The Jessamine County Public Library played host to the monthly luncheon of the Jessamine County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday.

The topic of the event was a brief look at some of the library’s resources available for private and commercial use. Also on the agenda for discussion was the need for new underwear at the library, hence the Drop Your Drawers campaign that is going on.

“This is a serious problem in the state of Kentucky,” Ron Critchfield, who has been the director of the facility for a decade, said about the program. “Family Resource Centers throughout the state do not have enough clean underpants for the children in the state.”

The library is encouraging everyone to drop off packages of new underwear for both boys and girls, preferably sizes 4-16, until Dec. 31 at the JCPL Customer Service Desk. The donated drawers will help stock up the emergency supplies at Jessamine County schools’ Family Resource Centers.

According to the library, schools are handing out nearly 50 pairs a month to children who need clean underwear due to accidents at school or issues at home and their parents cannot bring clean underwear to them during school hours.

“I implore you to go buy some underpants and drop your drawers at the Jessamine County Public Library,” Critchfield said. “Our county needs your help.”

Next, Critchfield spoke about the library’s Exemplary status, as bestowed upon it by the Kentucky Library Association based on a standard of best practices. Only nine public libraries in the state meet those standards at the highest levels. The Jessamine County Public Library is one of those nine.

“We do this in a large part because of you as a committed business class who come and bring your staff to the library,” Critchfield said. “You guys come and make it a wonderful place to be.”

Carrie Green, the JCPL’s reference librarian next spoke to the audience regarding online learning services and resources that are accessible with a library card, such as lynda.com and universalclass.com. Some of the classes available offer CEU’s or certificates for those who complete them online.

Green demonstrated how all of the resources and courses available from the library can be easily found on the database page of library’s website under the Research and Discover tab.

According to Green, a library card from the Jessamine County Public Library will grant access to the available courses and programs from any computer. In addition, some are available in Android and IOS App format.

For more information on the wide variety of classes and resources available through the Jessamine County Public Library, visit them online at www.jesspublib.com.