Special Announcements

The library has started a spice program! Every month, pick up a packet of a new spice with fun recipes to try.

The spice for June will be sumac; be sure to visit the library in the first week of the month to grab your sample (first come, first served while supplies last). 

The library has started a podcast, Beyond Books! The hosts, Mike and Dana (SPL's Assistant Director and Technology Specialist, respectively), provide behind-the-scenes looks at the events, news, and people at the library.

The current episode includes an adventure out and about with our Outreach Coordinator, Deb Mayo. Listen on our website (bottom right of the page), Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Anchor. FM.

Now open to all CW MARS patrons!

One of the library’s great online resources is the Headspace meditation app, which includes exercises for meditation, focus, sleep, and movement that can help support your mental health. CW MARS patrons are eligible to request access to Headspace through the Shrewsbury Public Library on a first come, first served basis, typically between the 14th and 28th of the month for the month that follows (i.e., you should sign up between June 14th and June 28th to request a July license). 

Find out more on our website.

Library Programs

50+ Job Seekers Networking Group 
First and third Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. (June 7 & 21)
Second and fourth Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. (June 14 & 28)
Virtual

If you are over 50, unemployed and actively looking, underemployed, seeking a new career direction, re-entering the job market after a long employment gap, or recently retired and looking for your "Encore Career", this networking group program is perfect for you. Remember, 85% of jobs are found through networking! 

Join us in a professional forum for networking with peers in a safe and comfortable environment conducive to developing new relationships and developing skills and strategies to help in your career transition. Meetings include a presentation and hands-on workshop on topics relevant to career transition, guest speakers, access to hiring managers, small group breakout rooms to network, and 1-on-1 coaching guidance. Participating on a regular basis will give job seekers the many tools and strategies needed for a successful job search.  

The group meets on Zoom from 9:30–11:30 a.m. on first and third Wednesday mornings, with repeat sessions on the same topics now offered in the evenings from 6:00–8:00 p.m. on second and fourth Wednesday evenings. Please register for only one session on each topic, as the morning and evening sessions will be identical.

This month's topics will be:

- Meet Hiring Employers (June 7, 9:30–11:30 a.m. & June 14, 6:00–8:00 p.m.)

- Networking 2.0 (June 21, 9:30–11:30 a.m. & June 28, 6:00–8:00 p.m.)

This program takes place virtually on Zoom; please register to attend separately for each session:

- Register here for morning sessions

- Register here for evening sessions

View the full list of topics and dates on our Facebook event page.

This group is sponsored by more than 60 Massachusetts public libraries.

Spanish Conversation Club
Tuesdays, June 6, 13, & 20
6:00–7:00 p.m.
At the library

Are you looking for a casual space where you can practice your Spanish and learn more about the multiple cultures of those who speak that language?

Join our Spanish Conversation Club (most) Tuesdays at the Shrewsbury Public Library at 6:00 p.m. (in the Learning Lab on the second floor). No registration required. Visit our events calendar to confirm dates. 

Yoga with Bindu
Thursdays, June 1th, 8th, & 15th and Tuesday, June 20th
3:00–4:00 p.m.
At the library

Join certified yoga instructor Bindu Gupta as she guides attendees through an hour-long Hatha yoga practice. Hatha yoga brings physical, emotional, and spiritual awareness to one's body and mind. No experience required to participate.

Patrons may attend all four classes, but space is limited, so patrons are requested to only reserve spots in classes they are sure they can attend.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Shrewsbury Public Library.

Movie Matinee: The Menu
Saturday, June 3rd
2:00–4:00 p.m.

At the library

Join the Shrewsbury Public Library for our Movie Matinee! A different film will be screened monthly in person at the library on a Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

On June 3rd, we'll enjoy a screening of The Menu (2022, rated R): "Margot and Tyler visit Hawthorn, an exclusive restaurant boasting an extravagant tasting menu by chef Julian Slowik. The restaurant accepts select guests including corporate leaders and movie stars who soon discover a more ominous culinary plan is underway."

No registration required.

SPL Movie Discussion Club
Tuesday, June 6
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Virtual

Join the Shrewsbury Public Library Movie Discussion Club every first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. on Google Meet! Intended for film fans 18 and older.

Watch the “Movie of the Month” on your own time, then meet with us virtually to discuss. The June 6th film is Collateral (2004; rated R).

Shrewsbury residents may view the movie here on Kanopy (create an account with your library card to access Kanopy). Non-residents of Shrewsbury should access Kanopy through their home library, i.e., the library in the town in which they reside, or by signing up for a Boston Public Library e-card.

