May 2025

Job seekers can stop by to get job counseling and resume help,search for jobs, and get registered with the Maryland Workforce Exchange.

MCF is a statewide nonprofit connecting parents with school-aged children to local mental health resources, and guidance and support for 504 plans, IEPS, and school-related challenges at no cost.

Maryland Coalition of Families

Our Team is unique in that we were put in place to specifically help parents of school aged children through many different challenges, we are all certified in several EBP ( Evidence Based Practices) as well as Mental Health First Aid, Not only do we provide help with school and mental health issues but our mission is really broad, we also provide resources for food, bills, housing and everything else in-between, we not only help the child in need but also their caregivers as-well to provide emotional support. 

Come meet a member of the team and discover how we can support your family’s journey. We will be providing resources and answer any questions you may have.

Find your puzzle people! Join us for casual group jigsaw puzzles and puzzle games. Try out this new club to grow our adult puzzle loving community! Ages 16+.

Each month we'll have a 1000 piece on-going jigsaw puzzle to work on together plus a rotating puzzle activity. This month we'll try out puzzle board games like Tsuro & Qbits. This is also a puzzle swap so bring any puzzles that you're ready to part with and look for a new one.

Register to let us know you're coming and to get reminder emails before the event. Walk ins are also welcome.

Writing can be a lonely hobby, so why not attend the writing club to connect with other writers your age? Join us for our bi-monthly writing club, intended for teens!

During the club meetings, you'll be able to share your writing, meet new writers, learn about new genres, and have your writing critiqued by your peers! The club will be held virtually every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month

This film explores the history and impact of public libraries in shaping our lives. Join us for an engaging discussion about the incredible ways the library helps us learn, connect, and grow together.

We are delighted to have the Literacy Council of St. Mary's County joining us to explore the connections between literacy, citizenship, critical thinking, and the role libraries play in providing access to diverse stories, perspectives, and educational resources. 

The film, Free for All: The Public Library, tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen – to create a place where anyone can enter and encounter a universe of ideas, free of charge. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today's librarians who serve the public while navigating a world experiencing library closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.  

Watch the Free for All: The Public Library trailer.

Register to receive reminder text/emails. Walk-ins Welcome! 

Free for All: The Public Library will premiere on MPT on April 29, 2025. 

Susan Polsky, from the Association of Southern Maryland Beekeepers, will teach us how to help the state increase pollinator habitats. Register to receive email or text reminders! Walk-In's welcome!

​Through Project Butterfly & Bumblebee, the Maryland Park Service is committed to increasing pollinator habitat on public lands, educating the public about pollinators, and supporting programs and events that highlight the important role pollinators play in maintaining the nation’s food supply and healthy and diverse ecosystems.

Saddle up and test your cycling know-how!

Whether you're new to biking or a seasoned cyclist, all ages can practice riding right with our series of challenges. From bike safety and street smarts to skills tests and agility exercises, each activity is designed to build your confidence on two wheels - or three! 

Bring your bike, helmet, sense of adventure, and passion for making Southern Maryland safer for cyclists - and join the stampede!

Note: This event is weather-dependent. This event has been rescheduled for May 3rd, 10am-2pm. Register to receive a reminder email or notice of cancellation due to weather. Walk-ins (and bike-ins!) welcome

If you have questions about the event, or if you’d like to volunteer in any capacity, please contact Jake Stergio at jakestergio1@gmail.com

A book discussion series for veterans led by Vietnam veteran Wayne Karlin. Registration required; space is limited. For more information contact Kimberlé Fields at 301-863-8188 or kfields@stmalib.org.

Monthly Reading List

Book descriptions from Amazon unless otherwise noted

February 01 - Uncertain Ground by Phil Klay

From the National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment and Missionaries, an astonishing fever graph of the effects of twenty years of war in a brutally divided America.

When Phil Klay left the Marines a decade ago after serving as an officer in Iraq, he found himself a part of the community of veterans who have no choice but to grapple with the meaning of their wartime experiences—for themselves and for the country. American identity has always been bound up in war—from the revolutionary war of our founding, to the civil war that ended slavery, to the two world wars that launched America as a superpower. What did the current wars say about who we are as a country, and how should we respond as citizens?

