Events Calendar

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.

Mindfulness is the art of paying attention, of listening to your heart. Rather than worrying about the future or ruminating about the past, mindfulness can help you enjoy life more fully, effectively, and peacefully. Join us when you can to learn simple mindfulness and meditation techniques that can be incorporated into your everyday routine to reduce your stress and increase your well-being. Typically, each session will begin with a brief check-in, followed by a guided sitting meditation. Then Gloria will share reflections on some aspect of mindfulness. The group will discuss the topic and ask any questions about the practice. We will end with another sitting meditation. Experience in mindfulness or meditation is not necessary. This program is being offered both in-person and online through Zoom. If you would like to join by Zoom, please register below. Registration is not necessary for in-person attendance.

This program is part of the Live Well @ Your Library​ initiative.

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.

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.

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. 

Many native seeds must break their dormancy via a process called cold, moist stratification. If you want to improve the chances of having transplantable seedlings in the spring, join Wisconsin Master Naturalist Alex Singer to watch a brief demonstration of making a mini-greenhouse using a transparent plastic jug or other deep plastic container with lid, followed by a hands-on demonstration of the same with Q&A.

Please bring your own container if you’d like to try your hand and take it home planted with native seeds. Tools and soil will be provided.

About the Presenter

​Alex Singer has worked with Madison library staff to build upon the vegetable seed library project, most active in the spring, to include native plant seeds, which are most often best sowed/started in the fall. Having transformed his suburban yard into a Homegrown National Park over the past decade or so by replacing the majority of turf grass with native forbs and grasses, he works to spread the news and the plant diversity via such projects as well as giving away his yard's bounty, inviting groups to tour his yard, and giving talks on native plant propagation and their importance, as well as working toward the loosening of Madison's Natural Landscape ordinance.