Events Calendar

Play is how children learn & explore! Enjoy some open-ended play time in the program room. It is a flexible space for children (5 & under) and their families to come and go as they like. Books on the play theme of the day will also be available.

Blocks & Tunnels Play

Monday, September 23, 10:00 am

Clay Play

Monday, October 28, 10:00 am

Water Play

November 25, 10:00 am

READ and PLAY together with children 5 & under! Engaging with books, songs and playful experiences all help children develop communication skills, patience, empathy, and pre-reading skills​ and helps to build a lifelong love of reading. Library programs are always free. Siblings and childcare groups are welcome.

Join Kim for a chair yoga and gentle movement class focusing on range of motion, breathing, and balance. Movements will be performed either sitting in a chair or standing.

Chair yoga is accessible to anyone of any age or ability. The practice begins with quiet stillness, focusing on breathing to increase respiratory function. Gentle movement while seated can increase range of motion and flexibility in all joints of the body and reduce arthritis pain. Standing postures are intended to strengthen muscles and bone, improve balance and decrease fear by gaining body awareness. In addition to the physical benefits, chair yoga can also calm the mind, reduce stress, and enhance compassion for ourselves and others, therefore enhancing quality of life! 

Space is limited for this program; registration is required. To register please use the link below or call Lakeview Library at 608-246-4547. Registration opens two weeks prior to program date.

Presented in partnership with NewBridge.

About the presenter

Kim Sprecher is a registered yoga teacher with over seven years of experience in helping older adults improve their quality of life. 

Find help navigating application processes and filling out forms required for housing, immigration, food, health, and other community support services.

In partnership with the City of Madison and Madison Public Library, the African Center for Community Development provides in-person assistance. Examples include: 

• Disability
• Employment
• Housing
• Passport
• Social security
• Unemployment
• WIC

For questions about the program or to schedule an appointment, please call the African Center at 608-957-5623 or 608-294-0066.

*Neither The African Center for Community Development nor Madison Public Library can provide legal assistance or advice.  We cannot fill out applications on your behalf or assess program eligibility.
 

Join us to READ and Play together. When children engage with books, songs, and play, they develop communication skills, patience, empathy, and pre-reading skills which helps to build a lifelong love of reading. 

This program is geared toward children under age 5. All older and younger siblings as well as childcare groups are welcome to join.

Library programs are always free.

Need help updating a resume or cover letter, applying for jobs online, or brushing up on basic computer skills? Sign up for a one-hour one-on-one appointment by stopping into the Central Library or calling the reference desk at 608-266-6350.

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

The Personal Archiving Lab at Central Library is a collection of equipment that can be used to digitize at-risk analog materials like home movies video tapes audio cassettes photographs and more. Stop by the Central Library on Mondays, 2-4pm (Room 209) for a tutorial on how to use the library's Personal Archiving Lab. Tutorial duration is approximately 20-30 minutes. The instructor may not be able to accommodate those who arrive after 3:40pm.

Following the tutorial, you will be able to make an appointment during library hours to use the equipment - up to 3 hours per day - for your personal archiving project.

The Personal Archiving Lab supports the following formats: VHS and VHS-C tapes DVDs (not BluRay); audio cassettes; MiniDV and Hi-8 tapes; photographs (including negatives and slides) and other paper-based documents. It does not support 8 or 16mm reel-to-reel film or audio tape.

Patrons who use the lab must bring some form of external storage — a portable hard drive, or a thumb drive — on which digital files can be stored.

Call 608-266-6350 for more information.

In partnership with the City of Madison and Madison Public Library, the African Center for Community Development provides in-person assistance* to help offset housing costs by assisting residents with applications for services, jobs, and other financial benefits.
We provide help for people navigating application processes and filling out forms required for housing, immigration, food, health, and other community support services. For questions about the program, please call African Center at (608) 957-5623 or (608) 294-0066.

*Neither The African Center for Community Development nor Madison Public Library can provide legal assistance or advice.  We are not able to fill out applications on your behalf, or assess program eligibility. 

Join us on Monday afternoon for library fun--you never know what might happen!

Projects especially chosen for the school-age crowd; all ages welcome with adult help.

Join us in a fun and relaxing atmosphere as we share award-winning children's literature that celebrates the diversity of art, culture, food, and language across the African continent. 

In this partnership program with UW-Madisn's African Studies Department, participants will engage in hands-on creative activities and will have the opportunity to sample different African cuisines. 

This program is free and designed for children ages 5-10 and their caregivers. All are welcome!

Navigate this new world as Season 2 comes to a close. A new threat looms over the horizon will our heroes be brave enough to stop what comes? Will they be wise enough to solve the mystery? How many fart jokes can I squeak in?? Find out in A Ballad of Interesting Events. This campaign is geared towards middle and high school age youth and takes place on Monday afternoons at Meadowridge Library. 

