04/25/2026
Join us for music, the documentary "Free For All: the Public Library", and lively conversation among area librarians.
2 p.m. in Shelburne Falls Theater in Memoria
What does your public library mean to you? How did public libraries come about? How do public libraries promote a civic life and public discourse?
Today, 2 p.m. at Memorial Hall, Shelburne Falls Theater, 51 Bridge St., Shelburne Falls, Mass.
A Shelburne Falls Area Women's Club, Pothole Pictures Film Seriesle Pothole Pictures Film Series, and Arms Library collaboration.
If you have time before the event, stop by the Arms Library, 60 Bridge St. to view photographs, (taken by Carlos Heiligman) of West County libraries. These will be on exhibit for several months.
Special Saturday Matinee Event!
April 25 at 2 pm Free for All: the Public Library
How did our wonderful free, public libraries come to exist? The Shelburne Falls Women’s Club and Pothole Pictures are partnering with the Arms Library to show this film, which tells the story.
As many as 75 to 80 percent of public libraries were started by local women’s clubs, as part of the “Free Library Movement.”
Join us to celebrate Library Week, and to honor the “quiet revolutionaries” who made modern libraries possible.
Stay for lively conversation with local librarians after the film.
and enjoy live music from a sextet before the film
Adults — $6. School age children — Free !
Panel of Librarians:
Sarah Hertel-Fernandez, Director, Belding Memorial Library, Ashfield, MA
Chelsea Jordan-Makely, Former Director, Griswold Memorial Library, Colrain, MA
Emily Willis, Librarian and Digital Literacy Educator, Mohawk Trail Regional School, Buckland, MA
Ivan Ussach, Director, Warwick Free Public Library, Warwick, MA
Laurie Wheeler, Director, Arms Library, Shelburne Falls, MA
The free screening of this film is thanks to generous support from the Carnegie Corporation of NY.
