Free Library Volunteer Services Program

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health offers immunizations and health outreach services at the Central Library. Our services include providing information on vaccines for all ages, distributing COVID-19 tests, masks, and hand sanitizers. Staff from the Department will be available in our Parkway Central Library lobby to answer your questions and provide information.

This event is free for everyone.

Introducing a new book club at the Parkway Central Library — on the second Monday of each month, the Short Story Book Club will meet from 6:00–7:30 p.m. in Philbrick Hall to discuss collections of short-form fiction.

The first meeting will be August 12, when we’ll be discussing Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara. Bambara's stories in this collection explode with attitude, voice, and humor, and they demonstrate one of the great strengths of the short story: the ability to focus on the most vibrant character, the most exciting moment, and present it in a brief-but-potent piece of writing.

Featuring photographs from the Free Library of Philadelphia's Print and Picture Collection and filmed locally, The Automat premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival and was nominated for four 2022 Critics Choice Awards. It had its local premiere at the 2022 Philadelphia Film Festival. The Automat tells the 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the inspiration for Starbucks, where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. From the perspective of former customers entertainer Mel Brooks, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Mayor Wilson Goode the Horns, the Hardarts, and key employees - we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.

There are so many benefits of volunteering! Join us this winter at the Free Library and discover a position that suits you! See the link in our bio. for our volunteer application and list of available positions.

From July 26 to Aug. 11, the city of Paris, France, will welcome the world to the 33rd edition of the Summer Olympics.

The first post-pandemic Games will include 329 medal events across 32 sports played in legendary locations across Paris, France, and Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia.

The events include equestrian racing at the Palace of Versailles, beach volleyball in front of the Eiffel Tower and fencing at the Grand Palais.

The audience attendance is already predicted to be in the millions.

The Rapping About Prevention team delivers high-energy assemblies, workshops and presentations using facts, humor, personal experience, teamwork exercises, audience participation, and a live rap and dance performance.

For all ages; camp groups welcome.

This event will be held in the Montgomery Auditorium on the Ground Floor.

Get a FREE headshot photo taken at the Business Resource and Innovation Center! Headshots are a unique service for entrepreneurs, nonprofit professionals, job seekers, and more.

Join Sherry Hoban, Executive Director of the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project (CBAP), for one-on-one financial help. Topics range from debt management to accessing annual credit reports. Bring all your financial questions! The program will meet in Parkway Central's First Floor lobby from 2 to 4 p.m.

Questions? Contact the Science and Wellness Department at 215-686-5394.

Are you a cat lover looking for volunteer opportunities? The Stray Cat Relief Fund is seeking volunteers this summer to help look after their cats!

Volunteers must be 18+ years old and must commit to Monday/Friday shifts. Email [email protected] for more info

Are you still paying for streaming services? Cut down on some of your monthly bills by using our video database resources.

📣 Kanopy
- Over 4,000 movies for adults & kids with no monthly viewing limits

🎬 Access Video on Demand Master Collection
- Over 44,000 documentaries and TV series from producers from PBS, BBC, HBO and more

🎞 Access Video on Demand: Just for Kids
- Over 12,000 videos, games, songs, and interactives

🎥World Cinema
- 1,000+ classic and contemporary films from the U.S. and around the world

Click on the link in our bio. to access these resources and to start streaming today!

BE/LONGING anchors itself in a series of Free Library workshops led by Philadelphia-born artist Joanne Grüne-Yanoff and includes participation from kids, teens, adults, elders, those with vision impairments and sighted individuals, lifelong residents, and new arrivals.

Grüne-Yanoff, a transdisciplinary artist based in Stockholm, Sweden, and Philadelphia, collaborated with the Free Library’s Curator of Exhibitions, Suzanna Urminska, to create the workshops at various library branches. They included Parkway Central, Tacony, McPherson Square, and Thomas Donatucci Sr.

The resulting exhibition now lives at the Parkway Central Library and is on view through October 1. It includes:

- Banners incorporating quotes from workshop participants on belonging
Embossed/braille images and text of the banners for those who are visually impaired
- An audio piece with layers of sound, including workshop participants talking about belonging
- Related artworks created for the glass cases at Parkway Central’s West Gallery 1
- Typewriters (braille and standard) for visitors to share their thoughts on belonging, which will be incorporated into the exhibition
- These art pieces comprise a community-based story of BE/LONGING throughout Philadelphia. We are excited for residents and visitors to join in and contribute to the story.

Interested in a group tour? Contact Suzanna Urminska, Curator of Exhibitions, at [email protected] to schedule a visit and hear more from the artist and curator through a hybrid walkthrough. Tours are currently being booked for the weeks of July 22 and September 9, and additional slots may be added based on interest, so please reach out with your requests!

Poll workers are essential elements in our democracy. This upcoming election, consider volunteering at your local poll station!

Poll workers open voting machines, check in voters, keep people voting, and close up at the end of the night. Workers are also paid $250.

See the link in our bio. to apply.

Looking to volunteer this summer? Considering joining the Free Library as a tutor! See the link in our bio for more info

As part of the Year of James Baldwin, the Free Library is hosting one of many Philadelphia Reads James Baldwin reading groups throughout the city in collaboration with the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation.

