October will be a busy month for St. John the Baptist Parish Library System.

As we all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we will be acknowledging it with events hosted at the Garyville and Reserve libraries.

The Garyville Library will host a craft at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 9 for adults and teens. Mason jars will be decorated and made into vases for flowers or knick knacks and can be used in homes or offices.

Morning Makers will be hosted at 10 a.m. Oct. 17 at the Reserve Library. Adult patrons will paint canvases and drink mock tails in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Sign-up is mandatory for this program. For more information, call Rona Joseph, branch supervisor, at 985-536-4107.

The Reserve Library will also have a passive program, in which patrons can pay tribute to those suffering, to those who’ve succumbed and to those who are survivors of breast cancer by adding ornaments to their tree display.

St. John the Baptist Parish Library, along with South Central Louisiana Technical College-Reserve Campus, will host an Industry Career Day on Oct. 19 at the Central Library from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and at the Reserve Campus from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Parish high school juniors and seniors are invited to discover the best career path and opportunities for their future, receive advice on recommended courses to best prepare them for the jobs that they may want, meet successful industry professionals and representatives from companies in the parish, obtain information on the various resources that the library has to offer and tour and learn of the programs offered at South Central Louisiana Technical College.

Please join us for this wonderful event.

National Friends of the Libraries Week will be held from Oct. 15-21. The Friends of St. John the Baptist Parish Library System is sponsoring a “BIG Book Sale” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 21 and from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Central Library.

Book lovers can restock their personal libraries by filling a bag full of books for only 10 cents for paperbacks and 25 cents for hardcovers. In addition to books, CDs and DVDs will be sold for $1 each.

All monies collected directly support the Friends of the Library’s objective to fund good, quality programs for library system patrons. This is an excellent opportunity for voracious readers to devour books and avid moviegoers to watch films in their favorite genres.

If you are interested in joining “The Friends,” call the Central Library at 985-652-6857.

All branches of the library system will be celebrating Halloween.

Tweens and teens are invited to the Central Library at 6 p.m. Oct. 23 to make “Apple Carving Shrunken Heads.” They will also be creating “Day of the Dead Sugar Skulls” at 6 p.m. Oct. 30.

Children of all ages are invited to the Central Library at 4 p.m. Oct. 30 to make Tie Dye Coffee Filter Monsters. The Reserve Library will be hosting a “Decorated Halloween Bag Craft” at 5 p.m. Oct. 26 for children ages 5 and up. The Garyville Library will be showing, “Boo: A Madea Halloween” at 2 p.m. Oct. 27 for adults. They will also be making “Mummy Mason Jars,” at 4 p.m. on Halloween for children ages 6 and up.

The West Branch will host a “Paper Plate Pumpkin Craft” at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 3, an “Accordion Fold Paper Bat Craft” at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 10 and a “Halloween Crossword Puzzle” at 3:30 p.m. on Halloween for children ages 6 and up.

“Horror Themed Bookends” will be made Oct. 11 at 5:30 p.m. and a “Halloween Coloring Page Event” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 25 for adults. Tweens and teens are invited out at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 12 to create a “Halloween Themed Mason Jar” and at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 26 to make “Paper Plate Spiders.”

All branches will have snacks on Halloween day to hand out to patrons.

There will be a multitude of programs at each library branch for the month of October. For a full list, please refer to our online calendar at stjohn.lib.la.us, Facebook (St. John the Baptist Parish Library) or pick up a newsletter at any of our four branches.

I hope you all can attend some of the spectacular programs offered at St. John the Baptist Parish Libraries.

Also, don’t forget that St. John the Baptist Parish Libraries now have a Twitter and Instagram account. Please follow us and like us!

Kearston Poche’ is the administrative services coordinator for St. John the Baptist Parish Library. She can be reached at 985-652-6587.