Unlike in previous eras of war, relatively few Americans have had to do any real grappling with the endless, invisible conflicts of the post-9/11 world; in fact, increasingly few people are even aware they are still going on. It is as if these wars are a dark star with a strong gravitational force that draws a relatively small number of soldiers and their families into its orbit while remaining inconspicuous to most other Americans. In the meantime, the consequences of American military action abroad may be out of sight and out of mind, but they are very real indeed.

This chasm between the military and the civilian in American life, and the moral blind spot it has created, is one of the great themes of Uncertain Ground, Phil Klay’s powerful series of reckonings with some of our country’s thorniest concerns, written in essay form over the past ten years. In the name of what do we ask young Americans to kill, and to die? In the name of what does this country hang together? As we see at every turn in these pages, those two questions have a great deal to do with each another, and how we answer them will go a long way toward deciding where our troubled country goes from here.

March 01 - The Women by Kristin Hannah

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women―at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets―and becomes one of―the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

April 05 - The Genizah by Wayne Karlin

In the novel The Genizah, Wayne Karlin enters its pages as a character in his own novel, reimagining his family's lives―and fate―if they had not come to America but stayed in his mother's village in Poland where the rest of her extended family were murdered by the Nazis in 1941.

Karlin commemorates and mourns that unutterable loss by making it present, in the spirit of the words from the Passover Seder, which asks those at the table to recount the story of oppression as if they had lived it. It is a phrase that calls upon the people at the table to feel, not just to know, what happened, as good fiction calls us to do. How can anyone who had not been through the Holocaust share even a little part of such experiences? How can anyone who has not felt some of that horror reverberate in their own bones try to understand the terrible massacres of our own days, sparked by hatred of the Other, in Syria, in Myanmar, in Israel, in Gaza, in Charleston, and in Pittsburgh―in so many other places, they overwhelm our ability to empathize.

Karlin's answer to that question is to personalize the impersonal, to imagine what could have happened if his grandparents, and mother, and her brothers and sisters and his father and his family, had not torn themselves away from a place they and their ancestors had lived for hundreds of years, in a town and on a continent where they had always been unwelcome guests.

May 03 - For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece on war, love, loyalty, and honor tells the story of Robert Jordan, an antifascist American fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from “the good fight” and one of the foremost classics of war literature.

For Whom the Bell Tolls tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades, is attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain. In his portrayal of Jordan’s love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of a guerilla leader’s last stand, Hemingway creates a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving, and wise. Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author’s previous works, For Whom the Bell Tolls stands as one of the best war novels ever written.

June 14 - The Heart That Fed by Carl Sciacchitano

A brilliant graphic memoir debut, this is a loving son’s exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through the lens of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects long after returning home.

As a college dropout amidst the tumult of the 1960s and the Vietnam War, David Sciacchitano enlisted in the Air Force and volunteered to be sent overseas. An aircraft mechanic away from the front lines, David nevertheless experienced the chaos of war during the Tet Offensive and the 1975 evacuation. But although David returned home from the war with no physical injuries, it would be as if a part of him was forever left behind.

Set against one of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century, The Heart That Fed is a beautifully illustrated and moving story of trauma and love—told by a son seeking to understand a father forever changed by PTSD and the horrors of war.

Do you have an Android device and don't know what to do next? Complete this workshop to get a $10 gift card!

This in-person workshop is for those who have a new Android mobile device, or are considering getting one, and want to learn more about the basic functions. It will help attendees get connected, identify common apps, and build confidence in using their device safely.

Gift cards are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

This event is provided with support from AT&T and the Public Library Association. 

Take control of your health and well-being during menopause! This session will be bilingual ¡Tome el control de su salud y bienestar durante la menopausia! Esta sesión será bilingüe.

Hear from the experts at St. Mary's County Health Department about the natural process of menopause. From the physical and psychological changes you might experience to the strategies you can use to relieve the most common symptoms, certified healthcare professionals will provide you with essential information and be available to answer your every question!

