Library system sets adult classes

Summer skill-building program launching with paint night

Low-cost, short-term skills classes will start in Little Rock this summer through a new program created by the Central Arkansas Library System.

Registration for the courses, which are mostly one-day workshops, opens this week.

Library officials said the system has experienced an increase in demand for its adult programming, which includes sessions on various skills and hobbies. This year marks the first time that the library has packaged together several courses as a series under a new program called Community Learning Courses.

A free paint night at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hillcrest Hall, 1501 Kavanaugh Blvd., will serve as the launch event. Attendees will have first access to registration for the eight summer classes to be offered, most of which are one-day workshops.

Registration will open online Wednesday at www.cals.org/community-learning-courses. Class sizes will average about 25 people.

While one of the courses will be free, the others have fees from $20 to $50.

One-day sessions on cooking-knife skills, fabric alterations and yoga are scheduled for May.

In June, a one-day course on starting a small business and a one-day class on herbs and spices will be offered.

A six-week, $20 Zumba class will start July 17 and end August 26. Also in July is a two-hour sewing class for beginners.

The courses are meant to provide learning and enrichment opportunities to adults who might not have time to enroll in longer and more expensive community college courses but who still want to take up a new skill.

"Our attendance in past classes has just skyrocketed in the past few years, so we are trying to meet that need," Adult Program Coordinator Kristen Cooke said. "The reception so far has been almost overwhelming. One thing that is important to us is to not create a huge financial barrier to being able to attend these enrichment courses. They are a fun and comfortable environment."

Recently, an eight-week introductory French course filled up so fast that the library decided to offer another six-week course for those who were on the first course's waiting list.

The second course started last week and is taught by Delphine Durst, a library assistant at the Main Library in downtown Little Rock. Durst, a native of France, moved to the United States after graduating college in 2005 to teach at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

She said some of the participants in her French course offered through the library system are new to the language. Others are traveling to France soon and want to be conversational.

"I think it's a really unique opportunity because not everyone can commit to a semester or something that is so long term. This is flexible, and on my side, too. I can kind of do what I want. It's not like a class where you have a textbook. We can talk to each other and see what the participants need and then adapt to that," Durst said.

She's also a certified Zumba instructor and will be teaching that course later this summer.

All of the summer classes will take place at Hillcrest Hall.

"Library programs are taking on an increasingly important role in the library's contribution to the community," library system Director Bobby Roberts said in a brochure.

In 2014, the library system presented more than 2,000 adult programs, the brochure said. They included computer classes, book clubs, e-reader "petting zoos," hobby groups, tabletop gaming, meditation, yoga, gardening and a Doctor Who society.

The classes offered through the Community Learning Courses program will "encourage lifelong learning pursuits," Roberts said.

Metro on 03/30/2015

Upcoming Events