July 1, 2025 • 27 mins
How do parents keep their kids entertained all summer long? The answer is simple, close by and FREE! Take a look at what the Mandel Public Library in downtown West Palm Beach has to offer to keep your kids busy! With Christena Carollo.
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Episode Transcript
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(23:43:02):
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
Gerry Marcelo. It's summertime in South
Florida, which for parents means just one
thing. How do you keep the kids
entertained for the next couple of
months? There's a simple and inexpensive
solution if you're in West Palm Beach.
The Mandel Public Library is your answer.
We'll show you how the library is packed
(23:43:22):
with fun activities for kids young and
old this summer. That's next
on the City Center Podcast.
Joining me today is Christina Carollo,
Communication Strategist for the City
of West Palm Beach. Christina, welcome.
Thank you for having me. Okay, now we're
talking about summertime. Summertime is a
(23:43:44):
time when parents are looking for ways
to keep their kids entertained. When you
see library, they go, "Well, okay, that's
like two hours or an hour of looking at a
book, and then what?" That's not the case
at the Mandel Public Library, is it? No,
not at all. So the library is four floors
of fun, and for kids and adults, but
especially the kids, on the third floor,
(23:44:05):
there is a huge kids space up there. So
there's books, there's toys, they have
programming all summer long, every single
day, every morning, they have like
story times and stuff like that.
Different programs like
for art and whatnot. Usually
they are registration based, so sometimes
that's in the morning in person or maybe
online, so you definitely have to check
out on the website, like when that's
(23:44:26):
going to be happening, but even if you
just want to go in and sit in there and
you know you want to cool off, like the
kids can play with toys and stuff, but
parents, there's computers up there, so
they really wanted to
sit on the computer.
They could. So, well, let's break it down
a little bit. So you've got four floors
of good stuff there. Yes, indeed. Okay,
so you went over real
(23:44:47):
fast over some of the
things, but just to sort of give it more
detail, you have like first floor is just
popular books, novels, right? Yes, so
that is our popular and
like new book section.
Those are also where the express books
are, so it's like if you're a fast
reader and you can read a book in two
weeks, pick them up there. If you need a
(23:45:07):
lot longer like me, then the other floors
are probably the best. Like the
fourth floor is home to all of the most
of the collection of the books. So new
and popular on first floor, and then we
have teens on the second floor. So even
adults who enjoy young adult fiction can
go into the teen section, check out a
few books. It's really great. So there's
(23:45:28):
great summer reading. Absolutely. What if
I'm into audio? Is there like audiobooks
about? Oh yeah, so you can actually get
like the physical audiobooks if you want
to like listen in your car kind of
thing. There's like the CD versions. I
don't know if they've got the tapes, it's
a little old-school, but you can also do
the online version. So they have plenty
of like audiobooks, ebooks through like
Hoopla or Cloud Library that you can
(23:45:49):
access completely for free with your
library card number. Well let's talk
about that for just a quick session. A
library card. Now, resident, you
have to be a resident. So actually you
don't. Oh you don't?
You don't have to be a
resident. Yeah, so for anyone who's
living outside of West
Palm Beach, we're not
super sticklers. We welcome everybody. So
as long as like you sign up, you have
(23:46:09):
your license, you can come in and do it
at the front desk on the first floor. You
could do it online and it'll be mailed to
you I believe, or you can pick it up in
person. So if you're a Floridian and you
want a library card, you can get one.
That is awesome. I'm used to thinking,
okay well I live in Lake Worth or I
live in North Palm Beach. I can't go
here. You can. You can.
(23:46:30):
Yes. It's really fantastic.
You're welcome to. Please do it. Also,
for some people, even if you're out of
state sometimes, you can get a library
card. I don't know if that's a trade
secret or not. But it's true. We're very
welcoming to everybody because at the end
of the day the goal is to get people
reading and to give resources. Yeah.
(23:46:50):
Because you know it's books for fun, but
then it's also for education. And we have
like tons, like biographies, memoirs,
everything. Is there a minimum age for
a kid, a child, or a student to get a
book? You know? So I'm not sure by
themselves what the age would be, but if
they're with a
parent. Okay. Yeah, I'd have
(23:47:10):
to check into that. But kids can have
library cards typically if they're teens,
but I think that's a question for the
actual librarians at the Mandel Public
Library. Right. You can call them anytime
and they'll be happy to answer your
question. And I bet the information is
probably available on the city website.
Right. Yes. So go ahead.
WPBCityLibrary.org.
WPBCityLibrary.org. Okay, very good.
(23:47:32):
Excellent. All right. So now we know we
can get a card. That's fantastic. And so
what we'll do is now we're wandering and
we said, okay, you
know, I found some good,
a couple good books for me to read on the
beach or for my son or daughter
to read during the summertime to sort of
build a book library. But there's more
than just books. Tell us a little bit
(23:47:53):
about what we're talking about.
Absolutely. And it
says it on the booklet.
Okay. More than just books. Well, what is
that? Tell me what that is. So this is
the booklet that's put
out every single month that
breaks down all the programs that are
happening in a month. So we have June and
July here and we have some pictures that
show us what happens in the library the
month previous and then in here it breaks
it down by floor and by section.
(23:48:15):
So kids, teens, adults. Okay. Has
everything. All right. So where can
folks get that? So this you just go into
the library and you can get it on any
floor. Every desk they'll have some
available right on the desk or you can
get the digital copy on the library's
website where you can actually flip
through it like you would, you know,
(23:48:36):
normally but in the digital version.
Neat. Okay. So and that is like the tour
guide, the itinerary
for the entire summer.