Escuche a los expertos del Departamento de Salud del Condado de St. Mary sobre el proceso natural de la menopausia. Desde los cambios físicos y psicológicos que puede experimentar hasta las estrategias que puede usar para aliviar los síntomas más comunes, los profesionales de la salud certificados le brindarán información esencial y estarán disponibles para responder todas sus preguntas.

This free event offers both experienced and new gardeners a chance to start a robust garden - with both native plants and veggies!

If you're new to gardening, this event is the place to get started! Meet other garden enthusiasts, tour the LMPP Community Garden's varied planting beds, and take home free plants and seeds! 

If you're an experienced gardener, please spread the joy by bringing your favorite plants and seeds to swap and share. Please limit your generosity to vegetable plants and native plants - and maybe even some spare gardening equipment if you have it!

Strange as it sounds, we're trying to prevent the spread of invasive jumping worms, so please follow these simple steps when bringing your plants to the event: 
1. Dig up your plants. 
2. Shake the dirt off the roots. 
3. Gently rinse the roots clean.  
4. Label each plant (include the botanical name/cultivar if you can). 
5. Bring them to the Swap & Share in a bucket of water or wrapped in wet paper and tucked in a plastic bag. 

Walk-ins welcome; register to receive a reminder email. In the event of inclement weather, this event will take place in the Lexington Park Library meeting rooms.

For more information, contact Carla Wilson, LMPP Community Garden Manager, at carla.wilson@stmaryscdc.org

The St. Mary's Co. UMD Extension Office on Family and Consumer Science will be in our lobby to share information on food safety, financial management, home & work safety, and more!

The Family and Consumer Science Educators want to help the communities they serve live happier and healthier lives through improved health, well-being, and resiliency to life’s challenges.

Register with an email address to receive the link to a trivia game and test your knowledge! The game is multiple choice questions and speed matters!

Registration for each week ends at 5 p.m. on Mondays. After 5 p.m., registrants will be emailed a link to that week's trivia. You will have until Thursday at 5 p.m. to complete the game, then you'll receive an email with the full results. Trivia uses Kahoot, accessible through any internet browser, no account needed.

Create your own baby bird puppet and bring it to life as we read "The Baby BeeBee Bird" by Diane Massie.

Representatives from SMC Recreation & Parks will be in the lobby with information about their programs, facilities, services, and events, as well as to answer any questions you may have.

St. Mary's County Recreation & Parks strives to provide an enriched quality of life for the community through preservation of natural, cultural and historical resources, enhancement of parks and outdoor spaces, and promotion of a variety of leisure experiences. Come talk to them about their current events, programs, parks, trails, and more!

Join us for learning-based crafts, games, and activities as we play our way to developing valuable school readiness skills such as fine motor control, following directions, and group participation.

Activities are designed with preschoolers in mind and vary week to week. No registration required. 

Do you like anime or manga?

Join us for this month’s anime club meeting. We will watch a movie, then have a brief discussion after. Refreshments will be provided.
This month's shows:

To Your Eternity

Ages 16+; under 16 permitted with parent or guardian.

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

20331 Point Lookout Rd., Great Mills, MD 20634

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

21895 Pegg Rd, Lexington Park, MD 20653

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

46472 Admiral Lane, Lexington Park, MD 20653

Make your own mini zine with us! Learn about how zines were created and used by both marginalized and fannish communities pre-Internet and get a chance to design one of your own.

Supplies will be provided, but feel free to bring your own writing, stickers, or pictures to help bring your zine to life!

SMCHD will be providing community members with a variety of health department resources for programs.

They will provide information about tobacco cessation programs, free colon cancer screenings, colonoscopies, and mammograms programs, health insurance/Medicaid information, information about asthma programs, and so much more. Stop by and say hello - you'll get a chance to spin their trivia question wheel to learn more about how to stay healthy, and will be able to enter a raffle to win a free item! Enjoy learning more about how to take charge of you and your loved ones' health and wellness!

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

21905 Chancellors Run Rd., Great Mills, MD 20634

The Maryland Food Bank’s Mobile Market is coming to visit!

