Books can serve as educational tools, historic documentations and even doorways to galaxies far, far away.
They often take readers on an adventure, which is what many Allegheny County libraries are stressing with the summer reading program theme “Adventure Begins at Your Library.”
Cooper-Siegel Community Library in Fox Chapel and its Sharpsburg branch are no exceptions.
Staffers at both buildings joined forces to come up with a video promoting the program, which started June 1 and continues through Aug. 3.
Many dressed up as characters from books and video games. They were asked, “Where’s your adventuring gear?”
Responses included a library card, a video game controller, swords, a backpack and artwork tools.
The nearly 3-minute film concludes with the question: “Where will your summer reading adventure take you?” followed by a camp fire and a swirling look to the stars.
Its production was the brainchild of Cooper-Siegel youth services librarian Finley Gelsimino.
“It’s always amazing to see your hard work come together and see how much everyone loves it,” he said. “I got to oversee this one from beginning to end and put a really fun video out there for everyone to enjoy. I’m really looking forward to making my next one for the library.”
It was filmed across two days, one at each library, and Gelsimino edited it in an evening.
He said he wanted to keep things simple and low-budget.
“I really wanted to have the video set up so that a lot of my co-workers could join in without having to worry about memorizing lines or anything too complicated,” he said. “That’s why I thought going up to them and asking where their adventuring gear was would be easiest. Especially since we had a great theme to work with this year with ‘Adventure Begins at Your Library’ and I could bring in a lot of silly props for everyone.”
Gelsimino dressed as Link, the silent protagonist in the Nintendo video game franchise “The Legend of Zelda.”
It’s arguably one of the most popular gaming series in the world.
“I cosplay many different characters, and I thought Link would be perfect for the theme,” Gelsimino said. “He is also one of my cosplays that I thought would be most recognizable by everyone. Even if someone didn’t recognize him, then they would at least be able to tell I was an adventuring elf.”
Sharpsburg library branch manager Sara Mariacher dressed as Frodo Baggins from “The Lord of the Rings” franchise.
She re-created the American Library Association’s “Read — Make It a Hobbit” poster from the early 2000s.
Mariacher described herself as a huge Tolkienite, a fan of author J.R.R. Tolkein, and felt her character fit right in with the video’s message.
“I love this year’s summer reading theme because adventure can encompass so many things, everything from the wildlife in your own backyard to epic fantasy,” Mariacher said.
“Finley is a very creative colleague who likes to cosplay and edit videos in his free time, so I loved the direction he took with the video.
“I think this is one of the best videos we’ve done, and we’ve had some pretty memorable ones over the last few years. We’ve received very positive feedback from folks about the video, even joking that it should win an Oscar.”
The video is available on YouTube and via the library’s website.
People still can register for the summer reading challenge as well as many of the programs both places have to offer.
Participants are encouraged to read something every day. It could be a book, a magazine, biographies, food labels, instructions on how to build furniture — anything.
About 800 people at Cooper-Siegel and Sharpsburg combined participated in last year’s program.
More information is available at coopersiegelcommunitylibrary.org.
Michael DiVittorio is a TribLive reporter covering general news in Western Pennsylvania, with a penchant for festivals and food. He can be reached at mdivittorio@triblive.com.