Lancaster Public Library

Hey, Library Lovers! Just a reminder—both LPL locations will be closed on Monday, August 19 for a day of staff development, so make a plan to get your library time in today or tomorrow 📚🧱💻✨

The Lancaster City Branch is open 9-5 both days. The Mountville Branch is open 10-5 today and 10-1 tomorrow.

Twelve very special patrons had a sleepover at the library last night 📚🛌💤

More pictures of their adventures to come…

ICYMI, both LPL locations are in the middle of a storytime break 🥱

Our amazing staff is recuperating from a VERY busy summer. Plus, they are putting in the work behind the scenes and getting ready for a fantastic fall!

Storytimes will resume the week of September 16, but we hope to see you at the library checking out books (and board games and ukuleles and explorer bags and baking pans and DVDs and museum passes and American Girl Dolls and even more books) long before that 💙

The question has lingered in song since it was first posed in the 1960s: How many roads must a man walk down - before he becomes the subject of a Lancaster Public Library program?

TODAY's session of the Paragons of People's Music series will celebrate the musical and cultural contributions of Bob Dylan — Nobel Prize for Literature winner and iconic figure in the world of music!

Dylan has recorded more than 600 songs but we can only share about 25. Songs will include: "Blowing in the Wind," "Tangled Up in Blue," "All Along the Watchtower," "Forever Young," "A Hard Rains Gonna Fall," "Masters of War," "The Man in the Long Black Coat," "Shelter from the Storm," and others.

Guitarist, singer, and West Chester University professor Doug Morris will present this program.

TGIF! What are you reading this weekend?

Our next few programs are coming in hot 🔥 Reserve your space before they fill up!

🐻 Come to the Teddy Bear Picnic! - TOMORROW (8/3) at 10:30AM
🦎 Visit the Rainforest with The Lancaster Science Factory - Monday, August 5 at 1PM
🎸 Phredd Ukulele One Man Band - Monday, August 5 at 1:30PM at the Mountville Branch

About last month 🌻✨

1. The Electives at Pajama Storytime 🎤
2. Don’t Hate Me…I’m Just a Bug 🪲
3. Anime Design with Keville Bowen ✏️
4. Pajama Storytime at Musser Park 🐕
5. Drum for Fun with Tammi Hessen 🪘
6. Chalk the Walk 🖼️

Toddler Time will take place INSIDE today (8/1).

Thank you to the sweet patrons who dropped off two bags of dead bugs and cicada shells to be examined during the next session of Zooming In! Exploring with Microscopes 💀🪲😍

Unfortunately, the next session was supposed to take place tonight (7/29), but was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming session of Zooming In!, either in August (bugs!) or October (rocks & minerals!).

What did you read this weekend?

You’ve been to the Lancaster Public Library, but have you ever visited the Lancaster County Bookmobile?

The Bookmobile Lancaster will pay a special visit to Pajama Storytime at Musser Park TONIGHT (7/24) 📚🚐

Don’t forget your library card, so you can check out some books!

Interested in reading Hillbilly Elegy? You aren’t alone!

While you wait for your hold to dwindle from number one hundredth something to ready on the hold shelf, visit the link below to explore books you can read right now! Or, visit the Juliana Bookstore to pick up a used copy 📖

The weather cooperated, so we made good on our plans to host Toddler Time in the park this morning 💚

No matter what the weather does later today, we will gather inside the Lancaster City Branch for Anime After School with a SPECIAL GUEST 🤩 at 4PM and the Quilt of Souls Author Presentation 🪡 at 6:30PM.

Take a break from the heat and attend an adult program at Lancaster Public Library this week! We have quite a few to choose from, and remember - you can get Adult Summer Reading Challenge "credit" for attending a program this summer!

Silent Book Club at Our Town Brewery! - TONIGHT at 6PM at Our Town Brewery

Adult Coloring Program - Tuesday, July 16 at 12PM - Get in touch with your inner child when you drop in for a coloring session at LPL!

Bits & Bytes Technology Classes - Tuesday, July 16 at 2PM

Quilt of Souls Author Presentation - Thursday, July 18 at 6:30PM

Budgeting During a Crisis - Saturday, July 20 at 10AM

Rethinking Fall Gardening and Cleanup - Saturday, July 20 at 11AM

Also known as our “reading all day” era ✨📖

What are you reading today?

This afternoon, the Lancaster City Branch will be buzzing with activity.

Come out for The Amazing, Trailblazing MAGIC Adventure! at 2PM and stay for the Mini Fun Festival presented by Penn State Extension Lancaster County!

Magician Erick Hershey will take us on a magical journey across the countryside! The intergenerational Mini Fun Festival (1-3PM) brings together community members all ages for art, storytelling, music, dancing, and other activities.

Both events are FREE. Feel free to drop by the Mini Fun Festival before or after the magic show 🎩🐇

Lancaster City Indie Retail Week starts tomorrow and we are HERE for it! Passionate community members, carrying library tote bags, visiting charming shops, and purchasing unique treasures is a vibe we love!

