The Youth Services Department staff is committed to providing materials, resources, and services for young people from infancy through high school, as well as for parents, caregivers, and educators.

For children who are not yet in school or who are in preschool, the library has a wide variety of picture books, as well as sturdy board books for our youngest patrons. Young children and their parents can also choose from a large selection of videos, DVDs, books on tape and CD, as well as JMM Kits (book/audio combinations). LeapFrog systems and games, which help develop comprehension and vocabulary skills for children learning to read, are available for checkout, as well as for use in the library. We have a large collection of K.I.T.S. (Kid's Instructional Theme Sacks), which include books and related audiovisual media, puppets, toys, and games conveniently stored in a small backpack.

We offer a variety of materials for students at all grade levels. Children who are learning to become readers will enjoy our collection of easy readers, while our juvenile and young adult fiction collections will have something for every reader. We have a wide variety of nonfiction at all reading levels for students working on a report, or for those who want to learn just for fun. Our reference collection includes a number of encyclopedias, including a set with volumes that can be checked out and used at home. In addition to books, we also have a growing magazine collection, comic books, books on tape and CD, videos, and DVDs.

Parents, caregivers, and teachers will find our Parent/Teacher materials useful. In addition, all educators may get a school loan account at the library, which allows for 25 materials to be checked out for classroom use for a 4-week period. Materials checked out on school loans are also free of late charges. School loan materials may be chosen by the cardholder, or one of the librarians will be happy to put together a collection of materials. School loan requests may be made in person, over the phone, or on-line. In addition, a teacher may also wish to inform the library of an upcoming assignment. This will allow librarians to assemble a large collection of materials for students to check out or to use in the library.

The Youth Services Department offers programming for children of all ages. We offer seasonal Story Times for children ages 2-5, with each session lasting 8 to 12 weeks. During Story Time, children and their caregivers will share stories, fingerplays, rhymes, songs, games, and crafts. For most months during the school year, after-school programs are offered for children in grades K-6. These programs include a variety of activities, stories, and crafts based on a theme. In addition, thanks to a grant received from the Ashland County Community Foundation, the library is able to offer After-school Movie Days and Family Movie Nights on a regular basis.