Stop by to shop from our “grocery store on wheels” and receive free nonperishable food items, fresh produce, and other non-food necessities while supplies last. 

The Three Oaks Center will connect those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to resources in the tri county that can help them with benefits, mental health, substance abuse, housing, and more.

They will also be completing referrals for service on site and collecting paperwork to enroll in their programs and/or offer shelter if available.

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

22611 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Blvd., Lexington Park, MD 20653

Teens and tweens are invited to join us at themed hangouts, the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month! Main activities will rotate between art and STEAM options.

No registration required! Stay a little or awhile. Snacks, activities, and good vibes provided.

2nd Thursday: Art

April 10: Tiny Art

May 8: Button Making

4th Thursday: STEAM

April 24: Lego Challenge

May 22: 3D Pens

¡Aprenda cómo protegerse y proteger su información en línea!

Los temas incluyen el uso de contraseñas seguras y autenticación de dos factores, cómo evitar estafas en Internet y el uso de herramientas disponibles gratuitamente para limitar la información que se recopila y comparte cuando navega por la web.

¡Completa este taller para obtener una tarjeta de regalo de $10!

Los talleres y módulos de DigitalLearn.org fueron creados por la Asociación de Bibliotecas Públicas, con el apoyo de AT&T.

Join us virtually to hear about this tickborne disease currently affecting our community. We'll discuss everything from how the disease is spread and prevention to symptoms and living with AGS.

We will first hear from Dr. David Crum, DVM, MPH, the State Public Health Veterinarian of the Maryland Department of Health and then from Sheri Dean, FNP-BC, from the Grove Family Health medical clinic, located in Leonardtown, Maryland.

Please register to receive the Zoom link. This program will be recorded and available to watch later via the Library's YouTube channel

Each month we will discuss a different fantasy or science fiction novel. Register to receive zoom link to participate. May's book is System Collapse by Martha Wells.

Find the book in our catalog

Are you new to using a PC or want to build more confidence using the Windows 10 operating system? Complete this workshop to get a $10 gift card!

During this in-person workshop, attendees will learn how to navigate the Windows 10 operating system, manage applications using the task manager, find and manage files and folders, save and delete files, and more.

Gift cards are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

This event is provided with support from AT&T and the Public Library Association. 

Come learn more about the library's Cricut Maker and practice cutting heat transfer vinyl to embellish a tote bag to take home!

This introductory, in-person class will cover how to use the Cricut Maker, an electronic die-cutting machine, to create an iron-on decal using heat transfer vinyl (HTV) and how to apply that decal to a cloth tote bag using the Cricut Easy Press. Participants will also learn the basics of Cricut Design Space, the software used to create endlessly customizable designs. No experience necessary, all materials provided.

Everyone is welcome to visit the Leonardtown Library Makerspace during open hours to use the Cricut to create whatever you can imagine! Customers need to have their own Cricut Design Space online account and bring their own material, but we have all the equipment and tools you'll need! Visit the Makerspace webpage to see open hours and learn about all the Makerspace has to offer.

Note for minors: Teenagers are welcome in our Makerspace classes! Customers aged 14+ can use the Makerspace without a guardian present but must have a waiver signed by their guardian. Waivers are available in the Makerspace and are needed for minors to participation in this class.

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

Intersection of Suburban Drive and Pleasant Drive, Lexington Park, MD 20653

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with us at Charlotte Hall Library!

The Leonardtown High School Chinese Club host a short demonstration celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! This demonstration will feature Chinese storytelling, Chinese games, and a performance of a traditional Chinese dragon dance!

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

21691 Eric Road, Lexington Park, MD 20653

From Ruby Bridges' brave steps to desegregate schools to Greta Thunberg's fight against climate change, discover how youth have shaped the world.

Join us for an inspiring workshop that delves into the powerful impact of young activists throughout history. Teens will explore these stories through engaging discussions, learn about the challenges these young activists faced, and participate in interactive activities where they can design their own activism plans to address issues they care about today.

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

46075 Westbury Blvd, Lexington Park, MD 20653

Join us to make birdfeeders to put up in your own backyard!

