Kicking off the school year at the library

The best school item yet – your library card

School supplies have been on store shelves for weeks, but one thing that won’t be found at any store is arguably one of the most important school supplies St. Charles Parish students of every age should have—a St. Charles Parish Library card.With this card in hand, there is much more available in resources for students with the library.

The library system has six locations across the parish—Destrehan, Luling, Hahnville, Norco, St. Rose and Paradis—that offer study areas, computers with internet access and Microsoft Office software, color printers and copy machines, wi-fi, and workers to help students with whatever they need, said Lauren Pitz, the parish’s public relations and adult programing librarian.

“When school is closed in the evening and on the weekends, parents and students can find support and resources at the library, as well as online through the library’s website at www.myscpl.org,” Pitz said.

HomeworkLA.org is one of our most popular online offerings.

Students from kindergarten through college can go to HomeworkLA.org on any computer or device and chat with a live tutor who will help them with their homework problems in all subjects, she said. They can even upload a research paper and a tutor will proofread it.

During the school year, the service averages more than 125 students per month, and it gets highly favorable ratings from the students who use it, she said.

“We give out refrigerator magnets at every school-related event that we attend to make sure everyone—parents, students, teachers, administrators—know about it, Pitz added. “Each year we see that more and more people do know about it.”

As back-to-school “meet and greets” and open houses take place, Pitz said the library staff will be there and be ready to talk about the library’s resources for students and parents.

“We’ve attended back-to-school activities for years,” she said. “It’s always great seeing the students heading back to school for another year, excited about meeting their teachers and seeing their friends. We’ve started talking about more things that students can get to online in the past few years.”

From the day school ends until the end of July, the libraries are at their busiest.

Pitz said they are presenting multiple workshops, events and activities every week, and sometimes more than one a day.

“There isn’t much time to rest between the annual summer reading program ending and these meet and greets beginning,” she said. “It takes some creative scheduling and planning, but we are committed to working with our schools to help the students of St. Charles Parish succeed.”

The library will also have a table in the vendor area of the St. Charles Parish 2017 Youth Rally on Saturday, Aug. 5. Parents and students will be able to sign up for library cards and learn about how the library can help with the back-to-school transition.

“Attending community events and back-to-school nights allow us to talk directly to parents and students and also see what they want from us,” Pitz said.

Teen Services Librarian Amy Duke reminds everyone that while the library is a great place to study and do research, they also offer a lot of other things.

“Teens can drop in after school and on weekends to hang out with friends, do homework, or just take a break and read,” said Duke. “Most of the branches have a weekly event just for teens, like Anime Club or Nerd Night.”