Attendees are also free to find an alternative way to watch.

Register here to receive an email the day before the discussion date with the Google Meet link.

Johnny Cash - Songs and Stories
Tuesday, June 6th
7:00–8:00 p.m.
At the library

Join the Shrewsbury Public Library with long-time New England musician/author Matt York, who will perform the songs of Johnny Cash and tell stories about Cash's career spanning from the 1950s to his passing in 2003. He'll discuss Cash's emergence as a groundbreaking artist in the 1950s, his marriage to June Carter, and many of his other career highlights. York was recently nominated for the Boston Music Award for Best Country Artist and his album “Gently Used” was named one of Worcester Magazine's best albums of 2022.

View a preview here!

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Shrewsbury Local Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

This program will take place in person at the library; please register to attend.

Hollywood and the Courtroom: The Anatomy of a Trial
Thursday, June 8th
7:00–8:00 p.m.
At the library

Join the Shrewsbury Public Library with Massachusetts trial judge Justice Dennis J. Curran, for this lecture on the power of storytelling and the ability of film to embody the law and its relationship to ideas about injustice, liberty, citizenry, race, justice, crime, punishment, and social order. Attendees will watch 14 courtroom scenes from famous movies and discover why they are so powerful and what they teach about the trial process.

Justice Dennis J. Curran (ret.) served as a Massachusetts trial judge for 15 years. He is a graduate of Boston Latin School, the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. and M.A.), and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Shrewsbury Public Library.

This program will take place in person at the library; please register to attend.

Discovering American Drag
Thursday, June 8th
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Virtual

Join Matthew Wittmann, Curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection, for a virtual look at the history of drag performance in the United States through photographs, ephemera, and a variety of other archival materials held by Houghton Library at Harvard University.

Presented in collaboration with the Wilmington Memorial Library.

This program will take place virtually on Zoom; please register to attend.

An Evening with Travel Channel's Ronny LeBlanc - Expedition Bigfoot
Monday, June 12th
7:00–8:00 p.m.
At the library

Join the Shrewsbury Public Library with Massachusetts native Ronny LeBlanc, who stars in the shows Expedition Bigfoot And Paranormal Caught On Camera for Travel Channel and Discovery+. LeBlanc will highlight some "paranormal hot spots" where people have experienced encounters with UFOs, orbs, and Bigfoot, including some right here in New England. He will discuss one such hotspot in Leominster called “Monsterland,” which informed his books about this area in Massachusetts.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Shrewsbury Public Library.

This program will take place in person at the library; please register to attend.

Eat This, Not That!
Tuesday, June 13th
10:30–11:30 a.m.
Virtual

Join Jill Patterson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, for a virtual program that will teach participants how simple tweaks in diet can lead to big results! Good nutrition can positively impact our immune system, health, well-being, productivity, performance, energy, mood, weight management, and prevent certain chronic diseases. 

Sponsored by the Friends of the Shrewsbury Public Library.

This program will take place virtually on Zoom; please register to attend.

Tech Tuesdays: Introduction to Google Suite
Tuesday, June 13th
6:00–7:30 p.m.
At the library

Join us in the Learning Lab for Tech Tuesday! At the June 13th class, we will be doing an Introduction to Google Suite. Attendees will get a brief overview of getting started with Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Sheets. By the end of this class, participants should understand how to create a new document and perform basic word processing, create spreadsheets and simple formulas, and how to upload files to Google Drive for storage.

An active Google account is required.

Basic computer skills recommended. Laptops will be provided. Space is limited, so registration is required.

Effective Alzheimer's Communication Strategies
Wednesday, June 14th
6:00–7:30 p.m.
At the library

Join the library on Wednesday, June 14th at 7:00 p.m. to learn about the ways that different stages of Alzheimer's and other dementias affect an individual's ability to communicate, and get tips to better communicate with people living with the disease.

Presented by the Alzheimer's Association.

This program will take place in person at the library; please register to attend.

Get Started with Libby
Thursday, June 15th
6:00–7:00 p.m.
At the library

Want access to ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more, anytime and anywhere? You can with Libby! Bring your device and join the Shrewsbury Public Library for a class in our Learning Lab to get set up and familiar with the Libby app!

Upcoming dates include:

- Thursday, June 15th at 6:00 p.m.

- Friday, August 4th at 2:30 p.m.

Registration is required; please visit our events calendar to sign up for your preferred date.

