Paul Szmal: It's time for our regular visit with our friends from the Geneva Public Library, and joining us today is one of their reference and technology librarians, Hannah Gingrich. First time guest, Hannah, good morning. How are you?
Henna Gingrich: Hi, good morning. Happy to be here. Can you tell me a little bit about what a reference and technology librarian does?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so I help people find information that they're looking for. So if you were to come and you said, hey, I'm looking for a book, or I'm looking for information on a topic, or hi, I can't find this information I need on the internet, or I'm having trouble using the computer to do a task, that's a lot of what I work on. The technology side is finding the information through websites and stuff, which can be a little tricky to find out sometimes.
Henna Gingrich: That sounds like a pretty wide field that you have to cover on a day-to-day basis.
Paul Szmal: It can be, yeah, but keeps it interesting. We want to talk about some of the activities that are coming up at the Geneva Public Library, and a couple of them are geared towards children.
Henna Gingrich: Yeah, the one that I wanted to talk about particularly was Saturday with our kids' self-defense class. That's for kids ages 6 to 8. You want to register for that. It's teaching basic self-defense skills, just wear comfortable clothes, easy to remove shoes, and it should be a good time. That's the Saturday. And again, that's for 6- to 8-year-olds, you said?
Paul Szmal: 6- to 11-year-olds.
Henna Gingrich: Oh, 6- to 11-year-olds, okay. Yeah, all the way up there. That's a good wide age range. And also, there's some bedtime yoga. I'm intrigued at the thought of bedtime yoga for kids.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so that's both for kids, and it's actually pretty family-friendly. You can even come if you're an adult. It's part of the First Fridays thing that we're doing with the Business Improvement District in Geneva. It's at 5.30 p.m. with Vanessa from Harness Yoga. It's like a creative imagination exercise. So you're kind of doing yoga, going through story time, imagining what you're doing in a story as you're doing the yoga poses. And then there's a mindfulness craft afterwards. So kids are welcome, adults can come too, but generally it's friendly for anyone coming to the library.
Henna Gingrich: You know, that sounds to me like it would be a great way for somebody who's been thinking about yoga to expose themselves to it for the first time.
Paul Szmal: Yes, I definitely agree. And also, there are some technology surveys that went out, and I know those are starting to come back. What was the point and purpose of having the technology survey?
Henna Gingrich: Yes, that was specifically to find out what people have a hard time with while they're trying to access information on the computer. So what I'd like to do is start having some technology classes here at the library, but I want to know where the community wants to start from. So in order to do that, I'd like to know what people want to learn the most and when they can come. So that's the key. When is a good time for me to have those classes?
Paul Szmal: So we've had those technology surveys out throughout May. But if you still want to get in on that, you can either email GenevaRef at OWWL.org, or you can ask for a paper survey if you'd rather not touch a computer just yet. And just ask for one of those from a staff member, and you can give us that info.
Henna Gingrich: You know, the neat thing about that concept, too, is the skills that you would learn in a technology class, accessing information in the library, have practical applications in a lot of other disciplines.
Paul Szmal: Yes, definitely. Job seekers, really helpful, even just talking to your grandkids over Zoom or anything like that.
Henna Gingrich: We're talking with Hannah Gingrich from the Geneva Public Library here on FLX Morning. I know this is Geneva Breathes Peace Week. Can you tell us a little bit about that and one of the activities that is coming up?
Paul Szmal: Yes. Geneva Breathes is a community organization dedicated to mindfulness. They were developed right out of the pandemic when things were really stressful. So we're doing some Peace Week events with them. Thursday, tomorrow at 5 p.m. in our community room on the ground floor, we're doing a guided meditation and group Reiki with Julie Ann Burgess. So if you want to come.
Henna Gingrich: Yeah, that group Reiki is a good idea.
Paul Szmal: Yes, it should develop just some mindfulness, breathing activities together to kind of go into your summer peacefully with a calm mind. And if you want to exercise a little bit of your creative mind, there's a Poetry Create workshop that is happening.
Henna Gingrich: Yes. Right now we've scheduled that to happen at 5.45 p.m. in our study room, too, which is upstairs, second floor. That's with Cynthia Kiss and Trevor Burrell. If you want more information about that, you can head over to the Geneva Breathes website and they've got more info on that.
Paul Szmal: Sounds like a full boat of activities that are happening here over the course of the next week or so.
Henna Gingrich: Yes, we've got a really full schedule. People can look up more information if they go to our website and click on events. It's right on the it's GPLNY for New York dot O-R-G. And if you click on events right on the top of the website, you don't even have to scroll down. Then people can see the full calendar. And of course, the Geneva Public Library is open for business. What hours, summer hours, is the library open?
Paul Szmal: Same hours as any other season. It's 8.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekdays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. And if you've never been to the library, where is it?
Henna Gingrich: It is on the corner of Castle and Main in Geneva. It's right across from Burnderry. Big white building.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, pretty easy to spot actually.
Henna Gingrich: Yes, beautiful building. Yes, absolutely. Hannah, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate the information as always.
Paul Szmal: Thank you very much for having me. It is 8.44 on FLX Morning.