Come celebrate Mother's Day at the library! May is an excellent month to put up a birdfeeder for all the hungry migratory birds coming through. Join us to make birdfeeders to put up in your own backyard! 

Community health advocates will be in the lobby to talk about health and wellness services through the hospital.

Learn about ways that AccessHealth can help with overcoming barriers such as transportation, housing, food insecurity, insurance, benefit applications, and more!

Do you enjoy arts and crafts? Do you enjoy games? Do you want to make new friends? Connect and Converse might just be the event for you!

Join us for an opportunity to connect and converse with others. During this monthly program, we will gather in the meeting room to either create artwork or play a game.

For the month of May, our art activity will be rainsticks. Our game will be a memory match card game. 

This event is intended for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities as well as their friends, family, and caregivers. Connect and Converse usually meets on the second Monday of the month.

Please register with an email address to receive a reminder email about this event. Walk-ins are welcome.

Come learn more about the library's Cricut Maker and practice cutting felt designs to create felt flowers.

This introductory, in-person class will cover how to use the Cricut Maker 3, an electronic die-cutting machine, to make clean and precise cuts on felt to create a flower project for you to take home with you. Participants will also learn the basics of Cricut Design Space, the software used to create endlessly customizable designs. No experience necessary, all materials provided.

Everyone is welcome to visit the Leonardtown Library Makerspace during open hours to use the Cricut to create whatever you can imagine! Customers need to have their own Cricut Design Space online account and bring their own materials, but we have all the equipment and tools you'll need! Visit the Makerspace webpage to see open hours and learn about all the Makerspace has to offer.

Note for minors: Teenagers are welcome in our Makerspace classes! Customers aged 14+ can use the Makerspace without a guardian present but must have a waiver signed by their guardian. Waivers are available in the Makerspace and are needed for minors to participation in this class.

Therapy animals from Pets on Wheels are visiting the library! Friends of all ages are invited to practice reading with a furry friend, or just enjoy some pets and snuggles.

Job seekers can stop by to get job counseling and resume help,search for jobs, and get registered with the Maryland Workforce Exchange.

Administración del Seguro Social provee protección para los trabajadores y sus familias.

El programa provee ingreso mensual a las personas mayores de edad, los trabajadores que sufren de una incapacidad, niños con incapacidades y las familias en las que fallece un cónyuge o padre.

Le invitamos a esta presentación virtual para obtener más información sobre los beneficios por discapacidad, los requisitos de elegibilidad y el proceso de solicitud.

Presentado por Diana Varela, Especialista en Relaciones Publicas, Administración del Seguro Social.  Preguntas y respuestas después de la presentación.  Este evento no será grabado. 

The Social Security Administration provides protection for workers and their families.

Programs provide monthly income to seniors, workers with a disability, children with disabilities, and families in which a spouse or parent has died.

We invite you to this virtual presentation to learn more about disability benefits, eligibility requirements, and the application process.

Presentation by Diana Varela, Public Affairs Specialist for the Social Security Administration followed by Q&A. This event will not be recorded.

Have you ever wanted something 3D printed at the library, but weren't sure how? Now is your chance to learn!

This introductory course will cover the basics of how a 3D printer works and how to use PrusaSlicer software. Learn how to find ready-to-print files online and submit them to the Library for printing. No prior experience is needed. This is an in-person class held in the Computer Lab Makerspace.

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

Maritime Building
44720 Lighthouse Rd., Piney Point, MD 20674

Join us for learning-based crafts, games, and activities as we play our way to developing valuable school readiness skills such as fine motor control, following directions, and group participation.

Activities are designed with preschoolers in mind and vary week to week. No registration required. 

Whether you have been creating for years or just started on your journey, join fellow crafters who love all things fabric and fiber.

Open to knitters, crocheters, quilters, embroiderers, cross-stitchers, and any other kind of needleworkers. Bring your current project, mingle with like-minded makers, and swap patterns, ideas, and tips.
If needed, basic supplies available.
All skill levels welcome.
Walk-in’s welcome!
Registration recommended for news and updates.

