Mount Laurel Library: What can you do?
The Mount Laurel Library is a place where you are able to find many resources and information. Not only that, but you can find places to study, hang out with friends, events/classes, and even volunteer opportunities. To be able to have access to most of these, you need a library card. The form can be found in person at the library and the cost to make a card is $1.
Books:
There are plenty of books you can borrow at the library. In the career section, you can find prep books for the SAT, ACT, APs, MCAT, and more. There are guides to different skills like coding and language learning as well.
As for reading books, there is a children’s section, filled with many tales and stories. A Young Adult (YA) section, with books covering many fictional and romance novels as well as mangas and comics. Additionally, there is a Tween section that has many chapter books appropriate for middle school students. History/non-fiction sections are separated by reading and information based sections.
In the library, there is a section of popular and new releases that you can only keep for seven days after check out.
On their website, there is a catalog that has all the books that they have in person. You can also place holds online and check them out once you pick them up. To drop the books after use, you can do so outside or inside.
Study/Group areas:
The Library also has many areas for group work and studying. There is a section specifically for teenagers in the Young Adult sections. There is a white board, sofas, and computers for only teenagers to use during certain hours. Towards the back of the section, you can find multiple seats open to everyone.
There are three types of sections at the library that have to do with how loud you can be. Many of the children zones and some teen zones are where you can talk freely. Other zones like the silent zones require earbuds and minimal to no talking at all. This is great for people who really want the quiet to focus. There are signs and maps put up around the building that indicate where talking/sound is allowed
The library also has study rooms and meeting rooms that can be reserved through a free booking. There are time slots to use the rooms and they come with seating arrangements as well.
Events/Classes offered:
The MTL Library has many book clubs. They usually meet once a week for around 2 hours, depending on the club. Most book clubs have an age range, some just for adults or teens. Clubs for teens like Yoga, chess, painting, meditation, poetry, workshops and more are free to sign up for.
Occasionally, the library has shows. Just recently, they had a Jazz Quartet come over to perform. This february, there will be a magic show. Coming up soon is the Lunar New Year celebration, which is open to everyone. They also have arts and crafts available with the theme of Lunar New Year.
Volunteer Opportunities:
There are many volunteer opportunities for highschool students at the library. The adopt the shelf program is where students can take care of a shelf by cleaning and organizing it for hours. To be able to do this, there are semesters where you have to take tests about organization books to participate.
Over the summer, there are plenty of options to what you can do for volunteering. Look out on the calendar for any upcoming opportunities.
Extra:
You can find museum passes, discount codes, streaming services, and more for free with just your library card. To find more information, please visit the Mount Laurel Library website.