Summer Learning is in full swing!
Hartford Summer Space Mission!

Stay with us all summer long for reading challenges, STEM activities, raffle prizes and so much more!

This week's branch kickoffs include:

Barbour Library
261 Barbour St.
Wednesday, June 22
1 p.m.

Park Street Library @ the Lyric
603 Park St.
Wednesday, June 22
1:30 p.m.

Check out the full schedule of programming HERE
Lee Mixashawn Rozie: Featured artist on The Beat
Lee Mixashawn Rozie is a Hartford icon.

He has been a practicing multidisciplinary and internationally acclaimed jazz artist for the past three decades. He holds a degree in history and ethnomusicology from Trinity College and is equally at home in academic and cultural settings.

Check out Lee Mixashawn Rozie's music and more HERE.

(We recommend Polyester and predict you will be singing along by the second chorus!)
P.S. If you’re a local artist you can get paid to let us share your music on The Beat. We are accepting submissions now through July 5. Join other talented artists including: The Lost Tribe, Ghazi Omair, Black Phonze and Lee Mixashawn Rozie.

Your guide to summer reading starts today!
(True fact: Reading for pleasure makes us healthier and happier!)
Elin Hiderbrand


It not an accident that Elin Hiderbrand is known as "The Queen of Beach Reads" Find out (or rediscover) why with this novel.

"A classic fictional setting — the grand hotel — gets the Hilderbrand treatment. ... Honestly, who needs Nantucket. It could hardly be more fun than this book." — Kirkus Reviews
Emily Henry
Most Anticipated Books 2022 — Oprah

Set during summertime, we've got rivals and a plot twist you wont see coming. What more do you need?

“It is humanly impossible for Emily Henry to write a bad book.…Whatever Henry decides to spear, be it literary posturing or vacation rom-com, she subverts her subjects in the most delicious ways." —Entertainment Weekly
Movies & music

This movie received a 15-minute standing ovation at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Fifteen minutes. See for yourself why.

Watch the trailer HERE

Check out this movie and more with your library card HERE on Kanopy.

🎶 "I love the colorful clothes she wears. And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair." 🎶

Is there anything that says summer more than the music of the Beach Boys?

Stream some great memories and countless other songs at Freegal, with just your library card.
The Sounds of Frog Hollow
Stop by the Park Street Library @ The Lyric for their summer music series “Sounds of Frog Hollow'' featuring the many music traditions of the Frog Hollow neighborhood in Hartford!

Movimiento Cultural 
Wednesday, June 22
1:30 - 2:30pm
Park Street Library @ The Lyric
603 Park St.

Movimiento Cultural Afro-Continental (MCAC), Inc., is a cultural, arts and community based organization with the mission to educate people across Connecticut about Puerto Rico’s rich African-based folklore, music, dance and other art forms, especially the Bomba, which is the oldest Puerto Rican dance and music style rooted in resistance and dating back to the days of slavery. 
More art!
The Embrace Series
by Lindaluz Carrillo

The Embrace Series was created during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were experiencing intense isolation, loss and defeat as we yearned to be physically connected with our loved ones. The first piece, Embrace One, was created as part of a wheat paste series where images were plastered on Hartford buildings to remind people that we are not alone. These works honor those we lost and those who survived and continue to be with us.

See The Embrace Series on display at the Albany Library (1250 Albany Ave.) and check out more of Lindaluz's art HERE.
Make jewelry

Join Hartford Artist Jackie Bright during our Foodshare distribution to decorate a jewelry box and make a beautiful piece of beaded jewelry to take home with your bag of groceries! Materials will be provided.

Thursday, June 23
3-4 p.m.
Barbour Library
261 Barbour St.
Jobs, jabs, tests and masks
Join our team!

Make a difference in our community while building your career.

Join an excellent group of colleagues and help us grow our collections, provide much-needed services for our neighbors and strengthen and celebrate our diverse community.

We've got openings in multiple departments.

Learn more about our current employment opportunities HERE.
FREE COVID-19 vaccines and supplies

Need your COVID-19 booster shot, at-home test kit or a high-quality mask? We've got you covered.

This week's vaccine clinic:

Thursday, June 23
Camp Field Library
30 Campfield Ave.
2-5 p.m.
Teens and adults

Tests and mask are available at all library locations, just ask at the library front desk during regular business hours. (Proof of Hartford residency required).
“Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you.” ― Emily Henry, Book Lovers