Absolutely. Yeah. It'll tell you
everything that's going on and if you
have to register or not to. And of course
every single program at the library is
free. So that's never an issue but
sometimes they fill up really fast so
(23:48:56):
they will do registration. You were
talking about that earlier that
obviously there's a lot of folks that are
they think this is extremely
great and very, very popular. So if you
want to get a part of very popular
programs it's smart to get there as early
as possible to get registered. Is
that correct? Yes. So for the kids
sometimes they will have early morning
(23:49:17):
registration before like story time. So
you want to make sure that you're there
in the window and that your name is
signed up. But for other programs mostly
for like adult programs even some teens
if there is a registration typically you
can do it online or for the art studio
you can do it online as well. And that
way it's secured you can even call and
ask if you could be registered over the
(23:49:38):
phone and then you'll get sent an email.
Alright so to continue our tour of the
library we talked a little bit about the
first floor. Wonderful books you know
reading for younger adults is fantastic.
Let's move up. What's what's our next
big stop as we tour the library? So if
you go upstairs to the second floor that
is the technology floor. It's also where
you have the teen section so there's YA
(23:49:59):
fiction up there and there's also a large
collection of movies in the DVD
format. We all remember that. So anybody
who like would love to have the
blockbuster experience, blockbuster date
night or like if you're reminiscent you
were at previous blockbusters like I was
as a child. You can go and actually check
(23:50:21):
out movies for free on a DVD. I'm old
enough to remember when Netflix used to
be a they send you a DVD. I remember that
as a kid too. It's kind of like
magical you put it in the DVD player
usually like the bloopers are included
and stuff like that. So there's
definitely a magic there. Absolutely. So
but that is available. Yeah so you get
(23:50:42):
DVDs. Fantastic. Yeah and there is the
limit is high. I think it's like
past 20 DVDs at a time. I mean I don't
know who's gonna be checking. You can
fill a summer time with
watching. Heck yeah. Wow. Good stuff and
actual CDs too. So if you like listening
to your music via CD you know an older
cars my new car doesn't have it. You can
(23:51:05):
grab a CD and it's really nice. That's
fantastic. Okay so all right so we have a
world of video and audio on the second
floor. Yes and the Technology and
Innovation Center plus the Art Studio.
The second floor is a lot going on. Well
tell me about this Innovation Center.
What's that about? Yeah so the
Technology Center, Technology and
Innovation is always evolving. Right now
(23:51:26):
they have like a 3D printer in there.
They have a podcast studio booth where
you can go in and record a podcast
episode. You could
record a song if you're
you know can sing or if you're a musician
and there is some equipment in
there like a MacBook in there so you can
record it. You can edit it and then save
(23:51:47):
it on like a flash drive or email it to
yourself or whatnot. How creative and so
really neat. So there's a lot of
innovative tools there for people to be
creative on their own. Absolutely and
they just got they have a VR headset and
they just got it like a chair that you
can sit in and it amplifies the
experience. I haven't tried it myself but
it sounds really cool. They have tons of
(23:52:09):
different programming also workshops for
if you want to learn you know how to do
different kind of editing or digital art.
There's always a one-on-one
opportunity to with Eric who runs the
TIC. Oh we know Eric.
Eric's a good friend of
ours. So there's staff there that will
help you out if you don't know it right
here. Okay all right. Very cool for
(23:52:31):
anyone that wants to
has like old movies and
wants to digitize they can do that there
as well like old tapes or anything and
that's typically popular too or even like
old photographs if you want to
digitize those we have a whole station
for that. Do you recommend especially
things as popular like transferring video
and you know to file format is
(23:52:54):
that stuff that you want to go ahead and
book time for can you reserve time? Yes
yes you can book it ahead of time on the
website or if you call the second floor
the tech desk they'll be happy to block
off times. Usually it's about a two-hour
window but the librarians are always
willing to work with you and find a time
that works best for you. Wow just amazing
(23:53:15):
tools at everyone's disposal. Okay so
moving on what's what's on the what's are
we going upstairs yet we're going to
third floor? Let's stop at the art studio
first and then we'll go upstairs. But
yeah so the art studio is really
cool too they'll have different programs
all registration based. My favorite one
is happy little paintings where you
follow along to Bob Ross and he will
(23:53:38):
teach you how to paint and it's just
super fun and very nostalgic. So that
one is super popular and there's other
things I believe in July they have
coming up a program where you can make a
little bookcases as well so it's like
just a little miniature very whimsical
you can put it on your bookshelf. Yeah
very fun stuff. I think I've seen those
where it's like it's like a large
(23:54:00):
book like little rectangle that has like
a scene in it. It's all
in a world and this one is
like literally just a mini bookshelf. Oh
it's like a bookshelf on your bookshelf.
That's really cool. That's fantastic.
Okay continue. So lots of great stuff
there. Yeah so the second
floor definitely check it out. There's
also computers on the second floor so if
(23:54:21):
you just want to go in and do anything
under the Sun really if you know if
reading an audio or reading an e-book you
can do that. If you just want to
surf the web you can do that. Some people
will use it you know if they have to
apply for a job they'll use the computers
to do that as well. In this
instance if you came there if you went
there with your son or daughter you
(23:54:42):
they could be lost looking at books and
you can get on board and check local
news or whatever you want to do. So
things for the adults to do
while they're at the library.
Yes that's important. The library has
something for everyone or even let's go
back down to the first floor for a
second. If you're familiar with Cilento
coffee shop they have a window on the
(23:55:04):
first floor so you can grab a book grab
a treat maybe a little coffee sit down
and enjoy both at the same time and it's
really nice. You can't ask for more net.
Exactly yeah especially like coffee.
