Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library is hoping to land a traveling exhibit aimed at getting kids more involved with math and science.

The library recently applied for the exhibit from STARNet, the technology activities wing of the American Library Association, the library’s assistant told Port City Kiwanis last week.

“This grant would allow us to host a traveling exhibit for up to two months. We had a choice of three, and the one that stood out was ‘Discover Tech: Engineers Make a World of Difference,”’ said Katrina Stokes, who was hired last month as assistant director.

Vicksburg’s ties to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made the exhibit an obvious choice among the offered programs, she said. The grant for the exhibit and $1,000 to advertise and promote it is due Sept. 18, she said.

“I’m almost finished writing out the grant. What I need are letters of support. It’s looking for collaboration between local organizations but also with local math and science teachers,” Stokes said.

In order to host the exhibit, the library would be required to offer 10 programs over two months. The programs would include an overview followed by three events each for adults, children and families, Stokes said.

“I think we’re probably going to move ahead and get some of these organized regardless of the grant,” she said.

Offering such programs could help the library reach a new audience.

“It’s easy enough to cater to the people who already use the library and know what we’re here for. It’s much harder to reach those people that we’re the last place we think of,” Stokes said.

Children’s librarian Marie Cunningham told the Kiwanis Club that the library’s youth outreach over the summer was successful. More than 250 students signed up for a reading program, and 100 of them reached their goal.

“We had a wonderful, wonderful situation with over 3,000 books being read in the process of the six-week program,” Cunningham said.