The Cobb County Public Library distributed the following announcement of the North Cobb Regional Library’s Family STEAM night:

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Family STEAM Night on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at North Cobb Regional Library will feature a lineup of activities for all ages.

Twelve community organizations are collaborating with the North Cobb library to offer activities based on the themes of exploration, discovery and innovation in a fun, dynamic setting, organizers said.

Participating organizations include Atlanta Astronomy Club, Cobb Water, Cultured Ag, Georgia Farm Bureau, Georgia Public Library Service, Georgia Youth Science Technology Center, Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, MIT Open Learning PLIX (Public Library Innovation Exchange), South Cobb Arts Alliance, Smith-Gilbert Gardens, and Southeast Cubing.

The Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) event will include cutting-edge technology, including opportunities to pilot drones, explore virtual reality, discover sustainable farming and see laser cutters and 3D printers in action. Hands-on engineering challenges like building catapults, designing wearable circuits, crafting high-flying paper airplanes and Rubik’s Cube challenges will be featured. The library will also offer a circuit activity, made possible through the MIT Open Learning’s PLIX.

Event exhibits include agriculture, drawing techniques, conservation, aerodynamics, digital fabrication, lifecycles and more. As night falls, high-powered telescopes will be staged outside the library for exploration of the stars and planets.

Family STEAM Night STEM-based games, toys and robots will be given away as door prizes.

North Cobb Regional Library is located at 3535 Old 41 Highway, Kennesaw 30144, near North Cobb High School. For information on programs and resources offered by NCRL and its community partners, call 770-801-5320 or visit cobbcat.org.

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About the Cobb County Public Library

According to the Cobb County Public Library website:

Cobb County Public Library is a 15-branch system headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, where its staff members serve a diverse population of over 750,000 people. Cobb is one of Georgia’s fastest-growing counties, and Cobb County Public Library is dedicated to being a resource center in the community by providing equal access to information, materials, and services.

History of Cobb’s library system

The first public library in Cobb County was opened in the home of Sarah Freeman Clarke in Marietta. Clarke, whose family was from Massachusetts, was an advocate for free lending libraries and began lending books from her own collection informally from her house before it became obvious there needed to be a better-organized library system.

According to The First Hundred Years, A Short History of Cobb County in Georgia, by Sarah Blackwell Gober Temple, the library opened in 1882, was at Clarke’s residence on Whitlock Avenue, and was named the Franklin Library.

The first standalone library building opened on Church Street near the home of William Root in October 1893 and was named the Sarah Freeman Clarke Library.

Subsequently, libraries were opened in Acworth and Austell. In 1959, the city of Marietta and several other Cobb County libraries combined to form a countywide system that began the Cobb County Public Library as we know it today.

You can read more about the history of the Cobb County Public Library by following this link.