Welcome to the new year! Here at the library, 2022 is the year we celebrate 100 years of tax-supported library service in the city of Columbia!

We will have special events throughout the year to look back on those 100 years. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Columbians who voted for the first library tax levy, and also to the dedicated members of a number of service organizations who provided the first free public library service to the community prior to 1922.

Since we introduced 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten last September, more than 1,465 preschoolers and their families have signed up! We see families coming in regularly to get their reading incentives and their reading log for the next 100 books of the program. Sign up online and get started! The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is open to kids ages 0-5.

The Daniel Boone Regional Library will be installing new check-out technology at its libraries in Ashland, Columbia, Fulton and Holts Summit. Each library will be closed while its collection is being converted over to the new system. During the closures, curbside pickup, online chat, outreach services and the bookmobile will continue as usual.

Jean and her husband moved to Callaway County in 1989 when he accepted the position of superintendent of schools at the North Callaway R-I School District, and they have stayed on past his retirement. For the last 45 years, Jean has been a registered and licensed dietitian. She says, “It has been a great career choice for me, and allowed me to own my own business while working in a field I enjoy.”

Adults who are interested in earning a high school diploma have a new online completion option through the Daniel Boone Regional Library. DBRL is joining libraries across Missouri to offer the Excel Adult High School (EAHS) program, an initiative of the Missouri State Library. EAHS is an accredited online high school that lets adults 18+ earn a diploma that is universally accepted at colleges and universities.

In 2002, the Daniel Boone Regional Library partnered with the Kansas City Metropolitan Library and Information Network to offer the first One Read program in Boone and Callaway Counties. That year, the community voted to read “Plainsong” by Kent Haruf. DBRL librarians Doyne McKenzie and Sally Abromovich served as the One Read co-chairs with the support of DBRL director Melissa Carr and many members of the community.

We’re celebrating 20 years of One Read this year, and we wanted to reflect on how it all began, so we got in touch with a couple of the people who were instrumental in getting One Read up and running. Melissa Carr, former DBRL director, and librarian Sally Abromovich, one of the original One Read co-chairs, both shared their remembrances. Librarian Doyne McKenzie also helped establish One Read and served as co-chair.

For 20 years, adult community members in Boone and Callaway Counties have read the same book as part of Daniel Boone Regional Library’s One Read program. To encourage children to discover the joy of reading at an early age, the library is launching a new incentivized reading program for children birth-age 5 during One Read.

Khaki Westerfield and her family have a multi-generational relationship with the library and with Boone County. Both Khaki’s grandfather and father served on the Columbia Public Library board before her, and her parents, her sister, her husband, her children and she herself were all Hickman Kewpies. Professionally, she taught English at Hickman High School and worked through the University of Missouri with undergraduate education students, first-year teachers and their mentor teachers across the state.

Do you proudly display your kiddo’s art on your fridge? Kids love to create using crayons, paint, boxes, feathers, acorns — whatever is on hand. Their explorations are fun, entertaining, educational and fridge-worthy.

As parents and teachers, we want to encourage a child’s interest and love for creating art and crafts not just because it’s lovely to see, but also because it helps their development.