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2025 Summer Performer Series

1 week ago
With the launch of JMRL’s 2025 Summer Reading Challenge also comes the newest lineup in the Library’s Summer Performer Series! Children of all ages and their families are invited to attend JMRL’s Summer Performer Series. These fun, free performances include live animals, music, theater, magic, and more. Teens ages 11 to 18 are invited to […]
JMRL Blog

Summer Reading Kickoff Lineup is Here!

1 week 3 days ago
It’s that time of year again when each library branch hosts their own special event to celebrate the beginning of Summer Reading and the opening of Summer Reading Registration From sidewalk chalk, lawn games, llamas, frozen treats, and more, there’s no shortage of fun activities to get you and your family pumped for another great […]
JMRL Blog

“In a culture of gratitude, everyone knows that gifts will follow the circle of reciprocity and flow back to you again.”

1 week 6 days ago
On April 3, Books on Tap met to discuss Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Kimmerer, an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is the director of the Center for Native People and the Environment and distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Originally published in 2013, […]
JMRL Blog

Learn 30 things in 3 hours in a fast-paced library takeover event!

1 month 1 week ago
Location: Central Library, 201 E. Market St, Charlottesville, VA The How-To Festival is FREE and open to everyone. Bring the family and tell your friends! There’s something for all ages—drop-in to workshops inside and outside the building on a range of topics from 18th Century textile spinning, navigating AI, cooking demos, book making, woodworking and […]
JMRL Blog

National Library Week 2025: Drawn to the Library!

2 months ago
Millions of people across the country visit their libraries every week. What’s the draw? Everything. From young families stopping in for play and storytime, to students sketching out their next creative project in a makerspace, to seniors seeking tech help and everyone in between, libraries of all kinds help us connect the dots from one part […]
JMRL Blog

Brown Baggers Selections June 2025-May 2026

2 months ago
On Dec. 19th 2024, the Central Library Brown Baggers had their annual holiday potluck and selection meeting.  The group was choosing titles to discuss for June 2025-May 2026. The group has been reading and discussing books since Sept. 2008 so it was important for all, especially newer members, to know the Brown Baggers archive: list […]
JMRL Blog

How-To Festival Call for Participation

2 months 3 weeks ago
JMRL invites individuals, community organizations and businesses to participate in the 7th annual How-To Festival on Saturday, May 3rd from 10-1pm inside and outside Central Library. Share your knowledge/skills/services and promote your business, organization or cause. The How-To Festival is a drop-in library takeover event with short presentations and demos on a variety of topics. […]
JMRL Blog

“ANOTHER THING ABOUT THE RULES

3 months ago
They weren’t meant to be broken. They were meant for the broken to follow.” When Books on Tap met to discuss the novel in verse, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, one word came up again and again to describe the book – powerful! Reynolds was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Oxen […]
JMRL Blog

Keep on, Jamilia, have no regrets; you’ve found your hard-sought happiness.

3 months 1 week ago
Central Library Brown Baggers discussed Jamila by Kyrgyz author Chinghiz Aitmatov on February 20th, 2025. Originally published in Russian in 1958, Jamila was suggested and voted on by the group in an attempt to read more widely and more titles in translation.  Since this title was a short one (translated by Fainna Glagoleva) and available […]
JMRL Blog

Vote in this year’s Virginia Readers’ Choice!

3 months 2 weeks ago
Each year, kids across Virginia vote for their favorite nominee to win the Virginia Readers’ Choice (VRC) Award. There are three reading categories, Primary, Elementary, and Middle School, with ten nominated titles in each category. See the booklists in JMRL’s FindIt catalog here:  Primary Booklist Elementary Booklist Middle School Booklist Libby lists for all ages […]
JMRL Blog
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