Events Calendar

You and your child will dance, Dance, DANCE! Bubbles, shakers and more! The last part of each class involves free play with library toys and a chance for caregivers to chat. Geared for children ages 5 & under, but older kids are always welcome to join in, too! 

Babies too young to toddle can clap and bounce to the rhythm. Preschoolers are leaders in following cues. Children participate in their own way, in their own time. The only expectation is to have fun!

Free assistance from AARP Foundation Tax-Aide volunteers to help you fill out and file your Federal and Wisconsin personal income taxes. Call 608-266-6385 no earlier than 9am on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, to make an appointment (required).

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide provides in-person and virtual tax assistance free of charge with a special focus on taxpayers who are over 50 or have low-to-moderate income. Tax-Aide volunteers are trained and IRS-certified every year.

Some situations are outside the scope of the service -- see what type of taxes they can prepare or ask if in doubt. 

All Sequoya Library appointments will be in-person on WEDNESDAYS: 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, & 4/9.

Library staff will begin making appointments on January 22 at 9 am. Appointments must be made in person or by phone. (We cannot honor requests left in voice messages, so please call again if you reach voicemail instead of a staff member.) 

Click here for a list of all 2025 Tax Assistance dates at Central, Lakeview, Meadowridge, and Sequoya Libraries, or take a look at our calendar. Appointments are required at all locations.

READ and PLAY with your favorite baby or toddler! Reading, singing, talking and playing with your baby from the beginning is important because the roots of language are developing in a baby’s brain even before they can talk! Library programs are always free. Siblings and childcare groups are welcome.

Join us for a book discussion of "The Librarianist" by Patrick deWitt. New members always welcome!  Please check with library staff for location or Zoom link.

"Bob Comet is a retired librarian, isolated but not lonely, living out his quiet days in a mint-colored house in Oregon, surrounded by his books and small comforts. One morning, out on his daily walk, he performs an act of kindness that brings him into contact with a nearby senior center, where he soon begins volunteering. Here, as a community of peers and friends gathers around Bob, and following a happenstance brush with a painful complication from his past, the events of his life and the details of his character are revealed. Behind Bob Comet's plain facade is the story of an unhappy child's runaway adventure, of true love found and stolen away, of the purpose and pride found in vocation, and the ultimate acceptance of a life lived to the side of the masses. The Librarianist is a wide-ranging and ambitious homage to the life lived through and for literature. With his inimitable verve, skewed humor, and compassion for the outcast, deWitt celebrates the extraordinary in the so-called ordinary life, and depicts beautifully the turbulence that sometimes exists beneath a surface of serenity." -- Amazon.com

Attention word lovers: exercise your brain by playing Scrabble with other adults!

You and your child will dance, Dance, DANCE! Bubbles, shakers and more! The last part of each class involves free play with library toys and a chance for caregivers to chat. Geared for children ages 5 & under, but older kids are always welcome to join in, too! 

Babies too young to toddle can clap and bounce to the rhythm. Preschoolers are leaders in following cues. Children participate in their own way, in their own time. The only expectation is to have fun!

READ and PLAY together with children 5 & under! Stories, songs, and rhymes for about 20 minutes, followed by playtime and an art project. 

Engaging with books, songs, and playful experiences all help children develop communication skills, patience, empathy, and pre-reading skills​ - and to build a lifelong love of reading.

No registration, free of cost, and older siblings are welcome!

READ and PLAY together with children under age 5! 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. Older and Younger siblings and childcare groups are welcome.

Alicia Ashman Library and the American Red Cross are hosting an upcoming blood drive.  And as a thank you, everyone who gives blood between Jan. 27 to Feb. 28 will receive a $15 e-gift card at rcblood.org/flurry. For an appointment call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter Sponsor code: aliciaashmanlibrary

Please join us in this lifesaving mission!

Drive Details:
Site: Alicia Ashman Library
Address: 733 N. High Point Rd., Madison, WI, 53717
Room Name: Capitol Bank Community Room
Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Time: 11:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Free assistance from AARP Foundation Tax-Aide volunteers to help you fill out and file your Federal and Wisconsin personal income taxes. Call 608-246-4547 no earlier than 10 am on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, to make an appointment (required).

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide provides in-person and virtual tax assistance free of charge with a special focus on taxpayers who are over 50 or have low-to-moderate income. Tax-Aide volunteers are trained and IRS-certified every year.

Some situations are outside the scope of the service -- see what type of taxes they can prepare or ask if in doubt. 

All Lakeview Library appointments will be in-person on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Library staff will begin making appointments on January 22 at 10 am. Appointments must be made in person or by phone. (We cannot honor requests left in voice messages, so please call again if you reach voicemail instead of a staff member.) 

