Carley Park (holding the ukulele), Technical Services Clerk and Brooke McLean, Assistant Director. The ukulele is said to be one of the easiest instruments to learn.

The Bruce County Public Library is excited to announce two new additions to its collection. In a September 17 media release, any member of the public with a Bruce County Public Library card will now be able to borrow sensory kits and ukuleles for free.

The sensory kits contain a variety of toys to help calm and soothe individuals with autism or other sensory sensitivities. These kits, funded through the generosity of the Community Foundation Grey Bruce, provide families with the opportunity to test these items rather than purchasing them individually. Each kit will also contain informational brochures on the County's services available to children and families as well as the services and programming available through the the Grey Bruce chapter of Autism Ontario. In total, 25 kits will be available for the public to borrow with at least one kit in each of the library's 17 branches.

Jessica Steele, Service Navigator with Autism Ontario said, “My role is to support families in Grey Bruce through system navigation, resource sharing, events and workshops. I am always looking for new resources for families and I am so excited to refer families to the sensory kits at Bruce County libraries.”

Ukuleles are viewed as one of the easiest instruments for musical beginners and the Bruce County Public Library will be adding 40 ukuleles to its collection. Like the sensory kits, these instruments will be available for the public to borrow for free with a Bruce County Library card. Additional Ukulele song and instruction books have also been added to the collection in hopes that these resources will increase public access to music and the social benefits of learning an instrument. The ukuleles and song and instruction books are funded through the generosity of the Eva Leflar Foundation.

“The Bruce County Public Library is grateful to both the Community Foundation Grey Bruce and the Eva Leflar Foundation for funding these two new collections,” said Assistant Library Director Brooke McLean. “Through this collaboration, the Library will be able to provide more valuable resources to families throughout Bruce County.”

For more information on these kits or other services that we provide, please visit library.brucecounty.on.ca or any of Bruce County Public Library's 17 branches.

From left, Brooke McLean, Assistant Director; Jessica Steele, Autism Ontario Grey-Bruce; and Nancy Kuhl, Branch Program Coordinator.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Anyone wishing to leave a comment who doesn't have a Facebook account can do so by emailing your comment to news@saugeenshoreshub.ca (please include your name and place of residence) and we will post the comment on your behalf. We also welcome Letters to the Editor at news@saugeenshoreshub.ca.