Either it's a really hot day and you want
a nice coffee you read a book in the
library or if it's raining which tends to
happen during the summer get a nice
(23:55:25):
hot drink and cozy up in a corner with a
good book. Can't beat
that. Okay definitely
not. So is there anything else that we
should talk about on the second floor? I
think we're moving up. Okay moving on up.
Yeah so we went over the third floor a
little bit that's where the children's
area is. Yeah.
There's also the auditorium
there where they have a lot of
programming and different rooms there
(23:55:46):
that people can actually rent out. That's
all through the website you could I'm
not sure of the rates or anything like
that or how it works but if you ever
want to rent out a room for like a
lecture or something that's also
available to people. And then the
information is probably available on the
website. Absolutely yeah and then let's
go to the fourth floor. Okay now we're up
(23:56:07):
to the fourth. We're up to the fourth.
There's also computers up there as well
for people to use. You can fax stuff up
there which is cool if you need to print
things it's great. There's tons of books
up there and there's some of people's
favorite reading spots because there's a
nice big window up there too where
people will sit in front of and just like
curl up with their book. There's
(23:56:28):
vaulted ceiling so it's really probably
the most beautiful area of the library.
It is actually tell a story about last
year we had the opportunity to go and do
a live broadcast a live broadcast from
the fourth floor and it is so beautiful
and so relaxing and the natural light
coming through it is a fantastic place
(23:56:50):
yeah to take a moment for yourself it's
fantastic. Yeah yeah people love it up
there it's also the quiet floor so anyone
who wants silence wants to study
wants to read and be at peace they can go
to the fourth floor. Peace. Yes and we
have the Florida room up there too which
is where a lot of history is kept
especially like Florida history you can
go in and learn some things so that's
(23:57:12):
very cool too. They really like maintain
it well keep things looking sharp so if
you have you know time and you want a
museum like experience go to the
Florida room. Yeah and the Florida room
if I've been there and they have
newspaper clippings getting all the way
back to the turn of last century
essentially and you know they have they
(23:57:34):
have you know books and scrapbooks
showing all the events that were
happening not at this library obviously
since it's relatively new but going all
the way back to the other library that's
now the area that we have for you know
the Clamatus by Night and all those areas
down there so it covers a great deal it's
very very fascinating. Isn't that
(23:57:55):
cool? Yeah. You can just go be a
historian for a day at
the library if you so choose
which is very nice and then one of the
coolest things especially for the
summertime they have a seed library so if
you're into gardening or you want to get
into gardening they have this whole it's
literally like catalog of seed packets
there's herbs, flowers, vegetables and
(23:58:18):
you can take up to six seed packets every
month per patron and every Monday the
first Monday of every month they add new
seeds in. Wow. Yeah and there's
information too about like how to grow
that particular plant in the area. So it
could be flowers or it could be a
vegetable perhaps? Yeah. So what happens
if you keep the seeds too long and you
(23:58:39):
have and you haven't returned them do you
have to like? Well you know I think
the library would understand that's okay.
Maybe you have to bring back some
vegetables to make up for it as a
penalty. I think that's good. Yes please
bring your local librarian a flower or if
you grow a tomato that's
great too. I have never
heard of a program like that where the
libraries is distributing seeds it's
(23:59:01):
fantastic. Right? Isn't that so cool?
Yeah. I love that and it's completely
free which is my favorite part about the
library. So we're at a point now where
we're looking at weeks and
weeks of summer and we've got kids who
are probably just now sort of burning
out all the obvious stuff that they can
do like go to the beach or go to the
pool and now parents are starting to
panic. What am I gonna do to keep these
(23:59:22):
kids entertained? Okay so tell us what's
happening what kind of things are
coming up specifically that people should
be looking out for. So I think
it's really there's always stuff
happening every day I think that's
really the magic of it. So there's not
even like that one big thing during
summer necessarily but they're having
stuff all the time. Like I happen to be
on the teen program list right now for
(23:59:44):
July. In that wonderful in the wonderful
book with at the library. Yes shout out
to Lucas who does this at the library. He
creates these booklets. So right now I'm
looking at very cool programming. There's
a teen movie club so they'll play a movie
for the teens. They
can come in you know I
believe they provide snacks even don't
quote me but I
believe there are snacks. So
teens can get together do that. There's a
teen game day that's Thursdays two to
four in July and then teen hip-hop on
Fridays which is really cool and also
even flamingo coders which is teaching
coding to like young
up-and-coming coders.
See I love that the reason why that's
that strikes me as being so important is
that you usually find like daycare during
the summertime a little camps and
stuff are geared towards very young
children. Yeah okay and then you hit a
point when you get to be a teen you're
like yeah you know whatever just hang
out and that's not really a good thing.
Seeing these programs are specifically
targeting teens that's smart that's
really smart. Yeah indeed and there's so
much going on here to get out of the heat
because you know teens got a lot of
energy kids got a lot of energy but it is
hot out there so being able to go in
the library and do fun stuff like I just
looked up and I see teens tie-dye
that sounds so cool. Yeah so that's
happening as well Saturday July 19th so
all across the board and almost every day
of the week they've got something
they must average over like 150 programs
Wow a month and don't quote me I'm bad
with math. Yeah but it's important to
reiterate these programs have limited
attendance so you really do need to get
on you know sign up for them find a way
to get on the list so that they know
you're coming and you're being a part
of it. They're free. Yes and it'll always
tell you if there's registration required
or if you can just show up like some of
like the auditorium like lectures that
they do you can just show up which
actually brings me to a fun point. There
are two author talks coming up which are
really cool. Let me in my handy-dandy
notebook find that information for
everyone because it is really cool
they're also going to be doing book
signings. So the first author that will
be there is Leslie Gray Streeter. She has
a new book coming out called Family and
Other Calamities a Novel. So she was
award-winning or is an award-winning
journalist and podcast host. She would be
great on here. Yeah and she also used to
do the entertainment and lifestyle column
for 18 years at the Palm Beach
Post. Really cool. So that would be
amazing to sit down and to listen to her
talking about her new book and then to
get it signed be awesome. And we have
another individual coming named Tom
Turner who will be discussing his career
in writing crime books also available
this July. So for adults that want to get
out of the heat or get out of the rain
and want to you know. Are
these in the middle of the day?
