VALLEY — On Thursday, the West Point Rotary Club switched its weekly noon-hour meeting site from the Hampton’s River Room to Bradshaw-Chambers County Library’s Lanier Room, and Librarian Mary Hamilton gave members of the club a preview of what will be going on at the library in 2019.

“We’re gearing up for summer right now,” she said. “We will be having between 75 and 90 programs for children and adults.”

Participation in the library programs is growing at a phenomenal rate. Over the past two summers, for example, participation is up 144 percent in the Summer Reader program. In 2018, a total of 999 youngsters took part collectively reading more than 68,000 books throughout the summer.

“Every young reader who reads 100 books or more gets a backpack full of school supplies,” Hamilton said.

The goal for this year is a modest one — to get one more reader to join in and top the 1,000 mark.

Anyone who has a Bradshaw-Chambers County library card has access to a wide variety of resources they can access from their home. Anyone who lives, works or attends school in Chambers County can get one for free. There’s a streaming service offering documentaries and movies.

“You can get it with an app on your cell phone or on your smart TV,” Hamilton said. “Once you ask for it, you have a 72-hour period to see the selected movie. This is a new service. We’ve had it for less than a month, and we’re trying to get the word out about it.”

The library is partnering with the Greater Valley Area Chamber of Commerce in what’s known as universal class. Over 500 online courses are available.

“There’s no cost to the user, and you can sign up for five classes at a time,” Hamilton said. “There are lots of subject areas. One of our patrons who’s 90 years old recently received a certificate through this program.”

The local library is part of a statewide network known as Camellia. It’s an e-book service that has over 30,000 titles.

There’s an app called Libby on cell phones that lets people listen to audio books.

“It even has bookmarks to let you remember where you were when you log off,” Hamilton said.

Anyone who’s interested in restoring cars might be interested to know that Chilton’s Auto Repair guides can be referenced at the library. It’s a quick way to get information on restoring cars that date back to the 1940s.

People can show their support for the library’s Summer Reader program by filling a backpack. Anyone who donates $20 can have a backpack filled with school supplies a local youngster will need when heading back to school.

“Public support is important for us, and we appreciate it,” Hamilton said.

For more information, call the library at (334) 768-2161 or go to askus@chamberscountylibrary.org.