FAIRMONT — After a busy summer, the Martin County Library in Fairmont is preparing for the next season with expanded hours and a new children’s librarian.

Martin County Library director, Jenny Trushenski, said last fall they went back to contact-less pick-up during the second mandated shut-down, but since mid-January, they’ve been open for people to come in and browse.

“At this point, we’re pretty much back to normal operations,” Trushenski said.

She said that after Labor Day they’ll be resuming evening hours.

“We’ll be open until 8 p.m. three nights a week. That will be a good opportunity for people who are busy during the day to stop in,” Trushenski said.

She said they typically shorten hours from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but this summer they had even shorter hours due to some staffing issues.

“Now that those positions are filled and school is going back into session, it was a good time to go back to evening hours,” Trushenski said.

Beginning Sept. 7, hours will be 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday; 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Tuesday and Friday; 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Saturday.

Maren Malakowsky is the new children’s librarian. She started just this week.

“We’re excited to have her and we’re excited to see what ideas she has and what she wants to implement once she gets going,” said Trushenski.

The children’s librarian not only orders books but plans events for children and young adults, as well as orders the materials needed for the events.

The library traditionally puts on several events and activities for children and youth each month. However, there have been fewer events recently.

“There were times where we were closed and members of the public weren’t able to come in so we couldn’t have events,” Trushenski explained.

Even after the library was able to open, Trushenski said they were trying to keep class sizes smaller so that people would feel comfortable while in the library and at activities.

Moving forward, Trushenski said they plan to have more activities, especially once the new children’s librarian gets situated. While she doesn’t have any definite events or dates yet, Trushenski said planning is in the works.

While not as many events happened over the summer, it was still a busy reading month.

Trushenski said summer typically brings a couple busy months for the library because parents try to stop the summer learning slide.

“The great thing about coming to the library is kids can choose what they want to read. I think you always tend to read more and be more engaged when it’s something you picked out and are interested in,” Trushenski said.

“This summer we set a goal of 35,000 checkouts. Everything counts, kid’s books, adult’s books, audiobooks, and E-books,” Trushenski said.

They hit the goal in early August and to celebrate, Trushenski said they made s’mores kits for families to take home.

“That was great to see because last year our summer was more impacted by Covid and this summer it was nice to have more people back in the building,” Trushenski said.

In a typical month, they may have 12,000 to 14,000 checkouts. Over the summer, Trushenski said they had 15,000 in June and 16,000 in July.

“We see patterns with weather and busyness. Usually, May is quieter because that can be a busy month and around the holidays, people are busy too,” Trushenski said.

Coming up, Trushenski said the library will have a poster exhibit on display for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. It will be on display starting today through Sept. 17.

“If people are here or want to check it out there’s some photos and information,” Trushenski said.

The posters exhibit is from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and the National Endowment for the Humanities.