News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Millard Oakley Public Library has two telescopes for check-out for Overton County’s amateur astronomers.
Director Cynthia Julian-Simmons said the Friends of The Library group applied for the grant that got the telescopes. Julian-Simmons said the telescopes cost about $450 and gives residents a chance to try out this hobby.
“That’s not something that a family can do lightly, and especially in our area,” Julian-Simmons said. “This is away for them to dip their toe in the water, see what they think about astronomy. There’s a lot of neat information out there now about space and planets and I know NASA is gearing up with all kinds of new programs.”
Julian-Simmons said the library already has a home schooling group planning an event around checking out a telescope. She said telescopes can be checked out for one week, as long as the person is an adult member of three months, with a good checkout record .
“There’s instructions on how to operate it and I’ve been told by one of our first patrons that used it, that she found a really great instructional video, even on YouTube,” Julian-Simmons said. “If you’re more of a visual learner and want to look that up instead of reading the booklet, you can also do that.”
Julian-Simmons said the telescopes came from a company who sets them up specifically for libraries. She said telescopes might be the start of a checkout trend at the library.
“We are also working right now to get some musical instruments, some guitars and some ukuleles,” Julian-Simmons said. “This may just be the beginning of a new trend for us and libraries.”
Julian-Simmons said telescopes can be renewed twice if no one else is in line to check it out. She said the library has a collection of books on astronomy to assist while stargazing.
