Poetry Reading

The Poetry Reading, originally set for Feb 13, has been rescheduled to March 8th.

Poetry Reading with live music!  

DAN SHANAHAN

Saturday March 8, 2:30pm

Community Room, Holyoke Public Library

Dan Shanahan will share his poems, including memories of the Library reading room in the 1950's. He will be accompanied by Robert Jonas, Shakuhachi flute master and author, and Steve Sleboda, poet and musician. 

Don't miss this very special reading/performance

hosted by the Friends of the Holyoke Public Library.

Free. All welcome!

Daniel Shanahan is the author of three books of poetry. He began writing poems at fifteen, spending days in the reading room of the Library listening to 78rpm vinyl records of Yeats, Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot. Dan is currently writing his fourth book, a collection of poems on Holyoke entitled The Ground We Stand On, which focuses on the landscape of characters and the character of the landscape of Holyoke. Dan has traveled widely, and lived in Alaska and India. He is the sole proprietor of Lotus Seed Poetry. For more information, see lotusseedpoetry.com/about-the-author/

Winter Carnival

Today's winter snowstorm (Thursday Feb 13) has closed the Library and forced us to cancel tonight's Poetry Reading -- one of the events we planned in conjunction with the Holyoke Winter Carnival.

Poet Dan Shanahan will come at a later date, which we working to schedule.   Here is a photo of Dan taken last Saturday as he -- and the Winter Carnival snow woman-- arrived at the Library:

For more about the Holyoke Winter Carnival, which continues through Sunday, see http://holyokewintercarnival.org/

February GALA and other events

The Friends of the Holyoke Public Library invites the public to come to a GALA

celebrating both our 30th anniversary and the newly expanded library.

Saturday, February 8, 6:00-10:00 pm 

Holyoke Public Library, 250 Chestnut Street, Holyoke, MA

Hors d'oeuvres and cash bar in the Community Room.
 Music in the library by Richie Mitnick.

Tickets ($30 per person; $50 per couple) available at the Library.

This special event comes on the opening weekend of the Holyoke Winter Carnival (Feb 7-16, 2014). We are also sponsoring several other Library events during the Carnival:

Saturday, February 8, 11:00 am  

Mary Jo Maichack will present a children's program of stories and songs.

Wednesday, February 12, 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Folksinger/storyteller Tim Van Egmond performs in the Community Room 

Refreshments will be served.

At 5:30 pm the Friends board will meet in that room. All welcome!

Thursday, February 13, 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Local poet Dan Shanahan will read his poetry, 

including a poem about the library reading room in the 1950's!   

Refreshments will be served.

For more details, see the Library's online calendar of events.

VOLUNTEERS to help with any of the above events would be welcome.Please contact Friends President Tim Damon  or call the Friends office at 413-420-8110.   

Videos of Grand Opening and Library Tours

Thanks to Mike Hines of the Holyoke Public Schools Media Center, we can view videos of the following Holyoke Public Library ceremonies and tours:

• Grand Opening ceremony, November 22, 2013  (51 minutes)
• TOUR of the new library, conducted by María Pagán (20 minutes)
• Construction site tour, conducted by Tom Ryan in fall 2012 (10 minutes)
• Library Topping Off Ceremony, September 2012 (33 minutes)
• Holyoke Public Library "Next 100 Years" Campaign" (15 minutes)

These videos are accessible online via this link:

 Holyoke Public Library videos

  or,

  http://vimeopro.com/user16098581/holyoke-public-library

Enjoy watching this documentation of our library's history.

New website and Grand Opening!

The Holyoke Public Library website has a new look:  

  http://www.holyokelibrary.org/

Just in time for the 

GRAND OPENING and Official Ribbon-Cutting

Friday, November 22, 2013

Starting 11:00 AM 

Official Ceremony 11:30 AM

250 Chestnut Street, Holyoke

Friends of the Library will provide refreshments
after the ceremony

TOURS of the newly expanded library
will be offered in the afternoon.

Come see!  Bring your friends!

Tag Sale and Book Sale

The Friends of the Holyoke Public Library will hold a Tag and Book Sale on Saturday, November 16th from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. 

The sale will be held at the Lynch School at 1575 Northampton Street (Rte 5 near Exit 17 from I-91) rather than at the library itself.  Come to the back side of Lynch and follow signs; there is plenty of parking and a ramp up to the door we'll be using.

Included in the sale are hundreds of used items from the original library building as well as material and equipment that was used at the temporary library location in Holyoke City Hall during the 18-month construction project.  In addition to library materials, the sale will also include used books donated by the Friends of the Holyoke Public Library and others.

See Tag Sale photo gallery for a preview of selected sale items.

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Holyoke Public Library Building Fund.

Note: You'll be able to buy BOOKS and the bookcases for them -- all in one convenient sale!

Library re-opening Oct 28

Regular hours of library service will resume on Monday October 28, 2013:
   Monday -Thursday 8:30 am to 8:30 pm.
   Friday - Saturday  8:30 am to 4:00 pm. 

New phone number:  413-420-8101

New address:  250 Chestnut Street, Holyoke, MA 01040

** A special PUPPET show for pre-school thru grade 5 will be presented at 1:00pm, Saturday October 26 in the Community Room.  Come in the new entrance and turn right (the rest of the library will not yet be open).    Come early (12:30pm) for the tour of the new library.