Or is it more towards evening? Yes. Let's
look it up. I might jump
on some of that. You should.
So yeah it's if you have the July booklet
it is on page 17 you can find it. So here
we have it's gonna be 6 30 p.m. okay with
Leslie Gray Streeter so that's 6 30
7 30 and then 2 to 3 p.m. with Tom
Turner. So July 18th Tom Turner 2 to 3
and then Leslie Gray Streeter Wednesday
July 9th at 6 30 to 7 30. Okay so you
could easily go down
take part listen to this wonderful and
then maybe go get a bite on on Clemanis.
Absolutely yeah that's perfect actually
after that you could go look
at the water even get a bite go
down to the water enjoy the sights it's
really nice. Okay so what other items
should we talk about today?
Oh what else do we have? So there is a
cool program coming up and if you are
interested I definitely
recommend looking into it and seeing if
registration is required because there
will be an American sign
language learning the basics part one at
the library in July.
That's really cool so if you
want to learn a sign language this could
be the perfect
opportunity. Fantastic I mean that's a
great thing to learn and you know we
folks don't get the
opportunity to learn that skill and to
learn how to communicate I think that's
fantastic. Yeah and there's other so we
have a whole section
in the back pages 18 19 that are
community resources and
there's even like ESOL English
conversation groups where people can
practice talking in English
to each other speaking English
to each other and then there's actually
on page 19 programs that
are in Spanish for people that
are interested in different programming
so there's also that
page dedicated to people who
might have a better understanding if it's
in their native language. So
it seems to me like there is
there's something for everyone no matter
what age you could be a
toddler you could be you know a
tween you could be a teenager and there's
always something for you
to do this on that. Yeah and
that's the wonderful thing it's whatever
you want I mean you go into
the library and you can really
hone it your experience to what you're
feeling that day maybe it's
finding a DVD or a book or
it's doing a program it's you know taking
part in an art class or
just talking to a librarian.
Librarians love talking about books
they're very friendly you can always go
up to the desk ask any
questions it's a really great place also
just to make friends I feel
like people come in and they
do meet other people who are reading
similar books or in the same program so
it's just a great part
of our like social infrastructure. It's a
hub for the community right
absolutely that's fantastic
well all right we've covered a lot of
ground and we talked about many things
let's once again remind
people how they can get information about
what's going on. Absolutely
so I would say the best thing
to do if you're in the area grab a
booklet because this will give you the
rundown but also you can go
to wpbcitylibrary.org at any time and
everything that's going on
will be on there this booklet
will be available they also have their
separate event listings like
a calendar listing and then
you can register directly online. Also I
don't know if we covered
this but one of their big things
going on right now is their summer
reading program. Oh tell us about it
please. Which is really cool so
we definitely have to end on books you
know just feels right. Library. But
exactly so the theme is
color our world and adults can take part
as well as teens and kids so if you go
if you want to sign up for this if you're
serious about it
there are prizes involved.
I know you can go to
mandelpubliclibrary.beanstack.com
and Beanstack is a platform where you can
actually log all the books that you're
reading and leave reviews
and every time that you do you can open
different uh what's the word I forgot.
And every time you do you can complete
challenges you get tickets
that you can put in drawings for
actual prizes they have really good prize
bundles that they share on like social media
and whatnot and also through Beanstack
you can see what it is it
could be a tote bag, free books
all kinds of fun stuff yeah and usually
books themed which is
really nice um so yeah and I
think for adults you only have to read up
to five books to
complete the whole challenge
and then you get the opportunity to
submit tickets to win
prizes and that's always great so
I highly recommend and for the kids I
believe it's done by minutes read so not
necessarily the amount
of books but if they spent 10 minutes 15
minutes they can log those
minutes and then also have the
opportunity to get prizes which is
awesome. That's fantastic
so they're fun games contests
resources to to take advantage of all
during the summer it's it's
uh it is the center for summer
it'd be a great place to stay it really
is and now that we're talking about it something else comes
to mind which is amazing because it's
never ending at the library
honestly I'm probably not even
scratching the surface but there also is
Collection Connection which is a
partnership with the Mando
Public Library and Art Life WPB so that's
a public art program here at
the city so you get a little
booklet you can go to the fourth floor if
you're an adult or the third
floor if you're a child and
there's booklets that you go through and
it might be like go find a
piece of art around the city
which there are 80 plus pieces of artwork
public art available in
the city and there might be a
prompt or write a poem about this how
does it make you feel and you fill out
this book then you bring
it back to the library and you show them
that you finished it and
you completed the challenge
and you will get a
little collector's pin.
Oh that's nice.
Right in that lovely it's a little pin to
take home and then you
can also be entered into
a prize drawing so there's so many
opportunities for prizes at the library
which is great we love
prizes. There is no reason for anyone to
be bored during the
summer here in the city.
Absolutely not yeah just walk into the
library and like start a
conversation with someone at
the front desk and there's a treasure
trove they can like point you in the
right direction which
floor to go to which you know section for
whichever genre you're
looking for there's tons.
Well kudos to our friends over at the
Mando Public Library it is
amazing what they provide.
