Learning how to be an adult can be hard for young people, but the Muncie Public Library is hoping to make that adjustment easier. 

Dennis Everette, adult services supervisor at Kennedy Library, took notice of this and supplemented the need to figure out how to function as an adult by kickstarting the Adulting program series. 

These classes are held sporadically from now through November. The topic for the classes include a range of topics like cars, cooking, fitness and travel, but they all have the same end goal: to be a better grown up.

"This idea — be a better grown up — encompasses the whole thing," Everette said.

The idea for the class was presented through patron research. The program series is meant to benefit anyone who needs help with adulting, but MPL strategically started the program in September. With the fall semester beginning at Ball State, Everette saw an opportunity to reach a wider audience.

"It started from the fact that we researched our patronage, and we realized that the people that were not coming into the library were basically young adults," Everette said. "I just saw it as an opportunity to reach out to that group of people. Especially as there was a new group of Ball State freshman coming in."

While the library is often associated with books, Everette explains that a library's capacity reaches far beyond literature when it comes to resources.

"Libraries are all about providing information for people and that happens in a bunch of different ways, and events like this are sort of fundamental information about how to be an adult well," Everette said.

While the program series has already held two sessions — elections and money — there are still four sessions that students have the opportunity to attend. 

The third session will be on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. and will be based around basic car care — something Everette also struggled with as a young adult.

"This one time, I accidentally put coolant in the windshield washer fluid tank, and my car totally overheated and caught on fire because it didn't have any coolant," Everette said. "If I can help somebody not do that, that'd be good because that was embarrassing."

Everette currently has plans for six sessions, and while two sessions have passed, Everette is hoping to see an increase in student participation in order to keep the program series running.

"There's any number of topics we could do these sessions on, so we'll see how it goes after the fall," Everette said.

All adulting series programs are free and open to the public. Future sessions will cover cooking, travel and fitness. Students do not need a library card to participate in this program; however, if students are interested in signing up for a library card, they just need to bring their Ball State ID to register.

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