Library News

Jacob Edwards Library

January 2026

Library Hours

Monday & Thursday 9 am - 8 pm

Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 9 am - 5 pm

Saturdays 9 am - 1 pm

Curbside pickup is available during library hours!

Please note: the Library will be closed on January 1 and 2.

Happy New Year!

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to welcome Pam Chenevert as its new Library Director. Pam has an impressive background and career in the library field, including most recently as the director of the Richards Memorial Library in Paxton where she received ALA grant money for a Sensory Room. She is a Southbridge native, having graduated from Southbridge High School, and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master of Science in Library Science at Penn West Clarion. Pam is a passionate community advocate for libraries and their services and is also a talented artist. 

Jacob Edwards Library Chess Park and Performance Space

“A place for everyone across the Board”

The Chess Park Ad Hoc Committee has started fundraising for the project. The library has hosted a chess event on Saturdays for some years and looks forward to developing an open-air venue. To access the rendering (created by Joseph Coen, Landscape Architect) proposed for the space on the southeast corner of the library property and most detailed information, please visit the Chess Park page on the Library's website.

Questions? Please contact Bernadette Meade with at bmeade2979@gmail.com.

Mass Center for the Book 2025 Reading Challenge

The Jacob Edwards Library is thrilled to be partnering with Mass Center for the Book to promote their 2025 Reading Challenge. Pick up cards and bookmarks at the Circulation Desk to participate.

Library staff will happily help you find a book that fits the monthly theme - or see the display on the main floor for monthly suggestions. NoveList Plus is a great resource to utilize, as well (library card required). Happy reading!

How it works:

• Choose a book that fits the monthly challenge.
• After you read, fill out this form to tell them about the book. 
• Using the submission manager, you will be able to log in and access the entries you’ve logged throughout the year.
• Dedicated readers will be invited to a year-end celebration hosted by Mass Center for the Book.
• If you read a book in each of the 12 months, you will be entered in a drawing to win 1 of 2 totes filled with books. Additionally, they will be drawing two names on the last day of each month to win a free book!

Hoopla Spotlight

Programming

JEL programs are always free and all are welcome.

Mindfulness Meditation

Fridays, January 9, 16, & 30

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Mills Room

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host Iris Vega, certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher and mentor, to present a series of sessions.

Inviting Mindfulness Meditation into your daily routine is an opportunity to cultivate awareness and presence.

You may bring your Yoga mat if you prefer doing the practice lying down.

Southbridge Chess Club

Saturdays, January 10 & 24

10:00 - 11:30 am

Come play, learn, and connect! A friendly environment for all ages and skill levels, from complete beginners to seasoned players. Boards provided. Bring a friend, bring your moves, or just bring curiosity

"Through My Eyes" by Mara DeWitte

Meet & Greet

Thursday, January 8

6:30 - 7:30 pm

The Library is pleased to host photographer Mara DeWitte as our January artist. Her work is "Through My Eyes," and her introduction and biography are in her own words:

"I spend the majority of my free time outside, enjoying the beauty I find around me. I’m not formally trained but rather always had access to a camera from the time I was a small child. I learned the basics of film photography and was off exploring with my camera in my backpack. Transitioning to digital was eye opening and allowed me to “just take photos."

You will find me in the woods around my home in Southbridge, exploring botanical gardens and art installations, and photographing whatever catches my eye. I’ve also been part of a group that travels throughout New England and photographs abandoned buildings (with permission). More information about that group can be found on their website, Silver Crescent Photography.

You can find my collection on Facebook under “On My Feet Photography." I’m happy to answer any questions about my work, please contact me via my cell (508) 344.6305.

For anyone attending the opening, please bring a canned good for donation to Southbridge Food Share. Pasta sauce, canned fruit/vegetables or soup is always needed but any unexpired food donation would be gratefully appreciated!" - Mara DeWitte

Emily Dickinson: The Poet and Her Gardens

Thursday, January 15

6:30 - 7:30 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host presenter Ellen Duzak for an illustrated lecture, inviting you to meet Emily in her own gardens and countryside as she embraces nature and interprets its meaning in her own unique flavor of poetry.

Ellen Duzak is a retired Professor of Psychology at Becker College. She later taught for a decade in the WISE Senior Education Program at Assumption College. She has long admired the paintings of the Impressionists and is an avid gardener and lover of nature.

