Books & Laptops & Ukeleles, Too

The Santa Cruz Public Library partnered with Scotts Valley High School for a two-day library card drive, which reached 534 high school students.

They either received new library cards or renewed them.

Santa Cruz Public Library librarians and SVHS staff and volunteers educated students on all of the free resources available to teens at the library: Online and in-person educational resources, K-12 homework help, databases for research, rooms to take practice tests, laptops or tablets for checkout.

Teens also can join a program just for teen like chess club or the diverse youth meet-up.

“I am super excited to have a library card,” said Troy Westlund, Scotts Valley High School sophomore. “I had one when I was younger, but I lost it. I am glad to be able to rent books, tablets, ukuleles from the library.”

Amanda Rotella, community relations specialist, for Santa Cruz Public Library, said, “It was an incredibly energizing event. There were students who had never had a library card, students who hadn’t been to the library in years, and lots of students who were being introduced for the first time to all that a library has to offer them as students and as community members.”

She added, “There was also a lot of particular excitement and interest in our loanable ukuleles.”