Rowley Reads 2016 will wrap up on Sunday May 1 with an Afternoon Tea, served in honor of this year's author, the Victorian era science fiction master H. G. Wells. Join us from 2-4 pm on May Day at the Rowley Public Library, 141 Main St., where we'll have all the traditional sandwiches and sweets, along with fresh brewed tea. Entertainment will be provided by harpist Carol Littlefield McIntyre. The Rowley Public Library is celebrating the 125th anniversary of its founding in 1891. The Rowley Reads Afternoon Tea is sponsored by the Friends of the Rowley Public Library and is free and open to the public. Sponsors want to acknowledge the generous gift of an assortment of china teacups and saucers by Doug Morris of Old Town Bread, also in Rowley. 

Come browse & buy books, CDs, DVDs, puzzles & games at the Rowley Public Library. All proceeds benefit the Friends of the Rowley Library.
Friday May 13, Friends members-only preview, 5:30-7:30.
Renew your membership or purchase one at the door.
Saturday May 14, 9 am - 3 pm
Sunday May 15, 11 am - 2 pm
To volunteer, email [email protected]

The Friends are pleased to announce that our annual membership/fund drive launches May 1. The Friends mailed appeal letters to all Rowley residents and businesses last week, and we hope you will consider joining the Friends or renewing your membership for 2016-17. Thanks to the generosity of Friends like you, we continue to offer financial support to library programs that otherwise would not receive funding through the library's annual operating budget. These programs include the Summer Reading Program, Yoga Classes, discounted Museum passes, landscaping services (including organic lawn care on library grounds), authors' lecture series, free concerts and more. Membership is reasonable: $25 per year for individuals, $50 for families, and $10 for students/seniors. We gratefully accept donations in any amount, and offer convenient online giving though our PayPal account on the library's Friends page. Give $50 or more and receive a special edition 125th Anniversary Library Tote Bag.  

landscape paintings are particularly influenced by her travels throughout France and Italy-wildflower fields, expansive skies, and medieval villages, have all become central images. Jeannette has received art instruction from North Shore notables Tom Sutherland, Monique Sakellarios of Nashua, NH, and Teri Eramo, tonalist instructor from Byfield, MA. In the past 10 years, she has received over 100 awards, including five Best in Show.  

Interested in researching your family history? Start with yourself! Feel free to join us from 6-8 PM on May 9 in the Local History Room for Genealogy Club, where like-minded researchers can make use of the Library's resources, share ideas, and make progress on family stories. No experience necessary. No expert on hand, but those who have been working on this for a while will help you get started. New resources include Ancestry.com (for use in the library only) and Heritage Quest.  

If you can't find what you need in the  Merrimack Valley Library Consortium, try searching the Commonwealth Catalog. It allows you to search nine Massachusetts Library Networks and two Academic Library Catalogs at one time, with more members scheduled to come online soon. The Commonweath Catolog replaces the previous Virtul Catalog to link Massachusetts library resources. 

The Rowley Public Library buys many thousands of new books, movies, and CDs each year. We are now offering weekly email alerts showing you the newest books, DVDs, CDs, and audio books that we purchase each week. We hope you'll enjoy hearing about the many exciting bestsellers, movies, music, and recorded books almost the very moment they arrive at the library. Whenever you spot something of interest, you'll be able to click instantly, reserve it, and check it out at your convenience. And of course, like everything else in the library, this service is free, with sponsorship from the Friends of the Rowley Public Library.
To get started and see what the emails look like, just visit www.wowbrary.org. You can quit the weekly emails any time you wish. 

Freegal® Music is a free music service from your library. All you need is your library card number. Freegal offers access to about 8 million songs, including Sony Music's catalog of legendary artists. In total the collection is comprised of music from over 28,000+ labels with music that originates in over 80 countries. There is no software to download, and there are no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions. Access to Freegal is limited to patrons of subscribing libraries. Rowley patrons may download 5 songs per week (to keep!) and stream 3 hours per day. Visit www.rowleylibrary.org to get started.

The Rowley Public Library is excited to announce the launch of Mango Languages. Learning a new language with Mango Languages is free for all library patrons, and offers a fast and convenient solution for our community's increasing language-learning needs. Each lesson combines real life situations and audio from native speakers with simple, clear instructions. There are more than 40 foreign language courses available and 16 English as a Second Language (ESL) courses.Visit rowleylibrary.org to get started. 

The Rowley Public Library is participating in the Commonwealth eBook Collections. Click here to get started, or call 978-948-2850 for more information. This is a new statewide program in addition to our OverDrive ebook subscription through the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium. There are currently over 177,000 titles in the collections.  

Check out one of our exciting discovery kits to complete at home as a family or to dig deeper into a topic or to explore a new topic. We have 22 kits covering a range of topics. Check the online catalog for details, give us a call at the library or pick up a brochure in the Children's Room the next time you visit the library.

Ongoing in-depth learning all year long!