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Update: This event has been moved inside the Valente Branch Community Room due to the heat emergency declared by the City of Cambridge. Join us for one, two, or all CPL Adult Summer Camp activities to meet new people and have nostalgic fun outside in Cambridge! Make Tie Dye T-shirts & Bags with us in the Reading Garden next to Valente. Rain/High Heat Location: Valente Branch Library Registration Required.

Learn basic music production skills with FL Studio, a digital music workspace. In this hands-on introductory class, become familiar with core tools for creating and arranging digital beats and melodies. Registration is required. You must complete Hive Safety Training and Studio Recording 101 before registering for this workshop.

Signs for Inclusion: Fun & Practical ASL for Everyday Communication Join us for a fun, interactive introduction to American Sign Language (ASL) and inclusive communication. Participants will learn practical everyday signs, respectful ways to interact with Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, expressive communication techniques, and simple real-life ASL scenarios. This activity-based workshop includes silent communication challenges, group participation, and engaging sign language games designed to build confidence and connection through communication. Learn more at Signing Basics. Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Learn about the local tradition of turning maple sap into maple syrup with Land's Sake Farm! Enjoy a maple sugaring themed story time, touch and explore the tools we use to make maple syrup, and try using hand drills to tap a demonstration log. This program is recommended for children ages 4 and up. Children under the age of 7 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration is required - please register only the children who will be attending the program.

Join the Cambridge Public Library in welcoming Jeremy David Engels for a reading and discussion of his latest book, On Mindful Democracy: A Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World. We find ourselves living through a time when much-needed political discourse seems to be getting increasingly inflammatory and partisan—Jeremy David Engels, in On Mindful Democracy, proposes the benefits of mindfulness in the sociopolitical sphere. Smithsonian called the book "a practical guide to staying open and curious while engaging with all sorts of people and ideas." Registration is required.

Are you suffering from chronic information overload? Feeling overwhelmed by too much technology in your life? Join us for an evening of old school board gaming! Relax and recharge your internal battery with one of our classic board games or bring your own personal fave. Gaming: Unplugged takes place on the first Monday of every month from 6:00 -- 7:30 PM in the Rossi Room. Be there or be square! Do you want to learn how to play Mah Jong? Stop by Adult Gaming: Unplugged on Monday, Feb. 9th for a fun and free-spirited tutorial. Learn the basics of the game and even try your hand for a turn! For the month of February, Adult Gaming: Unplugged will be held on Monday, February 9th, 2026. It will return to its first Monday of the month schedule on March 2nd, 2026.

Cambridge is home to over 80 species of edible wild plants, some of which are more nutritious and/or flavorful than their cultivated counterparts. These include native species like Fox Grape and Shagbark Hickory; non-native weeds like Chicory and Burdock; and invasive species like Japanese Knotweed and Autumn Olive. Join expert forager Russ Cohen on a 2.5 hour ramble around Fresh Pond to learn about over two dozen species of edible wild plants. Keys to the identification of each species will be provided, along with info on edible portion(s), season(s) of availability and preparation methods, as well as guidelines for safe, ethical and environmentally-responsible foraging. NOTE that this is an educational walk only: no actual foraging will take place, as that activity is prohibited with in the Fresh Pond Reservation. We will meet at Fresh Pond, in the main parking lot by the ranger station and water department. Russ Cohen is a naturalist and wild foods enthusiast from Weston, Mass., currently in his 52nd year of leading walks and talks about wild edibles. He has led talks for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the New England Forestry Foundation, and The Trustees of Reservations. Russ' foraging book, Wild Plants I Have Known...and Eaten, is now in its ninth printing. Russ has taken on the role of Johnny Appleseed for edible native species, collaborating with land trusts, cities and towns, and other groups (including one in Cambridge) to plant plants from his nursery in appropriate places on their properties.

We invite children of all ages and their grown-ups to join us for stories and a simple activity.

Join the Cambridge Black History Project and the Cambridge Public Library in welcoming Warren Eugene Milteer Jr. for a reading and discussion of his new book, Out of This Strife Will Come Freedom: Free People of Color and the Fight for Equal Rights in the Civil War Era. The recipient of the Southern Historical Association’s Charles S. Sydnor Award for the best book in Southern history in 2022, Milteer will be joined in conversation by Susan Tomlinson, an associate professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Registration is required.

Party like you just got your first library card! All Kindergartners, along with their families and friends, are welcome to attend. We will have activities, crafts and snacks.