And thank you for all your time today
sharing with us how we
make the most of Mando Public
Library during the summer. Yes please go
to the library it's the
best. And thank you for
joining us for the City Center podcast
this is a production of
the City of West Palm Beach
Communications Department. I'm Jerry
Marcello we'll see you next time.
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
Gerry Marcelo. It's summertime in South
Florida, which for parents means just one
thing. How do you keep the kids
entertained for the next couple of
months? There's a simple and inexpensive
solution if you're in West Palm Beach.
The Mandel Public Library is your answer.
We'll show you how the library is packed
(23:43:22):
with fun activities for kids young and
old this summer. That's next
on the City Center Podcast.
Joining me today is Christina Carollo,
Communication Strategist for the City
of West Palm Beach. Christina, welcome.
Thank you for having me. Okay, now we're
talking about summertime. Summertime is a
(23:43:44):
time when parents are looking for ways
to keep their kids entertained. When you
see library, they go, "Well, okay, that's
like two hours or an hour of looking at a
book, and then what?" That's not the case
at the Mandel Public Library, is it? No,
not at all. So the library is four floors
of fun, and for kids and adults, but
especially the kids, on the third floor,
(23:44:05):
there is a huge kids space up there. So
there's books, there's toys, they have
programming all summer long, every single
day, every morning, they have like
story times and stuff like that.
Different programs like
for art and whatnot. Usually
they are registration based, so sometimes
that's in the morning in person or maybe
online, so you definitely have to check
out on the website, like when that's
(23:44:26):
going to be happening, but even if you
just want to go in and sit in there and
you know you want to cool off, like the
kids can play with toys and stuff, but
parents, there's computers up there, so
they really wanted to
sit on the computer.
They could. So, well, let's break it down
a little bit. So you've got four floors
of good stuff there. Yes, indeed. Okay,
so you went over real
(23:44:47):
fast over some of the
things, but just to sort of give it more
detail, you have like first floor is just
popular books, novels, right? Yes, so
that is our popular and
like new book section.
Those are also where the express books
are, so it's like if you're a fast
reader and you can read a book in two
weeks, pick them up there. If you need a
(23:45:07):
lot longer like me, then the other floors
are probably the best. Like the
fourth floor is home to all of the most
of the collection of the books. So new
and popular on first floor, and then we
have teens on the second floor. So even
adults who enjoy young adult fiction can
go into the teen section, check out a
few books. It's really great. So there's
(23:45:28):
great summer reading. Absolutely. What if
I'm into audio? Is there like audiobooks
about? Oh yeah, so you can actually get
like the physical audiobooks if you want
to like listen in your car kind of
thing. There's like the CD versions. I
don't know if they've got the tapes, it's
a little old-school, but you can also do
the online version. So they have plenty
of like audiobooks, ebooks through like
Hoopla or Cloud Library that you can
(23:45:49):
access completely for free with your
library card number. Well let's talk
about that for just a quick session. A
library card. Now, resident, you
have to be a resident. So actually you
don't. Oh you don't?
You don't have to be a
resident. Yeah, so for anyone who's
living outside of West
Palm Beach, we're not
super sticklers. We welcome everybody. So
as long as like you sign up, you have
(23:46:09):
your license, you can come in and do it
at the front desk on the first floor. You
could do it online and it'll be mailed to
you I believe, or you can pick it up in
person. So if you're a Floridian and you
want a library card, you can get one.
That is awesome. I'm used to thinking,
okay well I live in Lake Worth or I
live in North Palm Beach. I can't go
here. You can. You can.
(23:46:30):
Yes. It's really fantastic.
You're welcome to. Please do it. Also,
for some people, even if you're out of
state sometimes, you can get a library
card. I don't know if that's a trade
secret or not. But it's true. We're very
welcoming to everybody because at the end
of the day the goal is to get people
reading and to give resources. Yeah.
(23:46:50):
Because you know it's books for fun, but
then it's also for education. And we have
like tons, like biographies, memoirs,
everything. Is there a minimum age for
a kid, a child, or a student to get a
book? You know? So I'm not sure by
themselves what the age would be, but if
they're with a
parent. Okay. Yeah, I'd have
(23:47:10):
to check into that. But kids can have
library cards typically if they're teens,
but I think that's a question for the
actual librarians at the Mandel Public
Library. Right. You can call them anytime
and they'll be happy to answer your
question. And I bet the information is
probably available on the city website.
Right. Yes. So go ahead.
WPBCityLibrary.org.
WPBCityLibrary.org. Okay, very good.
(23:47:32):
Excellent. All right. So now we know we
can get a card. That's fantastic. And so
what we'll do is now we're wandering and
we said, okay, you
know, I found some good,
a couple good books for me to read on the
beach or for my son or daughter
to read during the summertime to sort of
build a book library. But there's more
than just books. Tell us a little bit
(23:47:53):
about what we're talking about.
Absolutely. And it
says it on the booklet.
Okay. More than just books. Well, what is
that? Tell me what that is. So this is
the booklet that's put
out every single month that
breaks down all the programs that are
happening in a month. So we have June and
July here and we have some pictures that
show us what happens in the library the
month previous and then in here it breaks
it down by floor and by section.
(23:48:15):
So kids, teens, adults. Okay. Has
everything. All right. So where can
folks get that? So this you just go into
the library and you can get it on any
floor. Every desk they'll have some
available right on the desk or you can
get the digital copy on the library's
website where you can actually flip
through it like you would, you know,
(23:48:36):
normally but in the digital version.
Neat. Okay. So and that is like the tour
guide, the itinerary
for the entire summer.