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

24400 Mervell Dean Rd, Hollywood, MD 20636

Library services on the Mobile Library include Wi-Fi access, library card services, crafts to go, and materials for checkout!

While the Mobile Library collection is unavailable for holds, staff are able to assist with requests for books and materials from other Library locations. The Mobile Library can accept returns from any location, and materials checked out from the vehicle may be returned to any location.

23154 Wetstone Ln., California, MD 20619

Share an evening of fun, games, crafts & food for families to learn Dinner will be provided. Registration not required.

Presented by the Early Childhood Organization of Educators for St. Mary's County & the Early Childhood Advisory Council, with grant funding from the Maryland State Department of Education.

Join us to discuss a different cozy mystery on the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Leonardtown Library. Be ready to talk about a genre that puts us all at ease while keeping us on our toes.

A little humorous, a little mysterious, The Department of Sensitive Crimes is the first book in Alexander McCall Smith's Detective Varg mysteries and the selection for this month.

The story centers on Ulf Varg, Detective Inspector in the Sensitive Crimes Department of the Criminal Investigation Authority for the city of Malmö, Sweden. He generally investigates crimes that are not too threatening, but definitely odd. Like all Swedish detectives, Ulf leads a life beset with problems of one sort or another. His name, Ulf Varg, literally translates to "wolf wolf," but he is far from vulpine, considering himself a sympathetic, well-educated, and likeable man with an interest in both Scandinavian and modern art.

Throughout this first novel of the series, we get to meet Ulf, the crimes he investigates, and his colleagues. His dog Marten, the only dog in Sweden capable of lipreading, is possibly suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder. His colleague Erik is only interested in fishing. Carl is the son of a famous Lutheran theologian. Ulf's psychotherapist, Dr. Svensson, makes observations on Ulf that both enlighten and confuse him. Then there's the time someone was stabbed in the back of the knee and the peculiar goings-on in a spa on Sweden's south coast. It seems the sensitive crimes never cease.

Find physical copies of the book in our catalog; search for digital versions on Libby or on the Palace Project app

Writing can be a lonely hobby, so why not attend the writing club to connect with other writers your age? Join us for our bi-monthly writing club, intended for teens!

During the club meetings, you'll be able to share your writing, meet new writers, learn about new genres, and have your writing critiqued by your peers! The club will be held virtually every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month

Are you new to the internet or want to build more confidence finding information online and navigating websites? Complete this workshop to get a $10 gift card!

Attendees at this in-person workshop will learn about web browsers and search engines, build skills to navigate the internet, and discover tips and tricks for basic and advanced searching online.

Gift cards are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

This event is provided with support from AT&T and the Public Library Association. 

Celebrate Asthma Awareness Month with a special storytime from our friends at the Health Department!

Sareka Butler of SMCHD will read the book Asthma is Not Stopping Me, Featuring Fabulous Me, Piper Lee by Tolya L. Thompson with illustrations by Terence Gaylor. There will be coloring from Asthma-themed coloring books, and books will be given away, along with goodie bags while supplies last. This program is meant for children ages 2-10 to enjoy with their families.

The Friends of the St. Mary's County Library Annual Spring Book Sale offers thousands of gently used books at amazing prices! Cash, check, credit cards accepted.

Friday, May 16 is Members Only Day. Not a member? Join today! Or join at the door!

Come learn how to crochet with a fun and simple craft perfect for any reader.

Materials (such as yarn and hooks) and instructions will be provided. No experience is necessary! This is the perfect project for anyone wanting to learn the art of crocheting for the first time and for anyone wanting to get back into crocheting after a long break. We'll go over basic stitches and everyone will leave with the skills necessary to finish their bookworm, even if they aren't able to finish it by the end.

Drop in during this open session to get all your tech and computer skill questions answered!

Whether you have a phone, tablet, or computer, we're here to help you build more confidence using your device. 

Refreshments will be provided. No registration required.   

Topics include, but aren’t limited to: 
Smartphone Basics 
Computer Basics 
Internet Basics 
Email Basics 
Cybersecurity Basics 
Videoconferencing Basics 

This event is provided with support from AT&T and the Public Library Association.

