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Alpacas from the Harvard Alpaca Ranch will be visiting the library for an educational program and meet and greet. Join us to learn more about alpacas and take some time to say hello! This event is intended for school-age children. No registration required. Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Cambridge Public Library.

Learn how to make your smartphone (iPhone or Android) easier to use. Learn how to use different accessibility settings for vision, hearing and interacting with your smartphone. This class will be delivered by a DOORS program instructor. To learn more about the DOORS program, please go to https://www.digitalpsych.org/doors-program.html To view and register for other Basic Tech Classes at the Library, please go to tinyurl.com/basictechclass. Registration is encouraged, but not required.

Learn how to use apps on your phone (iPhone or Android) for wellness and fun. You will learn how to use MyChart, Spotify and how to download apps on your phone. This class will be delivered by a DOORS program instructor. To learn more about the DOORS program please go to: https://www.digitalpsych.org/doors-program.html To view and register for other Basic Tech Classes at the Library, please go to tinyurl.com/basictechclass. Registration is encouraged, but not required.

Children and their grown-ups are invited to this special kid-centered cookbook club! This month, we're celebrating Picnic Food! Bring a dish to share, or just come to talk about your experience with a chosen cookbook. No need to bring a dish to join. Visit Valente for a selection of cookbooks that are ready to check out. This book group is for children of all ages and their caregivers and families. For more information contact Maggie at mfrench@cambridgema.gov or call 617-349-4015.

Learn how to safely use artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and how to identify AI content. This class will be delivered by a DOORS program instructor. To learn more about the DOORS program please go to: https://www.digitalpsych.org/doors-program.html To view and register for other Basic Tech Classes at the Library, please go to tinyurl.com/basictechclass. This is a virtual event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event. Registration is encouraged, but not required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Jacob Weisberg—Chair of The Committee to Protect Journalists, former longtime editor of Slate, and the co-founder of the podcast company Pushkin Industries—for a discussion of his new book, Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era. He will be joined in conversation by Noah Feldman—Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor, Chair of the Society of Fellows, and founding director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law, all at Harvard University. Registration is required.

The City of Cambridge extends a warm welcome to returning university students and staff after a year and a half of interrupted academic life. COVID-19 vaccines and increased knowledge of measures that help control the spread of the virus will help students have a more traditional residential experience this fall. The City’s three largest academic institutions - Harvard, MIT, and Lesley - report high vaccination rates among their students and employees.

Art urges us to look more closely at the world around us, and at ourselves. In this generative writing workshop, facilitated by Heather Nelson, participants will choose an image with which to “converse”: each writer will be given prompts and questions in order to interact with their image and, after having this dialogue with the art, writers will work to edit and arrange their observations into a working draft of an ekphrastic poem. There will be a little time at the end of the session for sharing drafts and discussing next steps. Registration is required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Dr. Stephen Greenblatt—Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, general editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, and the author of fourteen books including The Swerve, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award—for a discussion of his new book Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival. He will be joined in conversation by Neel Mukherjee—author of four novels, including The Lives of Others, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Registration is required.

Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process that empowers community members to decide how to spend part of a public budget. In June and July 2022, community members submitted 1,320 ideas on how to spend $1 million of the City of Cambridge’s FY24 Capital Budget. From August to November, over 70 volunteer PB Delegates worked on five committees to research and evaluate those ideas and develop 20 final proposals for the PB ballot.