Check out our small business and book pairings inspired by the week-long independent retail community event! If you don’t see your go-to independent retailer, leave a comment and tell us where you like to shop in Lancaster—we’ll respond with a recommendation JUST FOR YOU 📚

Featured businesses:

The Bead Works
📍 52 N. Queen Street

The Common Wheel
📍 324 N. Queen Street

Sweetish Candy
📍 301 N. Queen Street

A Day In The Life Records
📍 24A W. Walnut Street

Best Celebrations and More
📍 14 S. Duke Street

Central Market Flowers
📍 258 N. Queen Street

curio. Gallery & Creative Supply
📍 106 W. Chestnut Street

FARBO Co
📍 9 W. Grant Street

Telltale Dress
📍 334 N. Queen Street

Yesterday’s Amazing Trailblazing Magic Show at the Mountville Branch was all of that and more! 🎩🐇

Many thanks to Erick Hershey for taking us on a magical journey across the countryside!

If you missed the chance to attend yesterday’s program, we still have space available for Friday’s 2PM show at the Lancaster City Branch.

The Amazing, Trailblazing MAGIC Adventure!

We experienced all the emotions during our program with Ryan “The Bug Man” Bridge this week 😳😀😲😶

An educational and enjoyable time was had by all! We learned about over 100 incredible bugs and insects from around the world—it was CRAWLsome 🐛🐞🪲🪳

Depending on how you look at it, we picked the perfect day to celebrate National Freezer Pop Day 🥵

If you can't make it to the Mountville Branch, cool off in the A/C at the Lancaster City Branch when you attend Don't Hate Me, I'm Just a Bug! later tonight 🐞

Of course, you don't need to attend a program to visit the library. Community members can find relief from the heat in either of our air-conditioned buildings, plus we offer access to books, computers, wireless internet, and other LPL amenities—all for FREE!

Are you looking for your next great read? Are you also wondering what’s for dinner tonight? Well, believe it or not, Lancaster Public Library can help with both questions!

The BOOKed to Perfection display in the lobby of the Lancaster City Branch offers a spin on your typical food-and-beverage pairings with some novel-and-cookbook pairings 🍓🤸📖

It's a literary feast—dig in and let us know what you think!

It's ! Tell us a joke and we'll reward you with a funny book rec!

What are you reading this weekend? 👀📖

Here’s to a summer of reading, discovery, and endless possibilities! Whether you're diving into a new adventure, exploring far-off lands, or simply escaping into the pages of a beloved book, the Adult Summer Reading Challenge is your ticket to a season of literary delight.

To complete this challenge, you will read/watch/engage your way through the Dewey Decimal System.

How the challenge works:
· Read one book for every 100s block of the Dewey Decimal System (000, 100, 200, etc…)
· Each book should be related to the topic of the Dewey Decimal class
You can either:
· Choose a nonfiction book from each Dewey Decimal section
OR
· Choose a fiction book which relates to each Dewey Decimal section
Examples: 300s, Social Sciences – includes Civil Rights
Nonfiction: The Color of Law, How to Be an Antiracist
Fiction: The Help, To Kill a Mockingbird

BONUS! Attending an adult program this summer can count towards one (1) Dewey Decimal section.
For example, if you attend Rethinking Fall Gardening and Cleanup you can count it towards the 600s – Technology (630 Gardening & Agriculture, to be more specific )

Entry forms available at both LPL locations. Ages 18+

This week, Lancaster Public Library is going to the dogs...and the sloths and deer and snakes and turtles 🦥🦌🐍🐢

On your mark, get set, go...to the Animal Olympics at the Mountville Branch Library on Thursday at 10:30AM! Participants will be challenged with the same physical prowess as creatures in the animal kingdom: jumping, running, breath holding, and even the sloth crawl. Presented by the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Environmental Education. Weather permitting, the program will take place outside, in front of the Mountville Library. Ages 4-10 · Space is limited · Registration is required.

Being a REPTILE is an adventure! These ecothermic animals are buried alive as babies, they grow up as orphans, and they learn how to survive without teachers or parents! Come to the Lancaster City Branch on Thursday at 6PM to laugh and learn with Jesse Rothacker and his scaly sidekicks, and check out some animal books, too! All ages! Registration appreciated.

Exercise is key to our wellbeing, but you don’t need a gym to keep yourself on the move!

Join us for Chair Yoga at the Lancaster City Branch today at 5PM and learn how you can use a simple piece of furniture to boost your mobility and help you feel your best 🧘‍♀️🪑🧘‍♂️

This class is beginner-friendly and open to all adults 18 and older.

Don't worry if you can't make it today - Chair Yoga takes place every 4th Tuesday at 5PM!

Thank you to Oak Street Health for their support with this program!

Young (and young at heart) scientists converged on the Lancaster City Branch today to Zoom In and Explore with Microscopes 🔬

After a tutorial about how to handle microscopes and prepare slides, we examined flowers and greens and saw incredible things hiding all around us! 🌸🌿

😭 If you missed today’s program, don’t despair—we have two more just like it planned for July and August! In July we’ll be getting up close and personal with bugs, and in August it’s time for rocks and gemstones to shine 🪨

Visit our website to register before you lose sight of this task 😉