Our buildings may be closed, but we're still here to bring you virtual events and services! Stay connected with the library and tune in for weekly storytimes, virtual book club meetings, craft projects from home, and more. Check back here for a growing list of library programs you can enjoy from home!

For Adults

Benton County Quaranzine

Submissions have closed and the Benton County Quaranzine is currently in production. Look for the completed Quaranzine by February 2021! The Quaranzine will be made available for free and an announcement will be made when it is completed.

Click here for more information.

The library is closed for now, but many of our book clubs are still meeting -- online or over the phone! Please see the links below for more information and contact us if you would like to join!

Craft-at-Home: simple, family-friendly crafts and activities you can do at home!

Previous Random Reviews are available to watch here.

January 13, 12:00 - 1:00 pm: Educated by Tara Westover
Review by Audrey Perkins

Held virtually for now, Random Review is a monthly exploration of a selected book by a reviewer with expertise on the topic or theme of that book. Sometimes reviewers cover a classic, series, genre, or author, but usually they cover a specific title. Whether you have read the selection or not, you will love Random Review! Register to watch here.

February 10, 12:00 - 1:00 PM: Horizon by Barry Lopez
Review by Gregg Kleiner

Register to watch here.

We're creating short video presentations on a variety of topics including identifying misinformation online and using digital services from the library.

Misinformation Online: COVID-19 Edition
Learn tips and strategies for recognizing and debunking misinformation online.

Library Digital Resources
Explore the resources we have to offer in this ongoing video series.

Youth Resources

Unemployment Benefits & Assistance

Subscribe to our Youtube channel to receive notifications when we post a new video.

Coloring the Conservation Conversation: Pandemic as Portal
Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 6 PM - 7 PM

This free event will be broadcast live on Zoom. Please register here.

Writer, birder, naturalist, and hunter-conservationist Drew Lanham will imagine the world anew in the midst of the pandemic. He will discuss what it means to embrace the full breadth of his African-American heritage and his deep kinship to nature and adoration of birds. He will share his highest vision of environmental and social justice, the crucial steps we can take as individuals and communities to bring that vision to life, and stories of how this new paradigm is already taking shape. Appropriate for teens through adults.

About Drew Lanham: J. Drew Lanham is the author of the award-winning memoir The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature. He has also published essays and poetry in publications including Orion, Audubon, Flycatcher, and Wilderness, as well as several anthologies. He is an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Master Teacher at Clemson University.

Sponsored by the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, Spring Creek Project, Corvallis Audubon Society, Greenbelt Land Trust, and Corvallis Sustainability Coalition.

This event is part of a nine-week lecture series titled Pandemic as Portal: Creating a Just Future on Earth hosted by the Spring Creek Project.

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Inclusive Birding
Wednesday, February 3, 2021, 6 PM - 7:15 PM

Join Gladys Ruiz, Portland-based bird-lover and equity and inclusion-focused youth programs consultant, in this free virtual workshop where she will discuss how she became a birder, her work nurturing connection to nature in youth of color, and the importance of harnessing what you love. She'll share how to get started with birding yourself and talk about ways to cultivate an inclusive community through nature. Please register here.

The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library will also briefly demonstrate how to get involved in the Great Backyard Bird Count (February 12-15) - a community science project and a fun way to exercise the birding skills you learn in this workshop. All ages welcome.

Sponsored by the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, Corvallis Audubon Society, Greenbelt Land Trust, and NAACP Corvallis-Albany.

For Children

Read 1000 Books Before Kindergarten

Sharing just one book a day gives your child the building blocks for lifelong success! Your child will receive a prize at the 500 and 1000 books milestones.

Want to get started?

This year there are two ways you can choose to participate!
Option 1: Request a Starter Pack to track your child's reading using paper logs. Starter packs are available by delivery or pick-up at the library.
Option 2: Participate online with the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Challenge on Beanstack, a free website and app for tracking reading. You'll earn digital badges as you share books with your child!

For more information: https://cbcpubliclibrary.net/1000books/

Craft-at-Home: simple, family-friendly crafts and activities you can do at home!