Absolutely. Yeah. It'll tell you
everything that's going on and if you
have to register or not to. And of course
every single program at the library is
free. So that's never an issue but
sometimes they fill up really fast so
(23:48:56):
they will do registration. You were
talking about that earlier that
obviously there's a lot of folks that are
they think this is extremely
great and very, very popular. So if you
want to get a part of very popular
programs it's smart to get there as early
as possible to get registered. Is
that correct? Yes. So for the kids
sometimes they will have early morning
(23:49:17):
registration before like story time. So
you want to make sure that you're there
in the window and that your name is
signed up. But for other programs mostly
for like adult programs even some teens
if there is a registration typically you
can do it online or for the art studio
you can do it online as well. And that
way it's secured you can even call and
ask if you could be registered over the
(23:49:38):
phone and then you'll get sent an email.
Alright so to continue our tour of the
library we talked a little bit about the
first floor. Wonderful books you know
reading for younger adults is fantastic.
Let's move up. What's what's our next
big stop as we tour the library? So if
you go upstairs to the second floor that
is the technology floor. It's also where
you have the teen section so there's YA
(23:49:59):
fiction up there and there's also a large
collection of movies in the DVD
format. We all remember that. So anybody
who like would love to have the
blockbuster experience, blockbuster date
night or like if you're reminiscent you
were at previous blockbusters like I was
as a child. You can go and actually check
(23:50:21):
out movies for free on a DVD. I'm old
enough to remember when Netflix used to
be a they send you a DVD. I remember that
as a kid too. It's kind of like
magical you put it in the DVD player
usually like the bloopers are included
and stuff like that. So there's
definitely a magic there. Absolutely. So
but that is available. Yeah so you get
(23:50:42):
DVDs. Fantastic. Yeah and there is the
limit is high. I think it's like
past 20 DVDs at a time. I mean I don't
know who's gonna be checking. You can
fill a summer time with
watching. Heck yeah. Wow. Good stuff and
actual CDs too. So if you like listening
to your music via CD you know an older
cars my new car doesn't have it. You can
(23:51:05):
grab a CD and it's really nice. That's
fantastic. Okay so all right so we have a
world of video and audio on the second
floor. Yes and the Technology and
Innovation Center plus the Art Studio.
The second floor is a lot going on. Well
tell me about this Innovation Center.
What's that about? Yeah so the
Technology Center, Technology and
Innovation is always evolving. Right now
(23:51:26):
they have like a 3D printer in there.
They have a podcast studio booth where
you can go in and record a podcast
episode. You could
record a song if you're
you know can sing or if you're a musician
and there is some equipment in
there like a MacBook in there so you can
record it. You can edit it and then save
(23:51:47):
it on like a flash drive or email it to
yourself or whatnot. How creative and so
really neat. So there's a lot of
innovative tools there for people to be
creative on their own. Absolutely and
they just got they have a VR headset and
they just got it like a chair that you
can sit in and it amplifies the
experience. I haven't tried it myself but
it sounds really cool. They have tons of
(23:52:09):
different programming also workshops for
if you want to learn you know how to do
different kind of editing or digital art.
There's always a one-on-one
opportunity to with Eric who runs the
TIC. Oh we know Eric.
Eric's a good friend of
ours. So there's staff there that will
help you out if you don't know it right
here. Okay all right. Very cool for
(23:52:31):
anyone that wants to
has like old movies and
wants to digitize they can do that there
as well like old tapes or anything and
that's typically popular too or even like
old photographs if you want to
digitize those we have a whole station
for that. Do you recommend especially
things as popular like transferring video
and you know to file format is
(23:52:54):
that stuff that you want to go ahead and
book time for can you reserve time? Yes
yes you can book it ahead of time on the
website or if you call the second floor
the tech desk they'll be happy to block
off times. Usually it's about a two-hour
window but the librarians are always
willing to work with you and find a time
that works best for you. Wow just amazing
(23:53:15):
tools at everyone's disposal. Okay so
moving on what's what's on the what's are
we going upstairs yet we're going to
third floor? Let's stop at the art studio
first and then we'll go upstairs. But
yeah so the art studio is really
cool too they'll have different programs
all registration based. My favorite one
is happy little paintings where you
follow along to Bob Ross and he will
(23:53:38):
teach you how to paint and it's just
super fun and very nostalgic. So that
one is super popular and there's other
things I believe in July they have
coming up a program where you can make a
little bookcases as well so it's like
just a little miniature very whimsical
you can put it on your bookshelf. Yeah
very fun stuff. I think I've seen those
where it's like it's like a large
(23:54:00):
book like little rectangle that has like
a scene in it. It's all
in a world and this one is
like literally just a mini bookshelf. Oh
it's like a bookshelf on your bookshelf.
That's really cool. That's fantastic.
Okay continue. So lots of great stuff
there. Yeah so the second
floor definitely check it out. There's
also computers on the second floor so if
(23:54:21):
you just want to go in and do anything
under the Sun really if you know if
reading an audio or reading an e-book you
can do that. If you just want to
surf the web you can do that. Some people
will use it you know if they have to
apply for a job they'll use the computers
to do that as well. In this
instance if you came there if you went
there with your son or daughter you
(23:54:42):
they could be lost looking at books and
you can get on board and check local
news or whatever you want to do. So
things for the adults to do
while they're at the library.
Yes that's important. The library has
something for everyone or even let's go
back down to the first floor for a
second. If you're familiar with Cilento
coffee shop they have a window on the
(23:55:04):
first floor so you can grab a book grab
a treat maybe a little coffee sit down
and enjoy both at the same time and it's
really nice. You can't ask for more net.
Exactly yeah especially like coffee.
Either it's a really hot day and you want
a nice coffee you read a book in the
library or if it's raining which tends to
happen during the summer get a nice
(23:55:25):
hot drink and cozy up in a corner with a
good book. Can't beat
that. Okay definitely
not. So is there anything else that we
should talk about on the second floor? I
think we're moving up. Okay moving on up.
