Mercer County Library Blog

Here are some of the events and programs from around the Mercer County Library System for the month of November. For a complete list of events at your local branch, visit the MCLS Events Calendar . November Celebrates Gratitude and Heritage This November, MCLS branches are offering Thanksgiving-themed crafts and storytimes, along with Native American Heritage Month programming. Programs include turkey crafts, gratitude baking, explorations of Lenape heritage, and Indigenous literature celebrations. For Kids Turkey in Disguise Storytime Saturday, November 1, 11:00 am Lawrence Branch Lego Challenge: Thanksgiving Dinner! Monday, November 10, 6:30 pm West Windsor Branch Thanksgiving Storytime Friday, November 14, 10:00 am Hollowbrook Branch Story & Snacks: Turkeys Friday, November 14, 10:30 am Hickory Corner Branch Make a Thanksgiving Paper Circuit Card Saturday, November 15, 2:30 pm Robbinsville Branch Native American Lenni-Lenape Crafts & Stories Saturday, Nov...

A vinyl record is more than merely a recording of music. It’s a cultural artifact. Listening to records on vinyl is more than a stream of ones and zeros; the vinyl disc has a physicality that other music formats lack. For me, listening to a vinyl record on a turntable is not just a way to pass the time. When I buy a new vinyl record and place it on the turntable for the first time, hearing the warm analog sound from the speakers makes discovering new music almost an event. And the cover art brings you further into the groove while you’re listening to the music. Can anyone imagine Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band having the same generation-defining impact if it had been just audio files you downloaded from a streaming service? Looking through the vast bins of used records at the Record Exchange in Princeton and other stores which specialized in vinyl records - as well as the vinyl record collection at my local public library - was one of my favorite pastimes as a teenager. When C...

I’ve been travelling recently. Seeing parts of the United States I’ve never been to and visiting new countries is something I had always wanted to do, and I’m grateful that I’ve been able to realize that dream. Like the protagonist in many of the stories we’ve read, I’ve learned that you need to leave and return before you realize that what you were looking for was in front of you all this time. The Mercer County Library System offers a great selection of museum passes that are all local and full of opportunities for you to learn. Here is a list of our current offerings as we move into 2026. If you want to do some research on opportunities beyond the library’s museum passes, feel free to explore the travel section at your local branch. Our Mid-Atlantic Region can be found in section 917.4! Most passes that we offer are digital and can be sent directly to your email, so you don’t even need to worry about picking them up and dropping them off: Academy of Natural Sciences Admits two a...

Throughout the year, we like to share essays by members of our Teen Advisory Board (TAB). TAB members help with programming, suggest books for purchase, and create the quarterly TAB Zine. This month Sharon Vasudevan writes about the library’s role in her life. Being a senior in high school, it's come to a point where I need to sit back, relax, and reflect on my life. As I embark on a new chapter of life in college, I want to take a moment to remember specific aspects of my childhood that shaped me into who I am today. What first comes to mind, you may ask? The answer is obvious: The Mercer County Library System. Since I was seven years old, my dad would bring me and my two brothers to the library at least twice a month. As soon as I entered this book haven, I immediately ran to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, my hands caressing the delicate pages of Dog Days and feeling the elation of getting to read this book…again! On our way to the checkout, I’d pass tables full of crayons ...

Summer picnics can be notorious for ants, bees, and other bothersome insects. Not to mention stifling humidity! Families stuff their coolers with cold drinks and summer fruits and they must not forget the suntan lotion and bug spray. Instead of suffering through a picnic in the height of summer, why not plan a family fall foliage picnic instead? A picnic in the fall can be so colorful and beautiful, and there’s no need to worry about irritating insects and uncomfortable heat. Your fall picnic will require warm blankets and dressing in layers. Bring scarves, sweaters, and a lightweight jacket. Fill your thermos with hot chocolate or hot tea, and bring a sandwich or salad! The vast Mercer County Park system, which includes not only Mercer County Park (which alone encompasses more than 2,500 acres), is an ideal place for a fall picnic. Grab a table and bench, or spread a blanket on the lawn. In addition to the county’s flagship park, other beautiful areas to picnic include: Baldpate Mo...

With Halloween just around the corner, I am endlessly in search of all things haunted, spooky or mysterious. Whether it be a scary book, movie, or destination – you can always count me in! As a child of the 90’s, I grew up with a love for spooky books like R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz, and tuned in weekly for shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps (yes, obviously I couldn’t get enough of R.L. Stine’s stories!). I fondly remember making annual visits to places like Shady Brook Farm in Newtown, PA for their fantastic Haunted Hayrides that would leave me screaming….with joy of course! And my parents driving us up to Gravity Hill, where they’d put the car in neutral, tell us a spooky story, and “let a wayward ghost push our car to safety.” (For anyone unfamiliar with the site, Gravity Hill is a place where an optical illusion makes it seem like cars are rolling uphill. It occurs because the lack of a clear horizon...

October’s crisp air and turning leaves invite us to enjoy cozy, nostalgic meals made with seasonal ingredients. Think chili, banana bread, and pumpkin lattes—comfort foods for body and soul. This is my favorite time of year, because it's when I can finally turn my oven back on and enjoy hearty, soothing meals during the chilly days and nights ahead. By the time October comes, I am ready and eager to indulge in these comforting delights! This season, treat yourself to some old favorites or explore new recipes with the many titles the Mercer County Library System has to offer. Here are a few books to get you going: The Complete Autumn & Winter Cookbook: 550+ Recipes for Warming Dinners, Holiday Roasts, Seasonal Desserts, Breads, Food Gifts, and More America's Test Kitchen 641.564 COM 2021 Good Soup: 52 Colorful Recipes for Year-Round Comfort Bijdendijk, Joris 641.813 BIJ 2023 Half Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy Gerard, Tieghan 641.512 GER 2024 Homestyle Kitchen: Fre...

Have you ever wished there was a webpage you could go to that would teach you about writing an email, keyboarding skills, artificial intelligence, Google Calendar, and creating animations in PowerPoint- all in the same place? If so, you are very ambitious. If not, have no fear, because that is exactly the niche that the Technology Instruction LibGuide seeks to fill! The Technology Instruction LibGuide is the hub for all information relating to the Mercer County Library System’s technology instruction. For those unfamiliar, LibGuides is a content management system (CMS) that library staff use to manage digital content on a variety of subjects. The collection of guides created by the Mercer County Library System is housed under the “Resources” tab on the MCL website. LibGuides are meant to be easy to quickly update if information changes. Due to the evolving nature of some of the topics covered in the Technology Instruction guide, such as artificial intelligence and the impending end ...

We are fortunate enough to be alive at a time in which all the information we could ever dream of learning is at our fingertips. I’ve always lived in a world with instant access to the internet; I could always Ask Jeeves or even text ChaCha when I was away from my computer, and got my first iPhone just before starting high school. I cannot imagine living in a world without the ability to pull up a video of my favorite Real Housewives fight whenever I want to see it. (Mine is the Amsterdam fight from Beverly Hills. If you know, you know.) Or worse, growing up without Real Housewives at all… I shudder at the thought. Those who forget history… Instant access to information does not mean instant access to reliable information, though; the spread of misinformation is as old as time itself. With each technological advancement, more opportunities for misinformation arise: in the 1480s, Dominican friars used the recently-invented printing press to spread a wildly successful, Pope-approve...