Library's benefits abound

Families smile following the first show in the Emerald Coast Science Center’s Constellation Dome at the Crestview Public Library Sept. 27. (BRIAN HUGHES | News Bulletin)

CRESTVIEW — A late-afternoon sun didn’t eclipse stars that dappled the Constellation Dome’s ceiling, much to the delight of junior future astronomers and their parents.

The Sept. 27 Family Library Time event found the dark blue dome puffed up in the center of the Crestview Public Library meeting room like a giant plum.

Four groups totaling more than 100 residents shared the same reaction upon entering the narrow slit opening before it was zipped shut behind them: Expressions of “Cool!” “Ohhh!” “Wow!” and “Aww!” filled the inflatable space.

For about a half-hour, heads gazed upward as an array of constellations — with and without helpful illustrations enhancing the stars’ otherwise enigmatic connect-the-dots patterns — planets, moons, galaxies and nebulae burst and swirled overhead.

The Okaloosa County Library Cooperative funded the Emerald Coast Science Center dome’s Crestview appearance, youth librarian Heather Nitzel said.

Under the center’s community science coordinator Melanie Rochat’s enthusiastic narration, attendees learned details about the universe.

The Crestview Public Library isn’t just the go-to resource for books; it also provides, or helps facilitate, programs such as the constellation event to enrich our area.

The goal always remains the same, Marie Heath, CPL director, said.

"Free access to information, free access to quality programs and classes; a place in the community where people can come in and give or take away information and ideas to help themselves and their community," she said.

The library is in a better position to do that too.  

In 2015, the Crestview City Council restored the library’s book acquisition budget, in addition to funding computer upgrades, which library staffers say serve patrons of all ages.

For instance:

•Toddlers learn their A-B-C’s with ABC Mouse, an online children’s literacy and math game

•Middle- and high-schoolers use the library’s computers for term paper research and online test-taking

•College students use them for proctored exams

•Adults use the computers for job and benefits searches, and self-directed research

For Shoal River Middle School sixth-grader Maximus Rush, the constellation program made a future in astronomy appealing.

“It’s all the things you don’t really know,” he said. “You learn more but you just kind of get more questions so you want to learn more.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Library's benefits abound