Click here for a list of all 2025 Tax Assistance dates at Central, Lakeview, Meadowridge, and Sequoya Libraries, or take a look at our calendar. Appointments are required at all locations.

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

Drop-in knitting. All experience levels welcome. Children under 9 must be accompanied by an adult for duration of program. Yarn and Needles provided for in-library use.

Please join us to play chess at our weekly, drop-in program! All ages and experience levels welcome.

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

Calling all kids and families! Join us for a very fun art series where we will explore our creativity. 

This week, artist Deckard, will teach us to draw our own stickers!

Kids of all ages are welcome to join, and there is no registration necessary.

School-age children (elementary and middle school) are invited to join us for this kid-led Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Be a part of an adventuring party where you'll use your imagination and creativity to explore a fantasy world in an epic quest. Our Dungeon Master Jared will provide support and help guide campaigns along with our adult D&D experts and our Youth Librarian Ruth.

This weekly session is for beginners.

About D&D: Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game that allows each player to create their own character to play. These characters embark upon imaginary adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as the game's referee and storyteller, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur.

Make a bead project with a variety of bead sizes and materials. Pony, seed, charm, polymer, letter & more!

Youth 8 years and younger must bring an adult, or responsible older sibling, with.

Join local artist Amy Mietzel for hands-on art projects!

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

We are going to pilot a new start time to try to accommodate school schedules. Keep an eye on future meetings in case things change!

Join us at Pinney Library on the first Wednesday of every month to discuss an older kids/tween graphic novel! No reservation needed. Light snacks provided.

Wingbearer by Marjorie Liu & Teny Issakhanian

Plot: "Zuli is extraordinary—she just doesn’t realize it yet. Raised by mystical bird spirits in the branches of the Great Tree, she’s never ventured beyond this safe haven. She’s never had to. Until now.

When a sinister force threatens the life-giving magic of the tree, Zuli, along with her guardian owl, Frowly, must get to the root of it. So begins an adventure bigger than anything Zuli could’ve ever imagined—one that will bring her, along with some newfound friends, face-to-face with an ancient dragon, the so-called Witch-Queen, and most surprisingly of all: her true identity." - Publisher's Website

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

Need help with basic computer or Internet skills? Looking for assistance with using a smart phone or downloading library eBooks and audiobooks? We offer free one-on-one sessions on Wednesdays! Call 608-246-4547 to make an appointment.

Need help with basic computer or Internet skills? Looking for assistance with using a smart phone or downloading library eBooks and audiobooks? We offer free one-on-one sessions on Wednesdays! Call 608-246-4547 to make an appointment.

We will discuss the five main elements of a story and how to discover them. By learning dynamic storytelling elements, you will gain the tools to pull short stories out of everyday life. 

Participants will learn how to turn an anecdote of something that happened to you into a story that illuminates a central truth about your life. This will be an interactive workshop with a mixture of mini-lecture and small group work. 

Registration appreciated. Registration opens January 15. 

Drop in knitting: Learn a new craft or work on that unfinished project with other neighborhood knitters.

Need help with basic computer or Internet skills? Looking for assistance with using a smart phone or downloading library eBooks and audiobooks? We offer free one-on-one sessions on Wednesdays! Call 608-246-4547 to make an appointment.

The Last Thing He Told Me meets Fleishman Is in Trouble in this page-turning story of a couple who flee winter in the Midwest for Palm Springs, where they find their relationship at a crossroads.

Kim and Grant are at a turning point. A couple for thirty years, their "separate but together" partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face.

When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community where everyone knows everyone’s business, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more adventurous side of her personality. Meanwhile, Grant struggles to find his footing in this unfamiliar landscape, leaving Kim to wonder if their relationship can survive the snowbird season. But when Grant goes missing on a hike in the Palm Springs mountains, Kim is forced to consider two terrifying outcomes: either Grant is truly lost, or this time, he’s really left her.

Is it ever too late to become the person we wanted to be—and is there still time to change into someone better? The exhilarating, but often confusing transitions of midlife are pitched against the promise and glamour of Palm Springs in this tender, honest story of what it takes to commit to someone for a lifetime. With compassion and humor, Clancy explores the redemptive power of finding ourselves, and of being found.

In conversation with Chloe Benjamin.

Need help with basic computer or Internet skills? Looking for assistance with using a smart phone or downloading library eBooks and audiobooks? We offer free one-on-one sessions on Wednesdays! Call 608-246-4547 to make an appointment.

Join us for a discussion of this month's mystery book, The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen. New members always welcome! Copies of the book may be available at the Ask Desk.

Synopsis: When a body turns up in her driveway, former spy Maggie Bird turns to her “Martini Club” of former spies to help her uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why.