It’s back, it’s bigger, and it’s all about the environment! The Pioneer Library System is excited to announce PLS Reads 2022, a systemwide initiative encouraging reading, conversation, and exploration throughout its communities. 

This year, PLS Reads features three books, all tied to a central theme of the environment, with each being highlighted in its own season. 

“By using three titles to help guide our exploration on the environment, we hope to encourage continuing interest and engagement with this topic throughout the entire year,” said Britt Muirhead, Programming Specialist with PLS.

The Spring title, “The Music of Bees” by Eileen Garvin, will see book discussions held across a number of PLS locations, including a May 10 hybrid discussion held simultaneously at the Noble Public Library and virtually, and led by Dr. James Hung, Heritage Biologist with the Oklahoma Biological Survey and Assistant Professor of Biology at OU.

Pioneer Library System is currently offering digital copies of our spring title for instant checkout from March 1 – June 16.   

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Will Rogers is known by most who grew up in Oklahoma for his wit and wisdom, but did you know he also was briefly the honorary mayor of Beverly Hills, California? Or that Oklahoma had the first radio station transmitting west of the Mississippi River (Oklahoma City’s WKY). Or the electric guitar was invented in 1935 by musician Bob Dunn in Beggs, Oklahoma?

Check out what we have to offer in our Oklahoma collection today and learn more about the state’s history – some of it serious, some a little unusual – that happened right in your own backyard.

It’s one of 13 categories that are part of our “Ten to Try” Challenge, which seeks to inspire readers to see the world in a new and different way through the resources not just of their library but their community and the surrounding world.

The library brings the chance to see the world through the lens of the pages of a book, or the perspective of a person facing a unique set of challenges. It gives light to new and different ideas, and the resources to take a deep look at those ideas as community members expand their reading palate.

This is the third year for the library offer the “Ten to Try” initiative, which brings a goal of helping readers to spark curiosity, broaden perspectives, and increase empathy and understanding to inspire change in their communities.

You can choose and participate in any 10 categories to complete the challenge, but feel free to explore as many as you want, as each category provides a chance to expand horizons and teach more about what our library and the world around us has to offer.

Learners of all ages spent more than 7.9 million minutes engaging with the library and activities during this year’s Summer Learning Challenge. As part of a push to build on that success and promote learning not just during the summer but throughout the entire year, “Ten to Try” will run through April 30, 2022.