Yeah so we went over the third floor a
little bit that's where the children's
area is. Yeah.
There's also the auditorium
there where they have a lot of
programming and different rooms there
(23:55:46):
that people can actually rent out. That's
all through the website you could I'm
not sure of the rates or anything like
that or how it works but if you ever
want to rent out a room for like a
lecture or something that's also
available to people. And then the
information is probably available on the
website. Absolutely yeah and then let's
go to the fourth floor. Okay now we're up
(23:56:07):
to the fourth. We're up to the fourth.
There's also computers up there as well
for people to use. You can fax stuff up
there which is cool if you need to print
things it's great. There's tons of books
up there and there's some of people's
favorite reading spots because there's a
nice big window up there too where
people will sit in front of and just like
curl up with their book. There's
(23:56:28):
vaulted ceiling so it's really probably
the most beautiful area of the library.
It is actually tell a story about last
year we had the opportunity to go and do
a live broadcast a live broadcast from
the fourth floor and it is so beautiful
and so relaxing and the natural light
coming through it is a fantastic place
(23:56:50):
yeah to take a moment for yourself it's
fantastic. Yeah yeah people love it up
there it's also the quiet floor so anyone
who wants silence wants to study
wants to read and be at peace they can go
to the fourth floor. Peace. Yes and we
have the Florida room up there too which
is where a lot of history is kept
especially like Florida history you can
go in and learn some things so that's
(23:57:12):
very cool too. They really like maintain
it well keep things looking sharp so if
you have you know time and you want a
museum like experience go to the
Florida room. Yeah and the Florida room
if I've been there and they have
newspaper clippings getting all the way
back to the turn of last century
essentially and you know they have they
(23:57:34):
have you know books and scrapbooks
showing all the events that were
happening not at this library obviously
since it's relatively new but going all
the way back to the other library that's
now the area that we have for you know
the Clamatus by Night and all those areas
down there so it covers a great deal it's
very very fascinating. Isn't that
(23:57:55):
cool? Yeah. You can just go be a
historian for a day at
the library if you so choose
which is very nice and then one of the
coolest things especially for the
summertime they have a seed library so if
you're into gardening or you want to get
into gardening they have this whole it's
literally like catalog of seed packets
there's herbs, flowers, vegetables and
(23:58:18):
you can take up to six seed packets every
month per patron and every Monday the
first Monday of every month they add new
seeds in. Wow. Yeah and there's
information too about like how to grow
that particular plant in the area. So it
could be flowers or it could be a
vegetable perhaps? Yeah. So what happens
if you keep the seeds too long and you
(23:58:39):
have and you haven't returned them do you
have to like? Well you know I think
the library would understand that's okay.
Maybe you have to bring back some
vegetables to make up for it as a
penalty. I think that's good. Yes please
bring your local librarian a flower or if
you grow a tomato that's
great too. I have never
heard of a program like that where the
libraries is distributing seeds it's
(23:59:01):
fantastic. Right? Isn't that so cool?
Yeah. I love that and it's completely
free which is my favorite part about the
library. So we're at a point now where
we're looking at weeks and
weeks of summer and we've got kids who
are probably just now sort of burning
out all the obvious stuff that they can
do like go to the beach or go to the
pool and now parents are starting to
panic. What am I gonna do to keep these
(23:59:22):
kids entertained? Okay so tell us what's
happening what kind of things are
coming up specifically that people should
be looking out for. So I think
it's really there's always stuff
happening every day I think that's
really the magic of it. So there's not
even like that one big thing during
summer necessarily but they're having
stuff all the time. Like I happen to be
on the teen program list right now for
(23:59:44):
July. In that wonderful in the wonderful
book with at the library. Yes shout out
to Lucas who does this at the library. He
creates these booklets. So right now I'm
looking at very cool programming. There's
a teen movie club so they'll play a movie
for the teens. They
can come in you know I
believe they provide snacks even don't
quote me but I
believe there are snacks. So
teens can get together do that. There's a
teen game day that's Thursdays two to
four in July and then teen hip-hop on
Fridays which is really cool and also
even flamingo coders which is teaching
coding to like young
up-and-coming coders.
See I love that the reason why that's
that strikes me as being so important is
that you usually find like daycare during
the summertime a little camps and
stuff are geared towards very young
children. Yeah okay and then you hit a
point when you get to be a teen you're
like yeah you know whatever just hang
out and that's not really a good thing.
Seeing these programs are specifically
targeting teens that's smart that's
really smart. Yeah indeed and there's so
much going on here to get out of the heat
because you know teens got a lot of
energy kids got a lot of energy but it is
hot out there so being able to go in
the library and do fun stuff like I just
looked up and I see teens tie-dye
that sounds so cool. Yeah so that's
happening as well Saturday July 19th so
all across the board and almost every day
of the week they've got something
they must average over like 150 programs
Wow a month and don't quote me I'm bad
with math. Yeah but it's important to
reiterate these programs have limited
attendance so you really do need to get
on you know sign up for them find a way
to get on the list so that they know
you're coming and you're being a part
of it. They're free. Yes and it'll always
tell you if there's registration required
or if you can just show up like some of
like the auditorium like lectures that
they do you can just show up which
actually brings me to a fun point. There
are two author talks coming up which are
really cool. Let me in my handy-dandy
notebook find that information for
everyone because it is really cool
they're also going to be doing book
signings. So the first author that will
be there is Leslie Gray Streeter. She has
a new book coming out called Family and
Other Calamities a Novel. So she was
award-winning or is an award-winning
journalist and podcast host. She would be
great on here. Yeah and she also used to
do the entertainment and lifestyle column
for 18 years at the Palm Beach
Post. Really cool. So that would be
amazing to sit down and to listen to her
talking about her new book and then to
get it signed be awesome. And we have
another individual coming named Tom
Turner who will be discussing his career
in writing crime books also available
this July. So for adults that want to get
out of the heat or get out of the rain
and want to you know. Are
these in the middle of the day?
