NORTH WEBSTER — The local history and genealogy center at North Webster Community Public Library houses a wealth of local history. The center is currently striving to complete its collection of Wawasee High School Legend yearbooks, but is missing a few years. Still needed are 1979, 1986, 1988, 1998, 2000 and 2011 yearbooks. If anyone has these years of Wawasee High School yearbooks and is willing to donate them to the library, the center would be most appreciative of their gift. Yearbook donations can be dropped off at the circulation desk, and tax deduction receipts are available upon request.

The center also has a collection of North Webster High School Troy yearbooks dating back to 1948. The library’s yearbook collections are available for patrons to browse through and are often used to reminisce, prepare for a class reunion or research family or local history.

It may have been a while since you left school, but learning should remain a lifelong quest. To encourage continued learning, the library offers free Gale Courses, part of Cengage Learning, through its website.  North Webster Library card holders can access free, high quality courses and career training programs online using their North Webster Library card.

Over 300 interactive online learning courses are available covering all types of topics and subjects, focusing on professional development, technology skills and personal enrichment. The best part is the courses are absolutely free and accessible anytime anywhere there is internet access.

There are still openings available for the four-class beginning genealogy course that starts 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7 and continues Feb. 14, 21 and 28 in the local history and genealogy center. Designed for beginners, it’s an excellent course to take for those wanting to learn how to get started researching their family genealogy. The course is free, but pre-registration is required. Sign up at the circulation desk or call (574) 834-7122.

School age children can stop by the library after school at 4 p.m. every Tuesday for crafts and stories where they work on crafts while listening to stories. From 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, it’s Lego Club for ages 5 to 12. Parents are encouraged to join in for some free-style Lego building fun.

When kids can’t come to the library, the library comes to them. Once a month, youth services librarian Pam Long visits Milestone Early Education Center, The Ark Preschool, North Webster Headstart and North Webster Elementary School Functional Skills class to read stories and share books with local youngsters. Resources are also available to children on the Youth Resources page of the library’s website.