Last week, the Poplarville Library kicked off its new after-school program offering story time to older children in the community.

The program focuses on promoting literacy and exposing children currently enrolled in kindergarten through third grade to accelerated reading books via the program.

Eden Nitcher, the new head librarian, leads story time, held every Thursday starting at 3:30 p.m. She began her role as the head librarian in July, replacing longtime librarian Cynthia Hornsby, who retired in March, according to previous Item coverage.

The after-school program is one of the many services Nitcher hopes to offer at the library for many years to come.

“I’m open to any suggestions from the public. I want to know what people in the community want to see in the library,” Nitcher said.

A recommendation from one of their library patrons led to the creation of the new after-school program, Nitcher said.

“A patron came to me during our summer reading program and mentioned that because of the renovations at our library, her child hasn’t had an opportunity to enjoy his last year for story time as a preschooler. I thought, well, why not have an after-school program for older children where they’ll still be able to enjoy the experience of stories being read to them,” Nitcher said.

The library has long offered story time for preschoolers, which currently runs on Thursdays at 10 a.m.

Nitcher said the new program will benefit children in the classroom. Following every story time session, children will have the option to take a quiz pertaining to the story they heard at the library at their respective schools, Nitcher said.

During every session, Nitcher plans to focus on a certain theme to make it as fun as possible.

“The first one was about library manners. I’m planning to do a fall story time soon. The theme will typically depend on the season and what’s going on,” Nitcher said.

She encourages parents to participate in story time with their children and hopes to continue expanding the library’s services to cater to every age group. She’s currently thinking about starting an adult book club sometime in the near future.

The library is located at 202 West Beers St. in Poplarville and is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information about the library system, visit www.pearlriver.lib.ms.us and through Facebook at Pearl River County Library System or call library staff at 601-795-8411.