Calling all young engineers! You are invited to design a train track, stack some magnets, and explore the joys of building at the library!

Drop in for a little or stay for awhile during a morning of hands on, interactive play recommended for preschool to elementary ages! 

Register with your email address to get your build on!  Click on "add more people" button to bring special guests!

Find great reads at great prices!

The Friends of the St. Mary's County Library Annual Spring Book Sale offers thousands of gently used books at amazing prices! Cash, check, credit cards accepted.

Learn the process of painting miniatures for enjoyment, recreation, and for tabletop games! Paint your own custom miniatures. The Library will provide the supplies, bring your designs and imagination.

Registration required, limited supplies on hand.

Instructor is from local game shop, Swords N Spoons.

A book discussion series for veterans led by Vietnam veteran Wayne Karlin. Registration required; space is limited. For more information contact Kimberlé Fields at 301-863-8188 or kfields@stmalib.org.

Monthly Reading List

Book descriptions from Amazon unless otherwise noted

February 01 - Uncertain Ground by Phil Klay

From the National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment and Missionaries, an astonishing fever graph of the effects of twenty years of war in a brutally divided America.

When Phil Klay left the Marines a decade ago after serving as an officer in Iraq, he found himself a part of the community of veterans who have no choice but to grapple with the meaning of their wartime experiences—for themselves and for the country. American identity has always been bound up in war—from the revolutionary war of our founding, to the civil war that ended slavery, to the two world wars that launched America as a superpower. What did the current wars say about who we are as a country, and how should we respond as citizens?

Unlike in previous eras of war, relatively few Americans have had to do any real grappling with the endless, invisible conflicts of the post-9/11 world; in fact, increasingly few people are even aware they are still going on. It is as if these wars are a dark star with a strong gravitational force that draws a relatively small number of soldiers and their families into its orbit while remaining inconspicuous to most other Americans. In the meantime, the consequences of American military action abroad may be out of sight and out of mind, but they are very real indeed.

This chasm between the military and the civilian in American life, and the moral blind spot it has created, is one of the great themes of Uncertain Ground, Phil Klay’s powerful series of reckonings with some of our country’s thorniest concerns, written in essay form over the past ten years. In the name of what do we ask young Americans to kill, and to die? In the name of what does this country hang together? As we see at every turn in these pages, those two questions have a great deal to do with each another, and how we answer them will go a long way toward deciding where our troubled country goes from here.

March 01 - The Women by Kristin Hannah

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women―at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets―and becomes one of―the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

April 05 - The Genizah by Wayne Karlin

In the novel The Genizah, Wayne Karlin enters its pages as a character in his own novel, reimagining his family's lives―and fate―if they had not come to America but stayed in his mother's village in Poland where the rest of her extended family were murdered by the Nazis in 1941.

Karlin commemorates and mourns that unutterable loss by making it present, in the spirit of the words from the Passover Seder, which asks those at the table to recount the story of oppression as if they had lived it. It is a phrase that calls upon the people at the table to feel, not just to know, what happened, as good fiction calls us to do. How can anyone who had not been through the Holocaust share even a little part of such experiences? How can anyone who has not felt some of that horror reverberate in their own bones try to understand the terrible massacres of our own days, sparked by hatred of the Other, in Syria, in Myanmar, in Israel, in Gaza, in Charleston, and in Pittsburgh―in so many other places, they overwhelm our ability to empathize.

Karlin's answer to that question is to personalize the impersonal, to imagine what could have happened if his grandparents, and mother, and her brothers and sisters and his father and his family, had not torn themselves away from a place they and their ancestors had lived for hundreds of years, in a town and on a continent where they had always been unwelcome guests.

May 03 - For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece on war, love, loyalty, and honor tells the story of Robert Jordan, an antifascist American fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from “the good fight” and one of the foremost classics of war literature.

For Whom the Bell Tolls tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades, is attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain. In his portrayal of Jordan’s love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of a guerilla leader’s last stand, Hemingway creates a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving, and wise. Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author’s previous works, For Whom the Bell Tolls stands as one of the best war novels ever written.

