Sterling Public Library Offers Baby Time, StoryTime Programs for Young Children

The Sterling Public Library holds free storytime every Monday morning from 10 to 10:30 a.m. at 420 N. 5th Street, giving Logan County families with infants and young children a recurring, no-cost developmental resource through the end of April.

The library opened the month with a Baby Time session on April 7 for newborns through infants up to 18 months, attended with an adult. The ongoing Little Readers StoryTime series, running on the same Monday morning schedule, targets children ages 2 through 6. Library staff member Abbigail leads the sessions, working through songs, rhymes, books, games, and a craft or activity each week. The library notes all ages are welcome regardless of the stated target range, and families are encouraged to arrive a few minutes before 10 a.m. to ensure seating.

The half-hour sessions unfold in a children's area equipped with four computers, a junior AWE computer, two early literacy AWE computers, educational toys, and a corner stocked with large books for relaxed independent reading.

The programming carries documented developmental weight. The American Library Association's Association for Library Service to Children formally recognizes storytime as "a research-informed experience instrumental in helping children become ready to learn to read and succeed in school." Foundational research by Hart and Risley found that children who enter school with lower vocabulary scores tend to have heard fewer words in their earliest years, lending particular significance to free community programs in a rural region where paid enrichment options are limited.

That context is concrete in Sterling. The city's median household income sits at approximately $44,242 as of 2023 data, below state and national medians. The library serves an estimated 14,276 residents in its primary Logan County service area, and its collection of roughly 63,000 volumes circulates about 86,770 items per year.

Sterling functions as the commercial and service hub for an estimated 70,000 people across the northeast Colorado High Plains, a reach that extends well past the city's 13,735 residents and reflects the library's role as a regional institution. That role stretches back more than a century. A $12,500 Carnegie grant funded the original Sterling library, built between 1916 and 1918 at 210 S. 4th Street and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The current facility on N. 5th Street has carried that tradition forward since 1976.

Families can confirm the Monday schedule and check for any cancellations through the City of Sterling's official events calendar or the library's children's programming page. Questions about accessibility or group visits can go directly to library staff at 970-522-2023 or library@sterlingcolo.com. The library is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.