By Lookout Staff

June 23, 2015 -- It’s been challenging trying to figure out the logistics behind putting on the Santa Monica Public Library’s first foray into uncharted waters -- or in the case, uncharted sand.

“Yeah, it’s been difficult,” said reference Librarian Jeff Kaplan, who is helping organize the library’s first-ever library at the beach program. “But we’re trying to keep it simple and rustic.”

Beginning Friday, library officials will be taking dozens of books to the sands of Santa Monica Beach.

Kaplan said it might be the first time in the state that a public library has brought books to a beach to be checked out.

Unlike bookmobiles which transport library books to people in neighborhoods, visitors to the local library on the beach won’t need a library card. They’ll simply sign out books on the spot by completing a checkout slip, said Kaplan.

“We’re going old school,” he said. “It’s the honor system.”

Friday’s opening program also will feature a children’s story time with a join-in hula hoop demonstration and arts and crafts, he said.

The program isn’t just for kids, though, said Kaplan.

“It’s for grownups, too. Actually, we’re opening the library on the beach to attract people who usually don’t go to the library during the summer -- people who normally would be hanging out on the beach,” he said.

Along with books, the program will feature a “Surfside Lounge” with “a bunch of large umbrellas” where people can sit and read while enjoying the sand and surf, said Kaplan.

Librarians will be on hand to demonstrate new library apps, e-books and streaming media. The library’s new South Bay Reads Book Group also will participate, he said.

And it’s “all free,” Kaplan added.

Beginning Friday, “pop up” libraries will bring reading to beach goers at five different locations.

Santa Monica Public Library at the Beach will take place Friday, June 26, at the Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Highway; Saturday, July 18, on the beach at Dorothy Green Park; Friday, July 24, at the Annenberg; Saturday, August 15, on the beach at Green Park; and Friday, August 28, again at the Beach House.

Library at the Beach hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information, call 310-434-2608, or visit smpl.org/beach.