or make us recall a well-known story such as a girl with long hair in a tower.

Thanks to the randomly selected 1,398 people in Boone and Callaway Counties who took time to answer our survey, we have a better sense of what we’re doing right and where we can improve. The information will also be valuable when we begin drafting our next long-range strategic plan.

What a true joy and privilege it’s been to start my journey as executive director of the Daniel Boone Regional Library! I joined the DBRL team November 25, 2024 and have enjoyed getting to know our staff, our patrons and members of the DBRL Foundation and Friends of the Library.

Columbia has been my home since 2020, and DBRL has been an integral part of my personal life, because, like many of you, a trip to the public library has always been a part of my normal routine.