The Free Library reading group will be led by Dr. Anthony Monteiro. Reading materials will be provided and time to do the readings as a group will be incorporated into the evening followed by group discussion.

Get a FREE headshot photo taken at the Business Resource and Innovation Center! Headshots are a unique service for entrepreneurs, nonprofit professionals, job seekers, and more.

For more information, please email [email protected].

The Free Library’s newest exhibition, We Are What We Eat, explores the intersection of food, community, and identity. With recipes and cooking techniques passed down through generations, culinary heritage helps preserve flavors and traditions of our ancestors. Food also connects us with the here and now, helping build social bonds through sharing meals. In addition to connecting us with our culture and the people around us, food also exists as a form of self-expression. Dietary choices may reflect our values and beliefs. Certain foods may evoke special sensory memories, making them deeply ingrained in our selfhood. Where and how we get our food raises ethical questions about the environment and equity of access.

Join us on July 11th for a curator-led exhibition tour! No registration required.

The Free Library will have social services available at the Parkway Library and several neighborhood libraries.

Throughout the Summer of 2024, select Free Library locations will remain open on Saturdays starting July 6, 2024.

These branches include:
- Cecil B. Moore Library
- Charles Santore Library
- Wynnefield Library
- Walnut Street West Library
- Tacony Library
- Queen Memorial Library
- Greater Olney Library
- Fox Chase Library
- Lovett Memorial Library

PCs for People recently opened a storefront location here in Philadelphia on North Broad St! This is great resource if you are seeking affordable, quality computers for you or your family. The nonprofit also accepts electronic donations.

Do you find accessing health care benefits and community resources complicated? Are you in need of help with day-to-day problems? Join us to hear from Patti Meehan, Director of the Social Work Department at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Patti will share knowledge from her 40 years of work experience in the health care setting. Topics include an overview of health insurance coverage, guidelines for accessing healthcare benefits and finding community resources to address social needs.

We will meet on the Second Floor of Parkway Central in Science and Wellness on July 9th @ 4 PM. RSVP through the link in our bio.

Join us for a free non-certified CPR training with The Mobile CPR Project.

This 45-minute class will be held in the HEIM room 131/132. Please register through the link in our bio.

Do you know a teen battling with violence-related trauma? The Lucien E. Blackwell Library will be holding workshops designed to help teens develop skills to process community violence through storytelling.

Sessions will be held every Tuesday July 2-30 for ages 1-15 @ 3:30-4:30 Pm and for ages 16-18 @ 5:00-6:00pm

In celebration of the relationship between the Free Library and the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Academy has given the Free Library at Parkway Central free one-week passes to the Academy!

Passes may be picked up at the Children's Department of the Parkway Library beginning July 1, 2024. Patrons must have an adult library card in good standing to check out a pass.

**This program will continue until June 2025

Today marks the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a series of events between police and LGBTQ+ protesters which stretched over six days. It was not the first time police raided a gay bar, and it was not the first time LGBTQ+ people fought back, but the events that would unfold over the next six days would fundamentally change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ activism in the United States. While Stonewall became well known due to the media coverage and the subsequent annual Pride traditions, it was a culmination of years of LGBTQ+ activism.

Are you a cat lover looking for volunteer opportunities? The Stray Cat Relief Fund on McKean St. is seeking volunteers this summer to help look after their cats!

Volunteers must be 18+ years old and must commit to Monday/Friday shifts. Email [email protected] for more info

Philadelphia has the highest incarceration rate of any city in Pennsylvania, and the most locked-up census tracts in North Philadelphia have 17 times as many people behind bars as census tracts in Center City, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. This is one example of how data can help us visualize mass incarceration, which has been called the most pressing civil rights issue of our day.

The Free Library will help Philadelphians visualize mass incarceration this summer in connection to a vital new book, The Warehouse: A Visual Primer on Mass Incarceration, by information artist Vic Liu and formerly incarcerated researcher and activist James Kilgore.

From July 8 through October 4, nine massive banner illustrations will hang in the Art and Literature Departments at Parkway Central Library. These banners, created by Liu based on her illustrations from The Warehouse will strive to communicate the sheer scale of suffering without neglecting individual stories

Are you looking to gain volunteer hours over the summer or to develop new skills? Consider volunteering at the Free Library! We have open positions throughout the city!

See the link in our bio. for our application

Are you a teen looking for a fun activity this week? Stop by the Parkway Library this Wednesday to learn how to develop drag makeup!

Programs at the Field Teen Center are open to individuals ages 12 to 18.

Contact [email protected] or call 215-686-5395 for more info.

Celebrate Pride Month at the Parkway Library with the Philadelphia Freedom Band's Marching Band!

The band will perform a selection of music including songs by Elton John, Lady Gaga, the Jonas Brothers, Blink 182, Billie Eilish, Meghan Trainor, and many more! We’ll be dancing along from [timing TBD]. The Philadelphia Freedom Band (PFB) is a non-profit organization comprised of a wide variety of talented musicians, ranging from amateur to professional. They come together to perform throughout the greater Philadelphia area and provide visible, active support to the LGBTQ+ community.

Juneteenth is a day that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States and Philadelphia is home to one of the largest celebrations in the country. The holiday — celebrated annually on June 19th — is an opportunity for Philadelphia to celebrate its rich heritage and diverse communities.