Read aloud to a furry friend from Alliance of Therapy Dogs at Lakeview Library. Bring a favorite book or try a new one from our collection. First come, first served.

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

The River Food Pantry's Munch Truck will be stopping outside Goodman South on Mondays from 3:15PM - 3:35PM.

About River Food Pantry & Munch Truck

Launched in 2016, Munch is our mobile meals program that delivers free healthy meals to children and adults in over a dozen low-income neighborhoods throughout Madison. Each meal contains a sandwich or main menu item, a fruit or vegetable, a grain, a treat, and a drink. Everyone is welcome to take home a free meal. No registration or ID is required.

Neighborhoods served by Munch have large populations of children eligible for free school lunch. To bridge the gap that exists when school lunch is not available, Munch operates up to 6 days per week, Monday–Saturday, any time school cafeterias are closed (including breaks and periods of remote learning).

For any questions or comments, please contact the Munch staff at munch@riverfoodpantry.org or (608) 661-1223.

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig has been selected as the 2024-2025 Go Big Read book.

Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.

Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life.

Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.

In partnership with the UW Go Big Read Program. Newcomers welcome!

The Madison Writing Assistance (MWA) program offers free, one-to-one writing support for community members at library branches throughout the city. Our friendly, experienced writing coaches are happy to help with writing projects across a wide range of genres, including resumes, cover letters, application essays, grant proposals, fiction writing, memoirs, and more.

Schedule an appointment online with the link below, by phone, or in person.

MWA services are made possible through generous donations from the Evjue Foundation and UW Anonymous Fund, along with administrative and program support from the UW-Madison English Department, the UW-Madison Writing Center, and our Library and neighborhood center partners.

Drop-in and play games on the library's iPads, MacBooks, and Nintendo Switch. Minecraft, Roblox, Mario Kart, & more! There is a limited number of devices, so participants will take turns as needed. Regular attendees can choose to participant in Gamer BINGO and earn prizes!

Family and friend groups are encouraged to attend and play together. 

Youth 8 years and younger must have a caregiver with them during the program. 

A trip into the Science Technology Engineering Arts Math (STEAM) realm, this collaboration with Community Science partners will help aid patrons and families. It is setup to educate, engage, empower and expose them to all types of STEAM activities .

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

The Madison Writing Assistance (MWA) program offers free, one-to-one writing support for community members at library branches throughout the city. Our friendly, experienced writing coaches are happy to help with writing projects across a wide range of genres, including resumes, cover letters, application essays, grant proposals, fiction writing, memoirs, and more.

Schedule an appointment online with the link below, by phone, or in person.

MWA services are made possible through generous donations from the Evjue Foundation and UW Anonymous Fund, along with administrative and program support from the UW-Madison English Department, the UW-Madison Writing Center, and our Library and neighborhood center partners.

Come sew with us!

Simply Stitched is Sequoya Library's adult sewing group for sewists of all skill levels. Bring your own sewing machine and other supplies. Drop in to work on any sewing project you have, and to share tips and advice.

If you would like to use one of the library's sewing machines, you can reserve one by registering for this program. Registration begins two weeks before the session. Register below, or by speaking to a library staff member in person or by phone at (608) 266-6385.

(If you are bringing your own machine or a project that does not require a machine, you do not need to register.)

The Madison Writing Assistance (MWA) program offers free, one-to-one writing support for community members at library branches throughout the city. Our friendly, experienced writing coaches are happy to help with writing projects across a wide range of genres, including resumes, cover letters, application essays, grant proposals, fiction writing, memoirs, and more.

Schedule an appointment online with the link below, by phone, or in person.

MWA services are made possible through generous donations from the Evjue Foundation and UW Anonymous Fund, along with administrative and program support from the UW-Madison English Department, the UW-Madison Writing Center, and our Library and neighborhood center partners.

Chess meets the second and fourth Monday of every month. All ages and skill levels are welcome.

Are you struggling to carve out time to write that novel, screenplay, or other work of fiction you've always been meaning to write? Are you battling writer's block? Are you looking for people to read what you've written and provide feedback? Try Pen Pals, an all-experience-levels-welcome group for fiction writers and fiction writer hopefuls!

Once a week, bring in a laptop or notebook and surround yourself with other writers striving toward similar goals. The first hour will be dedicated to organizing feedback-swaps, discussing our projects, and collectively brainstorming solutions to story problems. The remaining hour is just for writing! Pen Pals is captained by local fanfiction author Linea Kemsley, who will provide baked goods and warm beverages every week to help promote that perfect cozy writing atmosphere.