Or is it more towards evening? Yes. Let's
look it up. I might jump
on some of that. You should.
So yeah it's if you have the July booklet
it is on page 17 you can find it. So here
we have it's gonna be 6 30 p.m. okay with
Leslie Gray Streeter so that's 6 30
7 30 and then 2 to 3 p.m. with Tom
Turner. So July 18th Tom Turner 2 to 3
and then Leslie Gray Streeter Wednesday
July 9th at 6 30 to 7 30. Okay so you
could easily go down
take part listen to this wonderful and
then maybe go get a bite on on Clemanis.
Absolutely yeah that's perfect actually
after that you could go look
at the water even get a bite go
down to the water enjoy the sights it's
really nice. Okay so what other items
should we talk about today?
Oh what else do we have? So there is a
cool program coming up and if you are
interested I definitely
recommend looking into it and seeing if
registration is required because there
will be an American sign
language learning the basics part one at
the library in July.
That's really cool so if you
want to learn a sign language this could
be the perfect
opportunity. Fantastic I mean that's a
great thing to learn and you know we
folks don't get the
opportunity to learn that skill and to
learn how to communicate I think that's
fantastic. Yeah and there's other so we
have a whole section
in the back pages 18 19 that are
community resources and
there's even like ESOL English
conversation groups where people can
practice talking in English
to each other speaking English
to each other and then there's actually
on page 19 programs that
are in Spanish for people that
are interested in different programming
so there's also that
page dedicated to people who
might have a better understanding if it's
in their native language. So
it seems to me like there is
there's something for everyone no matter
what age you could be a
toddler you could be you know a
tween you could be a teenager and there's
always something for you
to do this on that. Yeah and
that's the wonderful thing it's whatever
you want I mean you go into
the library and you can really
hone it your experience to what you're
feeling that day maybe it's
finding a DVD or a book or
it's doing a program it's you know taking
part in an art class or
just talking to a librarian.
Librarians love talking about books
they're very friendly you can always go
up to the desk ask any
questions it's a really great place also
just to make friends I feel
like people come in and they
do meet other people who are reading
similar books or in the same program so
it's just a great part
of our like social infrastructure. It's a
hub for the community right
absolutely that's fantastic
well all right we've covered a lot of
ground and we talked about many things
let's once again remind
people how they can get information about
what's going on. Absolutely
so I would say the best thing
to do if you're in the area grab a
booklet because this will give you the
rundown but also you can go
to wpbcitylibrary.org at any time and
everything that's going on
will be on there this booklet
will be available they also have their
separate event listings like
a calendar listing and then
you can register directly online. Also I
don't know if we covered
this but one of their big things
going on right now is their summer
reading program. Oh tell us about it
please. Which is really cool so
we definitely have to end on books you
know just feels right. Library. But
exactly so the theme is
color our world and adults can take part
as well as teens and kids so if you go
if you want to sign up for this if you're
serious about it
there are prizes involved.
I know you can go to
mandelpubliclibrary.beanstack.com
and Beanstack is a platform where you can
actually log all the books that you're
reading and leave reviews
and every time that you do you can open
different uh what's the word I forgot.
And every time you do you can complete
challenges you get tickets
that you can put in drawings for
actual prizes they have really good prize
bundles that they share on like social media
and whatnot and also through Beanstack
you can see what it is it
could be a tote bag, free books
all kinds of fun stuff yeah and usually
books themed which is
really nice um so yeah and I
think for adults you only have to read up
to five books to
complete the whole challenge
and then you get the opportunity to
submit tickets to win
prizes and that's always great so
I highly recommend and for the kids I
believe it's done by minutes read so not
necessarily the amount
of books but if they spent 10 minutes 15
minutes they can log those
minutes and then also have the
opportunity to get prizes which is
awesome. That's fantastic
so they're fun games contests
resources to to take advantage of all
during the summer it's it's
uh it is the center for summer
it'd be a great place to stay it really
is and now that we're talking about it something else comes
to mind which is amazing because it's
never ending at the library
honestly I'm probably not even
scratching the surface but there also is
Collection Connection which is a
partnership with the Mando
Public Library and Art Life WPB so that's
a public art program here at
the city so you get a little
booklet you can go to the fourth floor if
you're an adult or the third
floor if you're a child and
there's booklets that you go through and
it might be like go find a
piece of art around the city
which there are 80 plus pieces of artwork
public art available in
the city and there might be a
prompt or write a poem about this how
does it make you feel and you fill out
this book then you bring
it back to the library and you show them
that you finished it and
you completed the challenge
and you will get a
little collector's pin.
Oh that's nice.
Right in that lovely it's a little pin to
take home and then you
can also be entered into
a prize drawing so there's so many
opportunities for prizes at the library
which is great we love
prizes. There is no reason for anyone to
be bored during the
summer here in the city.
Absolutely not yeah just walk into the
library and like start a
conversation with someone at
the front desk and there's a treasure
trove they can like point you in the
right direction which
floor to go to which you know section for
whichever genre you're
looking for there's tons.
Well kudos to our friends over at the
Mando Public Library it is
amazing what they provide.
And thank you for all your time today
sharing with us how we
make the most of Mando Public
Library during the summer. Yes please go
to the library it's the
best. And thank you for
joining us for the City Center podcast
this is a production of
the City of West Palm Beach
Communications Department. I'm Jerry
Marcello we'll see you next time.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.