Reading Glasses
Thursday, June 15th
7:00–8:30 p.m.
Virtual

The June meeting of Reading Glasses, SPL’s book group for adults in their 20s and 30s, will be on Thursday, June 15th on Google Meet. 

We’ll be discussing True Biz by Sarah Novi?: “This revelatory novel plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they’ll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who’s never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school’s golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the hearing headmistress, a CODA (child of deaf adult(s)) who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another—and changed forever” (penguinrandomhouse.com).

New attendees, please email [email protected] to be added to the notification list. All attendees will receive a Google Meet invite closer to the meeting date.

Writing Workshop
Saturdays, June 17th, July 15th, and August 19th
2:00–4:00 p.m.

At the library

The Shrewsbury Public Library extends a warm invitation to all writers for writing workshops! Come join fellow writers on third Saturdays this summer in a space dedicated to the craft of the written word, a space that encourages improvement.

During a writing workshop, writers share their work in the hopes of receiving positive, constructive feedback and suggestions. Workshops such as this are vital to a writer's growth, as getting different perspectives can help a writer see things they might have missed about their own work. It's also a great environment for fun, light-hearted conversations!

The workshops are hosted by InfinityEd and facilitated by published writer Ashton Hooley.

This program will take place in person at the library; please register separately for each session on the library’s events calendar.

Find the Love Within Through Meditation
Wednesday, June 21st
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Virtual

Deep within everyone is an unlimited source of love and peace. Join Jim Rose, retired executive of a Fortune 100 Company and long-time meditator, for a workshop on how that love can be tapped into through the transforming power of meditation. Reaping the benefits of and sharing that love and joy can help make this a kinder, more peaceful world. Attendees will have a chance to experience this time-tested, life-changing technique.

This program will take place virtually on Zoom; please register to attend.

Sasha Issenberg discusses: The Engagement
Thursday, June 22nd
7:00–8:00 p.m.
Virtual

Join author Sasha Issenberg on Thursday, June 22nd at 7:00 p.m. for a virtual discussion of his book, The Engagement: America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional, making same-sex unions legal across the United States. But the road to that momentous decision was much longer than many know. In this definitive account, Issenberg vividly guides us through same-sex marriage’s unexpected path from the unimaginable to the inevitable.

This program is presented in collaboration with the Wilmington Memorial Library and will take place virtually on Zoom; please register to attend.

Taming the Paper Trail
Monday, June 26th
6:00–7:00 p.m.
At the library

Join Jenna Elliott, founder of The Naked Flower, Professional Organizers, for a fun and interactive workshop that will help attendees tackle the paper trail everyone struggles with. Jenna has been an organizer and re-designer for over 20 years and works with a variety of clients, both in the office and in the home. 

She will share tips on:

-  Dealing daily with snail mail.

-  Creating a quick-sort landing spot for papers.

-  Utilizing a calendar and to-do list more effectively.

-  Tackling the recipes and receipts in the home.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Shrewsbury Public Library

This program will take place in person at the library; please register to attend.

Learn the Basics! Google Docs and Google Drive
Tuesday, June 27th
6:00–7:30 p.m.
At the library

Join guest instructor Larry Cardani for a class to get started with Google Drive! Attendees will learn about how to access and store their files in Google Drive, as well as how to create new documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Laptops will be provided. Space is limited, so registration is required.

Get Out film screening
Tuesday, June 27th
6:30–8:30 p.m.
At the library

Please join the Shrewsbury Public Library on Tuesday, June 27th at 6:30 p.m. for a screening of the film Get Out (2017, rated R), as part of the library’s Summer Scares programming.

This critically-acclaimed film uses the lens of horror to explore themes of race in America: "Now that Chris and his girlfriend, Rose, have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries leads him to a truth that he never could have imagined" (rottentomatoes.com).

No registration required.

Bonus: Join SPL's Movie Discussion Club on Google Meet on Tuesday, July 11th at 7:00 p.m. to discuss the film! Registration link to be posted on the library’s calendar.

Shrewsbury Genealogy Club
Tuesday, June 27th
7:15–9:15 p.m.
Virtual

Anyone interested in genealogy (or family history) can now join the Shrewsbury Genealogy Club from the comfort of their home! The club meets on Zoom at 7:15 p.m. and has moved meetings to the fourth Tuesday of every month (through June).

To register, email the Genealogy Club’s clubmaster, former SPL Assistant Director George Brown, at [email protected].

Don't see a program here? Registration may already be full!
Keep an eye on our events calendar for upcoming programs of interest.