Mercer County Library Blog

In a world where it can be extraordinarily difficult to figure out where organizations are getting their money from or what they are spending it on, one service exists that helps nonprofit organizations be more, well, candid. The Candid platform, which is available for in-library use at any of the Mercer County Library System branches, is the prime destination for information about nonprofits’ financial information, programs, boards of directors, and grants received and distributed. A few things to note before we go forward talking about nonprofits: • Nonprofit, in this case, refers to an organization that is classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. These organizations are tax-exempt, must not serve any private interests, and must fit at least one of the charitable purposes designated by the IRS. They also can’t engage in much political activity, especially lobbying, but that is a discussion for another day. If you’re interested in the exact language used to determine wha...

Here are some of the events and programs from around the Mercer County Library System for the month of August. For a complete list of events at your local branch, visit the MCLS Events Calendar . This August, MCLS celebrates the final weeks of the 2026 Summer Reading Program: Unearth a Story , with special events, creative activities, and opportunities for discovery before the program concludes on August 8. Summer fun continues throughout the month with programs for all ages, including science and nature experiences, crafts, performances, history talks, wellness programs, and engaging presentations. Join us as we continue celebrating summer, exploring new interests, and commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence with stories and events that connect us to our shared history. Foam Invasion Party! Saturday, August 1, 1:00 pm https://events.mcl.org/event/17113210 West Windsor Branch Beaded Glitter Sunglasses Tuesday, August 4, 6:30 pm https://events.mcl.org/event/1717332...

Recently, some friends and I were sharing memories of our childhood summer camp experiences. Even after many years, we could still recall the songs we sang, the crafts we made, and other camp memories. Time at a summer camp is something that many of us share and still remember fondly. You might say that it is a quintessential part of many American childhoods. I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Beginning with 7 th grade in the 1970s, I went to a sleep-away camp at 4-H Camp Shehaqua in Hickory Run State Park . I loved it so much that by the time I was in high school, I was returning as a camp counselor. I’m delighted to learn that the camp is still there and welcoming campers! When my daughters were old enough, we offered them the chance to attend overnight summer camps. They went to YMCA Camp of the Pines in the South Jersey Pinelands, where they got to swim, canoe, make crafts, do high ropes courses, put on plays, roast marshmallows around campfires, and many other fun thing...

Hi! My name is Hannah, and I’m a college intern at the West Windsor Branch for summer 2026. As I helped in the children’s and teen areas, I was asked frequently for graphic novels, and saw different reactions to them: mostly eagerness or disdain. This observation ties into some of my coursework and the question: Are graphic novels intellectual, a gateway, or both? This past spring, I took a course titled Reading Teens: Learning from Young Adult Literature . One of the books I read was Flamer by Mike Curato.  We discussed graphic novels, why some teachers like them, and why some teachers don’t. There’s a claim of a lack of close reading, a focus on the pictures, and, overall, an idea that reading graphic novels is “less intellectual” than reading a prose novel. In reality, reading a graphic novel brings in skills that reading a prose novel does not, and can be of help to students who are otherwise struggling with traditional prose novels.  One skill that graphic novels foster ...

By: Laiba Khurshid (Hopewell) As a lifelong reader, I never read any sort of nonfiction, much less a memoir, until I was in college. Sure, there had been the occasional reading of one in class, but it was never something that I picked up myself. That changed when back-to-back I read the memoirs Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. Due to their pervasive popularity in the book world at the time, I had decided to give them a try. I found myself floored by how raw and well-written they were. There was this idea that I had that most nonfiction books, including biography and memoirs, were just a regurgitation of information with no regard to narrative, prose, or readability. But that couldn’t be further from reality. Memoirs and biographies especially are highly narrative, since they often tell a person’s life-story in the same way you might tell a fiction novel. Reading Crying in H-Mart was a gut-wrenching narrative of sickness and loss, o...

Humans don’t have quite the close relationship with reptiles that we do with dogs and cats (with a few exceptions). We don’t hear as much about conservation of reptiles as we do about the bumbling giant panda or the clever orangutan. I’m even willing to bet that the average person doesn’t think about lizards on a daily basis. But humans are connected to nature in ways we don’t often expect, in ways that we might not ever realize. Over the years, reptiles have inspired a number of scientific advancements. You may have seen Ozempic and Wegovy in the news; originally used to treat diabetes, the semaglutide series of drugs are now making record profits as a weight-loss implement. What you may not have known is that the active compound in these drugs was originally discovered in the venom of Gila monsters and then synthesized after decades of research. Studying the mechanics of reptile scales has led to breakthroughs in adhesive and gripping technology, as well as an ultra-slippery stee...

Hello from Interlibrary Loan! Interlibrary loan (ILL) is one of the many services that Mercer County Library System offers. If our library system doesn’t own a book, ILL tries to borrow the book from other libraries around the state or around the nation. We also reciprocate that relationship with other libraries when their patrons would like to read a book their own library doesn’t own. When we borrow books, we start looking for an available copy in New Jersey first. Sometimes a nearby library like Hamilton Public, Hopewell Public, or Princeton Public kindly lets us borrow a book from them. We love when this happens as it means we can fulfill the request quickly. If there’s not a copy available in a neighboring library, then we look to the rest of the nation for help. We have worked with libraries all across the country! The library we’ve worked with that’s the farthest from us is Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library, Alaska, which is more than 4,000 miles away from the Lawrenc...