OctoStudio Playtest (O'Neill)
Families with school-age children can come to the Library to play with the creative coding app OctoStudio. Help test brand new animation features on the app and provide your feedback!
Please register in advance.
Devices will be provided. Only one registration is needed per family, and adults are encouraged to participate alongside their children!
Summer Reading: Decorate a Paper Fan! (O'Connell)
Decorate a handheld paper fan using the simple, meditative basics of Chigiri-e (“chee-gee-ree-eh”), a traditional Japanese art form where the name literally means "torn picture."
There will also be a mini-mural station for families to decorate collaboratively to celebrate wrapping up this year's Summer Reading program.
An assortment of colorful papers as well as markers, book-themed stickers and other decorations will be provided.
Space is limited and registration is required. There will be two identical back-to-back 60 minute sessions (from 2-3 and again from 3-4). Please sign up for only one session.
Teens: Felt Crafts for Hispanic Heritage Month (Valente Branch)
Ages 12-18. Craft a felt food, flag, or something else that is special to Hispanic Heritage! Felt, paper and pencil, needle and thread, and wet glue and hot glue will be provided. No registration needed, drop-in.
The City of Cambridge does not discriminate, including on the basis of disability. We may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to people with disabilities. For more information contact us at library@cambridgema.gov, 617-349-4032 (voice), or via relay at 711.
CPR Class for Parents and Caregivers (Valente)
This CPR class will cover life-saving skills for infants, children and adults. We will use multi-media and hands-on practice to be sure students acquire skills and confidence to assist in a life-saving medical situation. This class will also cover training and the use of AED (Automated External Defibrillator) for all ages, along with life-saving skills in choking situations. Students will receive their certificate upon completion of class. Please note that the City is not responsible for the content or training equipment.
Space is limited (25 adults), registration is required.
Note for CONFIRMED registrants: Your spot is held until the program start time. Once the program begins, we will fill in open spots from a day-of waiting list until the program reaches capacity.
Funding for this program has been generously provided by the Cambridge Public Library Foundation.
CPL Presents: Tracy K. Smith (Main/Virtual)
Join the Cambridge Public Library in celebrating National Poetry Month with a reading and talk by the acclaimed poet and author Tracy K. Smith. A former Poet Laureate of the United States, as well as the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, Smith is one of the nation's foremost experts on poetry and its unique power to—as she writes in Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times—“help you to love every other thing in the world around you.” Registration is required.
Central Square Book Group (Central Square)
Join the Central Square Book Group!
This month, we're reading A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman in honor of Meet Your Neighbor month. Meet Your Neighbor Month is organized by the Cambridge Peace Commission every year. The 2026 theme, Stories We Share: The Courage to Connect, is inspired by Welcoming America's Welcoming Week, reminds us that meaningful connections often begin by listening to and learning from one another.
Copies will be available for pickup at the Branch.
Questions? Contact Theresa (tmitchell@cambridgema.gov).
Dove of Peace: Art Treasures and History from the Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (Main)
Join us as we celebrate the official acceptance of the Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association Records into the Cambridge Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections. Learn about the collection and three significant objects given by Yerevan to the city of Cambridge with guest speaker, Gary Lind-Sinanian, Collections Curator of the Armenian Museum of America. We’ll be treated to a selection of traditional Armenian music sung by a local student. A sampling of hors d’oeuvres and Eastern Armenian desserts will be served following the program.