Lexington Public Library

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The William Stamps Farish, III Theater at the Central Library is available to the community for lectures, live music, community forums, film festivals, small theatrical productions, dance performances, literary readings, debates, and other creative uses.

Library meeting rooms are available for individuals, non-profit, for profit, study groups, and community organizations seeking to hold meetings, trainings, and workshops.  Meeting rooms are free of charge.  Sterno and other tools/equipment that have an open flame are prohibited.

The Luna Library, a program of Believing in Forever, collects and distributes children's books with an African American history or Black character focus. It is an alternative for African American parents looking for books that provide context and knowledge to understand the stories of the African American experience in this country for their children. Believing in Forever is a champion of diversity and inclusion, and the positive impact books have on children of all races.

The Undesign the Redline project unearths the deep and systemic history of structural racism and inequality in the United States. This interactive exhibit explores policies like Redlining, their implications for today, and what we can do to undesign them. 

The exhibit was created by social impact design studio designing the WE and has been invited to dozens of cities across the country. A local advisory group has helped to produce local history and stories about Redlining in Lexington. 

Are you just starting your family tree, or have you run into a brick wall tracing a distant ancestor? Join us to share tips and learn new research strategies. All levels of experience are welcome!

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All databases are available from this page.

The Materials Selection Policy was initially adopted February 25, 1987 by the Lexington Public Library Board of Trustees and was revised March 24, 1993. The Materials Selection Policy was updated and renamed the Collection Development Policy which was approved by the Board on January 14, 2009. The Board of Trustees assumes full responsibility for all legal actions which may result from the implementation of any policies stated herein.

Starting your own business or nonprofit is hard work, but we can help you locate the tools you need to get your ideas off the ground.

The Central Library's Parking Garage is available to our customers or anyone needing a parking space.  There are 428 parking spots in the garage, 10 of which are handicapped or van accessible.  The height clearance for garage entry is 13'1".  The height clearance for parking access is 6'4".

Two hours of free parking is provided with a ticket validated inside the Central Library.

Lexington, Kentucky (April 12, 2023) – The Lexington Public Library will be Fine Free for all materials, effective immediately, following a vote at today’s regularly scheduled monthly board meeting. Lexington Public Library customers will no longer incur fines for late, damaged, or lost library materials. Additionally, the Library has forgiven all current, outstanding fines

The Digital Studio provides people of all skill levels the tools for filmmaking, photography and digital art, music making, and media preservation.

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Read articles from magazines and journals, learn a new language, or locate a newspaper article. These resources can't be found with a search engine but are available for free with your library card.

The Lexington Public Library offers an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service which allows cardholders in good standing to borrow books and magazine articles we do not own and cannot purchase. The Lexington Public Library also lends our books to libraries both inside and outside the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Digital Archives - Collection - Group
group of children in Grade 5B at Constitution School
The Community Collections consist of objects shared from local community residents and organizations. Individuals have lent items of local significance to the library to give the larger community awareness and access. The original objects are not owned by the Lexington Public Library. 
 
Submissions for the Community Collections are open. If you are an individual or organization interested in possibly lending items to be digitized by the library, please contact elibrarian@lexpublib.org. We consider item age, location, content, relevance, privacy considerations, and item condition when determining items to add. Content donors must be the legal copyright holders if the item is not in the public domain.
 
Kentucky History Awards Icon noting this collection received the award in 2019.

 

Meet with a librarian for one-on-one consultation.  Please submit the Book a Librarian Appointment Request Form or call 859-231-5500 during business hours to schedule an appointment.  Appointments are scheduled Monday-Friday during Library business hours and typically last 30 to 45 minutes.

Interactive study guides and practice exams to prepare for the GED, SAT, ACT, ASVAB, and other academic, civil service, military and professional exams. Provided by the Kentucky Virtual Library.

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Discover favorite books and apps, matched to your child's age and interests, and other tools for building early literacy.  Log reading and earn badges on your computer or mobile device.

The Lexington Public Library has made an effort to ensure that all of our digital collections are public domain, or that we have gotten approval from the copyright holders to display their work. Most - but not all - of these collections, to the best of our knowledge, have no known US copyright restrictions. Some items in the collection are under copyright but qualify for online display by libraries under Section 108(h) of United States Copyright Law. Some of the collections provided in the Library's Digital Archives are made available under an assertion of fair use, which does not necessarily apply to an individual's use of them.

Communico short description
Celebrate Earth Day by exploring the wonders of the world using virtual reality goggles! For grades K-8th. No registration required.
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Beaumont Branch
Communico event type
Science & STEM
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3rd-5th Grade

The Lexington Public Library is pleased to offer teachers, childcare providers, and homeschooling families the "Bucket of Books" service.  We can supplement your curriculum with specially-selected books on a particular topic or provide your classroom with specially-selected books for your students' pleasure reading.

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If books are your thing, this is your place.  Browse the newest titles in our collection, take a deep dive into comics and graphic novels with the 741.5 bulletin, request a personalized "bag of books," and more.

Located on the second floor of the Eastside Branch, the Makerspace is a collaborative workspace for making, learning, exploring, and sharing. Through the intersections of technology, science, art, and culture, the space encourages entrepreneurship, personal growth, and artistic expression.

Digital Archives - Collection

Tina Belle Green Winters Simpler Young (1880-1930), was born in Elmville, Kentucky. Known as Tiny, she was believed to be a sex worker in the 1920s and 30s, and sent $5.00 a week home to support her sister. For a time she worked in the Crawl section of Frankfort, then she moved to Lexington, and finally lived the rest of her life in Cincinnati. The queerness of sex work, a marginalized woman using sex to support family, provides context both to this collection bearing her name and to the LGBTQ+ community that has historically formed families on the sexual margins.