The Patrick Beaver Memorial Library is a fantastic resource and a hub of activity to the community. There are always things to do for people of all ages. If you think libraries are obsolete in this digital age, do yourself a favor and stop by. I can mostly only speak to the activities for families with children, but we are always welcome and can always find something to do. There are weekly activities with music, story time, and sometimes magicians and other performers. There are often activities such as Lego builds and other special interest projects. There are things to do all summer long and the summer reading program includes awesome prizes for kids who fill out their reading chart (we have won something almost every year we have participated, but maybe we are just lucky! You also automatically get a goodie bag with tickets to the Crawdads and Science Center and free food at various restaurants). The children's room has a play house and computers with age-appropriate games. You can check out almost any children's movie you can think of and any book you can think of, obviously. The staff are great with kids, patient, and very knowledgeable.
On the adult side, there are plenty of books, obviously, as well as audio books, TONS of digital books, TONS of movies (FREE as long as you return them on time!), and you get a free subscription to Hoopla which includes more Kindle books and more movies. I love the cookbook selection!
The library is also a place to go for folks who are trying to make a better life for themselves. If you are unemployed, its hard to pay for a computer or internet service, so you have to go to the library to look for jobs. So it is a very diverse place. You will see everyone from wealthy families to college students to folks on the fringes, and you will hear different languages spoken. I have never felt threatened by anyone (and we spend a ton of time there) and usually I see people of all walks of life greeting each other, holding doors open, etc. The worst thing I have ever experienced is people smoking by the door, but unfortunately I encounter rude smokers everywhere in Hickory, including doctor's offices, and lately the folks at the library have been better about smoking farther away from the door. read more