Local libraries to offer telescopes

Dave Perozek

NWA Democrat-Gazette

To check out the moon and stars, patrons may soon check out a telescope from the Bella Vista Public Library.

Eight public libraries in Northwest Arkansas will receive a telescope at the end of this month from Supporting STEM and Space, a local nonprofit organization. The telescopes will be available for checkout by any authorized patrons.

Supporting STEM and Space paid for the Orion StarBlast telescopes, each of which costs about $360, said Katherine Auld of Bella Vista, the group's founder. The organization's goal is to get more people interested in science, technology, engineering and math. Making telescopes more accessible to the public is one way to support that mission, Auld said.

"The night sky is something that people as a general rule just connect with," she said. "You go outside and look at the stars, and you're like, 'What's that star, what's that star.' People respond to the night sky very well."

Public libraries receiving the telescopes include those in Bella Vista, Bentonville, Fayetteville, Gravette, Prairie Grove, Rogers, Springdale and West Fork.

The telescopes have been modified slightly to make them more user-friendly for amateur astronomers, Auld said.

Northwest Arkansas is just the latest place where the idea of providing telescopes to libraries has taken root. More than 100 libraries across New Hampshire have telescopes available to patrons, according to the New Hampshire Astronomical Society's website. Dozens of telescopes are available across more than 20 St. Louis-area libraries, according to the St. Louis Astronomical Society website.

Bentonville Public Library received a telescope from the organization in February. It's proven to be so popular someone donated money for a second telescope. Supporting STEM and Space handled the work of ordering the second telescope, Auld said.

Bentonville's first telescope has been checked out 11 times since it became available to library patrons in February. There were 20 holds in the system placed by patrons waiting their turn to check it out as of last week, according to Hadi Dudley, library director.

Patrons must be at least 18 years old to check out the telescope. They may have it for one week, Dudley said.

"The second telescope will be available for checkout in May," Dudley wrote in an email. "We are thrilled to participate in the program and to see it quickly expanding for our patrons is especially rewarding."

Patrons have learned about the telescope's availability in different ways, such as reading the library's newsletter or through inquiries at the front desk. Others were inspired by the traveling exhibit, Explore Space: A Cosmic Journey, which made a stop at the library earlier this year, Dudley wrote.

Those borrowing the telescope have taken good care of it so far, according to Dudley.

"Our patrons understand the value and importance of this resource," she wrote.

Supporting STEM and Space raised much of the money for the telescopes, including $1,040 through Facebook in December. The organization also received a $1,500 grant from the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium, Auld said.

Willow Fitzgibbon, director of library services at the Fayetteville Public Library, said it will likely be a few weeks before its telescope is available to patrons. Staff members will receive some training on how the telescope works so they can show patrons how to use it, she said.

"I think we'll have a really good patron response. I expect there to be a pretty long hold list on it," Fitzgibbon said. "The summer's a great time to look at the sky, so we're really excited to have the telescope and make it available for people."

The amount of time patrons will be allowed to borrow the telescope has not been determined, she said.

Auld, an adjunct faculty member at Northwest Arkansas Community College who has a doctorate in space and planetary sciences, started Supporting STEM and Space in 2014. The organization earned nonprofit status a year ago. It consists of a board of directors of 12 people with Auld as chairwoman.

The group's biggest dream is a science center for Northwest Arkansas that would feature a planetarium, an IMAX theater and a wide range of hands-on science exhibits.

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Dave Perozek can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWADaveP.