Wellness is not just about physical health; it’s also about having a healthy mind and relationships. Madison Public Library can help you stay informed through our free resources and help you reach your wellness goals through our workshops by the community, for the community.
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Seed Library and Gardening
Madison Public Library's Seed Library is back! The Seed Library offers a variety of vegetable, herb, fruit, and flower seeds for visitors to pick up beginning in March. We begin giving away seeds in March so that growers have 8 weeks before to the last frost to start preparing their gardens and begin starting some of the earlier plants indoors prior to moving them outdoors for full planting.
No library card is needed to enjoy the Seed Library - simply visit one of our eight participating library locations (all except Central Library) to pick up seeds while supplies last. Visitors are also encourage to explore our collection of gardening books, eBooks, audiobooks, and films while you're there.
Thanks to the help of many volunteers, we package more than 45,000 packets of seeds to give away each Spring. Each packet contains 10-15 seeds apiece and can be put to use in your garden at home or in a community garden plot around town. As part of the Seed Library, we've also planned a great lineup of gardening programs that will take place throughout the year. Get supportive instruction or learn different techniques to utilize the new seeds you pick up at the library. Plus, you can contribute to the continued success of the Seed Library program by helping us package seeds - volunteer events will continue to be available through early April.
Announcing the new LGBTQ+ Wellness Guide
Each year Madison Public Library celebrates Pride month in June with events, books, resources and more. However, we also have LGBTQ+ events happening year-round. This year we're especially excited to debut an ongoing resource, a new 2024 edition of the Madison Public Library LGBTQ+ Wellness Guide!
Madison Public Library welcomes and supports the LGBTQ+ community and understands that the fight for LGBTQ+ equity in America is far from over, especially for transgender people and queer people of color. Included in this guide are mental health providers, transition and sexual health resources, support groups, hotlines, and more. We hope this guide informs and empowers you to find the community and support that you need.
We're in the process of getting the guide printed and out in all of our libraries, as well as clinics around the city. Keep an eye on our Wellness Guide page to see the list of clinics the guide will be available at as well as a link to download a digital copy.
Wellness Books
A few highlights of new and newer wellness books available at your library.
Dr. Ala Stanford knew she wanted to be a doctor by the time she was eight years old. But role models were few and far between in her working-class North Philly neighborhood. Her teachers were dismissive, and the realities of racism, sexism, and poverty threatened to derail her at every turn. Nevertheless, thanks to her faith, family, and the sheer strength of her will, today she is one of the vanishingly small number of Black women surgeons in America—and an unrelenting force in the fight for health justice.
The Modern Navajo Kitchen takes you on an exhilarating journey for your taste buds. This beautifully photographed cookbook ties together traditional Navajo recipes as well as global recipes with a Navajo spin, creating a truly unique culinary experience!
Despite modern technology and the ample ways we have to keep in touch, we risk neglecting our relationships with the people who have the most profound effect on our well-being: our friends. Weaving together personal stories, interviews with experts, and social research, Friendship First empowers you to nurture relationships with friends both new and old.
If you are looking to learn how to express what you truly feel and ask for what you want in a kind and direct way, this book will help you take control of situations and set boundaries that work for you in your environment. Giving hundreds of examples of boundary phrases and conversation scripts, it's designed to be both easy to read and an accessible reference to pull out again and again when you need boundary-setting guidance. Featuring three boundary phrase frameworks and a multitude of topics for use in each.
Through science and storytelling, Jamil Zaki imparts the secret for beating back cynicism: hopeful skepticism. This approach doesn't mean putting our faith in every politician or influencer. It means thinking critically about people and our problems, while simultaneously acknowledging and encouraging our strengths. Far from being naïve, hopeful skepticism is a more precise way of understanding others, and paying closer attention re-balances how you think about human nature. As more of us do this, we can take steps towards building the world we truly want.
This title is also available in e-book and e-audiobook formats.
Check out even more great wellness reads!
Upcoming Events
Alicia Ashman Library
- Mar31-Community Room
- Apr14-Community Room
- Apr28-Community Room
- May20-Community Room
- Aug05-Study Room
- Aug06-Community Room
Goodman South Madison Library
- Mar24-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Mar31-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Apr07-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Apr14-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Apr16-Meeting Room 115
- Apr21-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Apr28-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- May05-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- May12-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- May19-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- May26-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Jun02-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Jun03-Meeting Room 115
- Jun09-*In Goodman South Madison Library
- Jun24-Meeting Room 115
- Jul01-Meeting Room 115
- Jul29-Meeting Room 115
- Aug05-Meeting Room 115
Hawthorne Library
- Mar27-Community Room
- Apr10-Community Room
- Apr24-Community Room
- May08-Community Room
- May22-Community Room
- Jun12-Community Room
- Jun26-Community Room
- Jul10-Community Room
- Jul24-Community Room
- Aug07-Community Room
- Aug21-Community Room
Pinney Library
- Mar31-Youth Program Room
Madison Public Library Current and Past Wellness Partners
Sponsors
