During the pandemic, reading may play a more important role in a student’s learning process than ever before.

Reading or being read to can really help a student during this time of education disruption. Just like your body, your brain benefits from regular exercise to keep it strong, stimulated and focused. Reading is brain exercise.

Welcome to 2021, friends! While we are all looking forward to the good things to come, I would like to reflect on how the library has continued to provide services during the pandemic, and what we have learned.

More and more of us get our latest news from social media, but when your feed is a mix of personal comments, opinion, news, satire and misinformation, how can you decide what is true and what isn’t? We all need to be careful. What you choose to share may be helpful or it could cause harm.

Here’s a list of tips to help you figure out whether what you’re seeing is truth or misinformation.

Beginning January 4, the open hours at the Holts Summit Public Library will be expanded from 20 to 51 hours a week. The library will be open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Callaway County Library District Board of Trustees assured voters that the hours at the Holts Summit library would be expanded if Callaway County voters approved Proposition L, which they did last June.

Some educators are becoming concerned that students may experience a “COVID slide,” meaning they may fall behind academically due to school closures and altered teaching methods during the pandemic. You may be concerned, too. To overcome these obstacles, the Daniel Boone Regional Library is introducing a new free online learning resource called Brainfuse that makes tutoring available to all students.

Inspired by this year’s One Read book “A Gentleman in Moscow” we invite Mid-Missouri artists ages 16 and older to contribute works that explore the experiences of isolation and confinement.

The exhibit will take place September 1-26 and will be viewed virtually at www.orrstreetstudios.com.

The library actively supports diversity in our communities as affirmed by our Principles of Community statement.

We are deeply saddened by the killing of George Floyd and the pain that has caused. We are grieving with our community, and especially our Black friends and neighbors.

As your public library, we pledge to continue working toward building a community that embraces diversity. Our doors are open to give all equal opportunity to live a rewarding life.

We’re so appreciative that the Callaway County voters value their library and passed Proposition L. Now we’ll be able to expand the library’s outreach services to more seniors and preschoolers throughout the county, add more digital and printed reading materials to the collection and keep the Holts Summit Public Library open with expanded hours.

This is a bright spot in a most challenging year. Thank you to everyone who supported, campaigned and voted “yes” for the library levy.

All branches of the Daniel Boone Regional Library are now open, with limited hours. Visitors and staff are required to wear a face mask while in the library. In accordance with the Boone County health order currently in force, occupancy limits are lifted but patrons are still being asked to limit visits to an hour. Curbside hold pickup is available in Ashland, Columbia and Fulton.