While the library building remains closed, we wanted to bring you a virtual edition of Family Music Fun, featuring special guest Marisa Schwartzman, who normally leads Family Music Fun when we're able to hold it in person. Follow along for this family-participation music and movement class, and come prepared to move and sing along!

Kids Book Club: At-Home Edition! Please contact us if you would like to join the next available Kids Book Club.

Mother Goose Asks Why? is a program for preschool age children brought to you by the staff of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library! Watch the video below for a storytime, songs and rhymes, and a fun STEAM activity.

Find the instruction sheet for the activity here: Flower Smash Art

This winter, we’re partnering with the Museum of Natural and Cultural History to bring you "Oregon's Amazing Animals," a family program that will inspire learning and fun at home! Available kits have been claimed and will be going out for delivery mid-January. Once the kits have been delivered, you can watch the video below to discover the incredible variety of animal life in Oregon—both past and present—through fun, hands-on activities and experiments.

We invite your reader to practice reading with a dog! The Reading Education Assistance Dog program (R.E.A.D.) provides beginning readers an opportunity to practice their reading skills in a non-threatening environment.

The dogs and their volunteer handlers (humans!) meet virtually with individual children on a one-on-one basis for 10 minutes during a session.

Weekly sessions will be hosted on GoToMeeting; links and passwords will be sent to participants as part of a sign-up confirmation.

Check the calendar and register library calendar here.

Join our Youth Services team for new recorded storytimes, songs, and rhymes every week, suitable for kids of all ages. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to get notified when we post a new video!

Beginning June 9, every Tuesday at 10:30 am, our Youth Services team will be presenting Facebook Live Storytime on our Facebook page.

Try our new 24/7 storytime service Telephone Tales! Listeners can call at 541-766-6568 any time to hear a story recorded by our staff, in English or in Spanish. New stories every Tuesday!

Try our new 24/7 storytime service Telephone Tales! Listeners can call at 541-766-6568 any time to hear a story recorded by our staff, in English or in Spanish. New stories every Tuesday!

For Teens and Tweens

Events for teens in grades 6-12 have moved online! Events will be held virtually, using GoToMeeting. Contact Kristy, Teen Services Librarian, for info about how to join, including links and passwords for each event: kristy.kemperhodge@corvallisoregon.gov.

  • Anxiety Support for Teens, with Benton County Mental Health
    • 3-month series for teens ages 14+ due to mental healthcare consent laws
    • Meets monthly on 3rd Wednesdays in November, December, and January, 4-5pm
    • Dates: Wed 11/18/2020, Wed 12/16/2020, Wed 1/20/2021
    • Focus: exploring anxiety, learning coping skills, and safe-space sharing
    • Moderated by a therapist from Benton County Mental Health, acting in non-clinical support capacity
    • Registration required; teens register for each monthly meet-up
    • Materials for each meet-up provided monthly for registered teens
  • Teen Advisors: SPoBiT (Society for the Prevention of Boredom in Teens)
    • Teen library leaders who give input about library services for teens in grades 6-12
    • Meets on the 3rd Fridays of each month from 4-5pm
    • Dates: Fri 1/15/21, Fri 2/19/21, Fri 3/19/21, Fri 4/16/21, Fri 5/21/21
    • Apply to join! Open to teens in or entering grades 6-12

Other Resources for Teens!

Events for tweens in grades 4-6 have moved online! Events will be held virtually, using GoToMeeting.  Email Elizabeth.Johnson@corvallisoregon.gov for the link and password. Only tweens who are signed up will be given links and passwords to events.

  • Check back soon for tween events!

Stay At Home Storytime

Kristin shares Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finison.

Heidi is reading Little Penguins by Cynthia Rylant.

Mary reads Wow! Said The Owl, written and illustrated by Tim Hopgood.

Elizabeth reads If You Give A Moose A Muffin by Laura Numeroff.

Ruth Rose shares a bilingual storytime featuring Good Morning, Good Night.

Heidi shares Small Elephant's Bathtime by Tatyana Feeney.

Julia shares Being Frog and Bird Watch.

Heidi shares Who Will Tuck Me In Tonight? by Carol Roth

Heidi shares Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas.