While Boone Area Library in Birdsboro offers story time for children, activities for teenagers, book clubs and special events like Teen Movie Night, it has now added a new offering for adults, called Coffee and Conversations. The group meets on the second Friday of each month from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

The first session of the new program, led by Amber Hamel, the library's youth program coordinator, was held on Jan. 10. She noted that each gathering will feature coffee and snacks, as well as an activity and a time for discussion.

"Each one will be different," she said. "Next month we will do collaging, and I have us signed up for an AI speaker who will talk about AI technology. We are also signed up to go bird watching in French Creek State Park in April."

The guest speaker for the first session was storyteller Pat Babel, who was on hand to talk about her new program, Rocking Chair Pilgrimage, which will be offered at the library from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month beginning on Feb. 20.

"Amber invited me today to tell people about (the program)," said Babel. "We're going to see how that time slot goes, and we will change it (if necessary)."

Babel held a similar group that met at Daniel Boone Area High School. She plans to utilize the same format at the library. "There will be an introduction, and we will start with a realization or meditation, then a reading of poetry. Then I will tell a story," she explained, noting that the rocking chair image reflects a place where people feel safe and comfortable.

The story will be based on a theme, and attendees will be invited to share their stories as well. For February, the theme will be love. "Other people can ... remember a story from their past and share that story," Babel said. "With February being love stories, that can encompass anything and everything you can think of."

She said that all attendees will be given an opportunity to share a story, with a time of contemplation between each speaker. "If you look through the journey of your life, it's one sacred place after another, and it brings you to having many stories to tell about all these different places and events and things and people you have loved," she shared, quoting J. D. Salinger, who said, "All we do our whole lives is go from one little piece of holy ground to the next."

Babel said she began telling stories to her sister and brother at a young age. "I loved telling them stories," she said. "I knew I wanted to be a storyteller."

Later in life, she attended storytelling workshops to perfect her craft. She recalled a particular event where attendees were asked to tell a story about a time in their life when they were so afraid to do something, but they did it anyway. "The room was full of laughter and tears, and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great for our community if we did something like this more frequently where people could hear each other?'" she recalled.

Babel hopes to generate the same response during the upcoming library program. "The tellers were magical, and they touched our hearts," she said.

The Boone Area Library is located at 129 N. Mill St., Birdsboro. For more information about library programming, visit www.facebook.com/boonearealibrary or www.berkslibraries.org/branch/boone. Those with questions my email Hamel at youthlibrarian@boonelibrary.org.