Sponsored by Olive I. and Anthony A. Borgatti Donor Advised Fund GWCF.

In December, the group will discuss Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. Books are available at the Circulation Desk for checkout.

"Golden Girls meets James Bond" - Buzzfeed

"Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that's their secret weapon. They've spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can't just retire - it's kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills. When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they've been marked for death. Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman-and a killer-of a certain age" - Provided by publisher.

BBB Scam Seminar

Thursday, January 22

6:30 - 7:30 pm

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to welcome presenters from the Better Business Bureau for a scam prevention seminar.

In today’s world, scams are becoming more sophisticated, more frequent, and harder to spot. From deceptive online marketplaces to fake government calls, romance scams, investment fraud, and phishing attempts, scammers are constantly developing new tactics to take advantage of unsuspecting individuals. This seminar is designed to help protect you, your family, and your finances by giving you the tools you need to stay one step ahead.

Staff Picks

“Of Monsters and Mainframes” by Barbara Truelove

If you’re the kind of person who hears “Bram Stoker’s Dracula in space” and immediately feels your ears perk up, then boy do I have a treat for you. Not only has the classic horror tale found itself retold amongst the stars, it’s also become a story seen as much through the sensors of the spaceship Demeter as the eyes of the people aboard it. Don’t judge by the colorful cover: this book balances the whimsy of its premise with some truly effective horror, fun and frightening all at once.

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk

This novella follows a private investigator in a classic set-up: trying to solve a string of murders while her own life hangs in the balance. Polk adds a magical twist to the detective noir set-up in a way that highlights, rather than distracts, from the mystery and drama at the core of their tale. This is a story with the potential to stick with you for years after you read it, haunting in its beauty and arresting in its grief.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

It is said that plays are best experienced through a performance, not by reading a script, but we live not in a perfect world, and if there has ever been a story to break such rules for, it is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. This absurdist twist on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is full of side-splitting humor, yet retains much of the depth as the tale from which it was spun. The late Stoppard pokes and prods at the storytelling conventions we expect, and in the process, peels back the curtain that separates the characters on a stage from the audience watching them.

Thank you to Circulation Assistant Trish Hankins for her reviews.

Mass Center for the Book

Student Reading Challenge

The Jacob Edwards Library is thrilled to be partnering with Mass Center for the Book to promote their Student Reading Challenge. Pick up your passport at either the Reference or Circulation Desk or at the display in the Teen area and participate by following the steps below:

• Choose a book that fits the monthly challenge prompt. Library staff will happily help you find a book that fits the monthly theme - or see the display in the Teen area for monthly suggestions.
• Once you have read your book, bring your Passport to the Reference or Circulation Desk and tell them what you read. They will give you a sticker for that month.
• Each month, the student (and a parent/guardian if the student is under 13) can fill out a short form to tell us about the book and enter into a raffle. Mass Center for the Book will run drawings for prizes. Monthly participation determines eligibility.

Have fun and happy reading!

Mass Center for the Book

Student Reading Challenge

June 2025 - May 2026

The Jacob Edwards Library is thrilled to be partnering with Mass Center for the Book to promote their Student Reading Challenge. Pick up your passport in the Children's Room and participate by following the steps below:

• Choose a book that fits the monthly challenge prompt. Library staff will happily help you find a book that fits the monthly theme.
• Once you have read your book, bring your Passport to the Children's Room Circulation Desk and tell them what you read. They will give you a sticker for that month.
• Each month, the student (and a parent/guardian if the student is under 13) can fill out a short form to tell us about the book and enter into a raffle. Mass Center for the Book will run drawings for prizes. Monthly participation determines eligibility.

Have fun and happy reading!

Board of Trustees

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for

January 20 at 12 pm.

Details will be available on the Town of Southbridge website, under Public Meetings Calendar, for all public meetings.

All meetings are open to the public.

The mission of the Friends of the Jacob Edwards Library is to be the advocacy and fundraising arm of the Library. We raise money for items such as library programs, books, subscriptions, museum pass memberships, and other materials, as needed. 

The next meeting of the Friends is scheduled for

Monday, January 5 at 1 pm.

New members are always welcome!

Happy New Year!

Jacob Edwards Library

508.764.5426

jelibrary@cwmars.org