KINGSVILLE TOWNSHIP – People who love to read are often referred to as bookworms.
In an effort to give Kingsville Public Library more of a unique identity, the staff unveiled a new mascot, a bookworm, connecting it to the community’s love for books.
“We thought having a mascot would be a good way to help people associate something fun with the Kingsville Public Library,” KPL Director John Hutchison said. “It gives us something that people can interact with, something we can take out to our outreach events. It’s something fun. We have a digital version of it, as well, so we can put that on our marketing materials, our website, social media posts. It’s just something fun. I thought that the library could do something that could just kind of help our branding a little bit more, and help with our community outreach and be very kid friendly, as well.”
Booker was revealed during Musical Mondays Storytime at Kingsville Public Library on Monday, April 27.
“A bookworm kind of goes with the library,” Hutchison said. “We took quite a bit of time really putting together what we thought the design would be. It was a staff-driven project. Once we kind of got the design going, we put it out on our social media pages and asked the community for input on possible names. We selected, I think, the top three or five responses and, from there, we kind of hashed it out and came up with the name Booker. We thought that was appropriate for this mascot.”
Once Booker had a name and an identity, it was up to Adult Services Coordinator A.J. Petro to design the costume.
“I have to give A.J. a lot of credit for the design of the costume,” Hutchison said. “She does a lot of different costumes for certain things. She has a good background in that. She came up with the suit and a costume that we could actually do. I think it’s a good reflection of what the digital design looks like, because that’s what we came up with first.”
Having a mascot is a reminder that libraries are to be used in the conventional ways, but they’re also meant to be enjoyed.
“At the Kingsville Library, we want to make it a fun place to be,” Hutchison said. “I like to have fun. The staff likes to have fun, and I want that atmosphere and that spirit to kind of be reflected in what we do in the community. It’s fun. I think that’s really what we’re kind of going for, is just to make sure that people realize, if they want to study, if they want to learn at the library, but they can also have fun. We want to have a sense of community and I think that’s really what we’re going for here.”
Musical Mondays Storytime was a way to unveil Booker to KPL’s youngest visitors.
“It’s been something we kind of looked at for several months,” Hutchison said. “We wanted to be thoughtful in the process to unveil it and we thought what better way to do it than during a musical story time event?”
“It’s funny, I think some of the smaller children, at first, were a little startled,” Hutchison continued. “They weren’t sure what to expect, maybe they backed up a little bit, but very soon after, they were giving high fives and walking over to Booker and they were having fun interacting with him.”
Much of the KPL staff will be able to step into Booker’s costume.
“The nice thing about the actual costume part of it is it’s not designed just for one person,” Hutchison said. “We can have multiple people use that outfit. I think people enjoy being able to really interact with the kids and see their faces and see the reactions they get. I think it’s going to be something that our staff enjoys doing.”
Hutchison is looking forward to the community’s interactions with Booker once he has become well-known.
”That’s really what we’re going for,” Hutchison said. “Like I said before, we want to make the fun aspect something exciting, something that people can touch and see and interact with. I think that’s really kind of what the idea is here.”
Booker will be a way for the KPL staff to break the ice with community members at events.
“When we’re at an event and we have Booker there, the children can come up and interact with us more,” Hutchison said. “It’s eye catching. The goal, I think, is when you say Booker, you think, Kingsville Public Library. I think having that association is going to help us a little bit to, maybe, stand out a little bit. There’s lots of great libraries in Ashtabula County and in Ohio, and I think we have something unique here. That’s what we’re kind of going for, to really just find a different way to really make us stand out a little bit more than we do.”
