Upcoming Events
4 PM - 6 PM
Libraries are more than reading: lifelong learning is also making and doing! Join fellow yarn enthusiasts once a month on the first Wednesday of the month from 4-6 pm at the State Library, located at the Forum Building, Main Reading Room, 607 South Drive, Harrisburg for a maker time of stitching, knitting, crocheting, felting, and camaraderie! Show off your new project and share inspiration with one another.
State Employee Fiber Arts Club Registration. Questions? Email ra-makerspace@pa.gov or call 717-783-5993.
Date: January 16, 2025
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
Goth Music - Presented in partnership with Carol Buck, State Museum curator, Bill Fee and Carol will discuss the offspring of glam, psychobilly, and punk. If you have ever lost yourself in The Cure, Type O Negative, or Evanescence, this program is for you.
Date: January 23, 2025
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
Leprosy - A disease afflicting humans since before we could write about it, leprosy has been the subject of many jokes and political campaigns. We’ll talk about its history, its cause, and why we do not hear about it anymore (but may soon).
Date: February 20, 2025
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
Pennsylvania has been, and still is, home to many famous scientists, including a number of minority scientists. Join us to learn about the African American scientists who hail from the Keystone State.
Please register to attend the Highlighting African American Scientists program.
Date: February 26, 2025
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
In 2018-2020, the Commonwealth Monument Project launched a "Look Up, Look Out" campaign to reimagine Harrisburg's Old Eighth Ward, the multi-ethnic neighborhood demolished from the 1910s to install the buildings and green space of the State Capitol Complex. The campaign was designed to draw attention to a once-thriving neighborhood that now teems with government workers and those associated with the everyday business of the capital city. Using a combination of historical research and digital tools, a group of local historians, change agents, technologists, and faculty and students of area universities identified 12 sites throughout the various buildings of the Capitol Complex to place posters that told the varied stories of the vanished neighborhood. These posters will be on display at the State Library Main Reading Room, in the heart of the Old 8th ward.
We invite visitors to Pennsylvania’s capitol district to stop, look up, look out, and imagine a thriving neighborhood that once existed before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appropriated the grounds a century ago for state use. Visit the State Library reading room exhibition to explore the Eighth Ward. The Main Reading Room hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 AM – 6 PM.
The State Library's virtual Lunch and Learn program will host a presentation from the creators of the exhibition and public humanities students of Messiah University to discuss the original campaign and the new digital resources available for exploring the lost neighborhood in the shadow of the state capitol.
Book Club
Date: Wednesday, January 22, 2024
Time: 12 Noon to 1PM
Book: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
About the Book Club: The State Library of Pennsylvania hosts a quarterly lunchtime book club open to state employees as well as to the public. The book club meets in the format of a virtual meeting. Attendees take part in conversations about the book moderated by staff at the State Library of Pennsylvania. Share thoughts about the characters, plot, setting, and impact of the book with others who have read the book or any part of it.
About the book: In this work of fiction, Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all -- her own heart.
- This book may be borrowed from many Pennsylvania public libraries. State employees may borrow from the State Library through EZBorrow
- Please register for Book Club to participate.
Lunch and Learn Programs
The State Library of Pennsylvania offers Lunch and Learn programs. These programs are typically free, open to the public, and held at the State Library or virtually via on online platform between noon and 1 p.m.
If you missed a program or want to experience it again, see below for recordings from recent programs.
If you have a question about the Lunch and Learn program contact community engagement librarian Ellen Shenkat ellshenk@pa.gov.
Upcoming Programs
Date: February 20, 2025
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
Pennsylvania has been, and still is, home to many famous scientists, including a number of minority scientists. Join us to learn about the African American scientists who hail from the Keystone State.
Please register to attend the Highlighting African American Scientists program.
Recent Programs
Visit our Lunch and Learn YouTube playlist to explore recordings of more than 40 Lunch and Learn sessions.
Date: December 19, 2024
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
The State Library is offering fun and free lunchtime science programs for adults!
Influenza Variants – The flu has been causing problems for millennia, and you’ve probably been getting inoculated against them for much of your life. Come learn about the flu and its many cousins.
Date: December 18, 2024
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
Pioneer, patriot, politician...
John Harris Jr. was a true visionary in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania-during a time in history when taking a risk meant putting your life on the line. He proudly took bold steps in supporting monumental changes that now define history. His legacy is strong in Pennsylvania, but his story has never been told, until now.
Visionary Road to the Capital sheds light on Harris' journey-filled with both tragedies and triumphs-during life on the frontier. While his name doesn't stand out amongst other influencers during that era, like Washington or Jefferson, Harris' life is woven into the fabric of America's birth. He funded and supported the cause for freedom and took brave measures to secure the land that would eventually become Pennsylvania's capital city, Harrisburg. (Amazon)
Dave Biser is pastor of CrossPoint Church in Harrisburg, and president of the Historical Society of Dauphin County.
"Visionary Road to the Capital" (YouTube)
Date: November 6, 2024
Time: 12 Noon – 1 PM
About the book:
In 1939, a native-born Polish and Belarusian citizen embarked on a journey to save his Motherland from destruction by the Nazi regime. First as an air defense sergeant credited with disrupting the first raid of Warsaw and then as an agent with the Soviet NKVD, Sergei Bravo’s young life is one series of battles after another. Trusted for assignment with the Kovpak partisans in Ukraine, Sergei is faced with the ultimate test: Save the medieval city of Krakow from destruction as the Nazi’s are chased from eastern Europe and the Red Army begin its race to Berlin.
Based on true events, this is a captivating story, with ties to modern day events. A tale of global conflict, espionage, genocide, and the test of one’s loyalty to their homeland. This tale follows the tradition of John le Carre and Alan Furst novels. (from author’s website: K.R. Kiehl - Fiction Writer | K.R. Kiehl (authorkrkiehl.com)
About the author:
K.R. Kiehl is an American writer of historical fiction and short stories. He is relatively new to creative fiction but has over 25 years’ experience writing and publishing in academic and research journals. K.R. Kiehl is a retired military officer, college professor, and state government executive. He began his creative writing journey as a Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program grantee from The Foundation on Enhancing Communities. His work has been published in The Bluebird Word, Fan Story, and Prentice Hall.
"Saving Krakow: A Novel" Event (YouTube)
Date: October 23, 2024
Time: 12 Noon - 1 PM
This program is a great introduction to beekeeping!
- Equipment
- Getting bees./installation of bees into hive
- Cost
- Needed time and space
- Collecting the honey
- Info on area bee keeping organizations
- Broad overview of advanced topics in beekeeping
Presented by Lee Yalcin and Eric Jeschke, fellow Commonwealth employees and hobbyist beekeepers with 10 and 5 years of hands-on experience, respectively.
"Beekeeping 101" Event (YouTube)