June 14 - The Heart That Fed by Carl Sciacchitano

A brilliant graphic memoir debut, this is a loving son’s exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through the lens of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects long after returning home.

As a college dropout amidst the tumult of the 1960s and the Vietnam War, David Sciacchitano enlisted in the Air Force and volunteered to be sent overseas. An aircraft mechanic away from the front lines, David nevertheless experienced the chaos of war during the Tet Offensive and the 1975 evacuation. But although David returned home from the war with no physical injuries, it would be as if a part of him was forever left behind.

Set against one of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century, The Heart That Fed is a beautifully illustrated and moving story of trauma and love—told by a son seeking to understand a father forever changed by PTSD and the horrors of war.

Unleash your creativity by using fake flower petals, wood beads, embroidery floss, tacky glue, and wrapped wire to make a unique fairy friend to take home.

This event is designed for upper elementary aged children. Siblings welcome; please register each child attending.

Find great reads at great prices!

The Friends of the St. Mary's County Library Annual Spring Book Sale offers thousands of gently used books at amazing prices! Cash, check, credit cards accepted.

The St. Mary's Co. UMD Extension Office on Family and Consumer Science will be in our lobby to share information on food safety, financial management, home & work safety, and more!

The Family and Consumer Science Educators want to help the communities they serve live happier and healthier lives through improved health, well-being, and resiliency to life’s challenges.

Register with an email address to receive the link to a trivia game and test your knowledge! The game is multiple choice questions and speed matters!

Registration for each week ends at 5 p.m. on Mondays. After 5 p.m., registrants will be emailed a link to that week's trivia. You will have until Thursday at 5 p.m. to complete the game, then you'll receive an email with the full results. Trivia uses Kahoot, accessible through any internet browser, no account needed.

Do you like graphic novels? Do you want to talk about your favorite graphic novel with kids your age? Join us for our kids book club!

Participants can bring in and discuss their favorite graphic novels, participate in a craft, and enjoy refreshments with peers.

Looking to learn more about the American Revolution? Join us for a virtual presentation! Dr. Jim Gibb will discuss the first two Continental Congresses and their impact on the people of Maryland.

In this series of presentations, we'll uncover the stories of the American Revolution!

From January through June, we will explore the individual actions and events leading to the Continental Congress declaring independence from Great Britain. Living conditions in Colonial Maryland on the eve of the Seven Years War (French & Indian War) provides our starting point. Presentations will include some archaeological findings in Maryland and elsewhere, but most of our discussions will examine specific events and documents, including shots fired at Lexington and Concord, removal of French Canadians from Acadia, paintings of the Anglo-American assault on French Canada, and the Declaration.

The French & Indian War provided the precedent for intercolonial congresses in which delegates met in Albany, New York (1754), to address common causes and consider a unified government. The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774 to consider a unified response to Parliament’s “Intolerable Acts” and the British navy’s blockading of Boston Harbor. The Second Continental Congress met in 1775 in response to shots fired, and Americans killed, at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. This lecture explores these events and their ramifications for the people of Maryland.

This presentation will be held live over Zoom. It will also be recorded and uploaded to the St. Mary's County Library YouTube channel.

If you would like to attend this event live and/or watch the recording, please register with an email address to receive the Zoom link the day before the event. The YouTube link to the recording will be emailed to everyone who registers for this program.

Join us for learning-based crafts, games, and activities as we play our way to developing valuable school readiness skills such as fine motor control, following directions, and group participation.

Activities are designed with preschoolers in mind and vary week to week. No registration required. 

Create your own custom bookmarks!

Each participant is provided a silicone mold and epoxy resin to create their bookmark. 

Paint, glitter, and other craft supplies will be provide to decorate your bookmark, but feel free to bring your own items!

Please note: the bookmark can take up to 15 hours to cure.

A monthly adventure of tabletop fun for teens!

No experience needed! Characters will be provided or you can make your own ahead of time! We'll have a D&D 5e Game every time, while we may have new games to teach as well.