Lexington Public Library

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Destination Kindergarten

Destination Kindergarten is the library’s program aimed at preschoolers and their caregivers- trying to help them practice the skills they need to be ready for Kindergarten.  During each Destination Kindergarten event, preschoolers and their caregivers can find a specalized area in the library with fun books, take-home activities, and information about development milestones and school readiness.

See below for more information on upcoming events and take-home packets and activities.

741.5 is written and designed by Lexington Public Library staff member Bill Widener. The inaugural issue came out in January 2017. Sub-titled The Comics & Graphic Novel Bulletin of the Lexington Public Library, its intent is to promote new arrivals to the Library's comics collections. 741.5 takes its name from the numeral designation within the Dewey Decimal System that covers comics and cartooning.

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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. 

Primary Page

All databases are available from this page.

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.

Database

Want to learn or improve your skills in a new language? Ready to switch from the bird of prey with ominous reminders? Try Mango Languages to learn practical conversation skills in over 70 world languages on your computer or mobile device. Learn and practice English with ESL courses taught in more than 15 different languages.  You must create an account on the Mango Languages site before you can log into the mobile app.

 

Languages You Can Learn!

  • Arabic (Levantine)
  • Chinese (Cantonese)
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dari
  • Dutch
  • English
  • Farsi (Persian)
  • Finnish
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Haitian Creole
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Indonesian
  • Irish
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Norwegian
  • Pashto
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Russian
  • Slovak
  • Spanish (Latin America)
  • Tagalog
  • Tamil
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Ukrainian
  • Urdu
  • Vietnamese
  • And more!

 

Mango Languages Mobile App

Delivers fast, easy and effective language learning wherever your travels take you. With free apps from Mango, you can access the same awesome courses when you’re on the go.

 

 

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.

Get live expert help with homework and skill building, study tips and tools, and collaborate with friends on your computer or mobile device. Live Homework Help is available for K-12 grades from 2 pm - 11 pm daily with professional tutors.  You must create an account on the Brainfuse site before you can log into the mobile app.

 

Mobile Options (Create Your Account Here First)
Android app logo

Google Play Store

iOS app

Apple App Store

 

Brainfuse HelpNow Demo

Brainfuse HelpNow Demo (Español)

 

 

The Central Kentucky Cemeteries Maps are powered by Google Maps.  Counties include:  Fayette, Bourbon, Clark, Garrard, Harrison, Jessamine, Lincoln, Madison, Mercer, Montgomery, Nicholas, Powell, Scott, and Woodford.

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From early literacy to beyond, we're here to support your child's education.  Find out about programs like Destination Kindergarten, LPL After School, and Student Success.  Educators can apply for a Teacher Card and request a "bucket of books" or storytime kit.

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.

Digital Archives - Collection
Johnston Albert Young III, was born on May 25, 1924, to Johnston and Lillian Shrout Young. Johnston Young’s father died on November 30, 1938, when he was 14. He served in the US Army from April 1943 to January 1946. During that time, he was deployed to the Pacific Ocean theater. He married Carolyn M. Cameron in 1949. Johnston Young died on September 26, 1986, and is buried in Owingsville at the Owingsville Cemetery, along with his wife and parents.
 
This letter collection is a part of the Bath County Memorial Library Community Collection, and was donated to the library by Tatonya Brock for their local history collection. 
New facility will remain at previous location with a larger footprint and expanded offerings

Lexington, Kentucky (August 18, 2022) – The Lexington Public Library broke ground on a new, significantly larger facility in the former Village Branch location on Versailles Road to better provide for the needs of the neighborhoods it serves. The new branch will reflect the community’s vision for a state-of-the-art community hub, one that offers robust resources and a myriad of program and service offerings. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Tuesday at a media event featuring Library and City officials.

Digital Archives - Collection - Group
Kentucky Images

The Kentucky Images collection contains postcards, photographs and slides of people, architecture, and locations in Kentucky and Appalachia.

 

Do you need to learn new software, technology, creative or business skills to achieve your professional or personal goals? LinkedIn Learning gives you unlimited access to a vast library of high quality video tutorials taught by recognized industry experts. You can work at your own pace with provided exercise files.  Available on your personal computer or mobile device.  (Note:  To log into the mobile app, enter lex for your Library ID.  You will be prompted to enter your library card number and PIN.)
Digital Archives - Collection

St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church was formally created in the Covington Diocese in 1868, by Father John Bekkers. Still an active parish, the church has celebrated its 150th anniversary and is still in its original building in downtown Lexington.

 

 

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.

 

Grand Opening set for Saturday, March 9

Lexington, Kentucky (January 17, 2024) – Lexington Public Library is proud to announce the Grand Opening of the Marksbury Family Branch of the Lexington Public Library.

Festivities include a Media Day event on Friday, March 8 from 8:30-10am and a Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, March 9 (more details coming soon). The current Village Branch will remain open through 6pm on Friday, February 23.

Board Member
Advisory Board

DeLaine Bender, CAE, is the Vice President of AMR Management Services, a Lexington-based association management company serving national and international associations and professional societies. Her responsibilities include marketing and business development, support for new clients, and management of association staff. A career nonprofit executive, she served as Executive Director of several associations before joining the AMR executive team in 2017.

DeLaine is an active member of the American Society of Association Executives and earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential, the highest professional credential in the association industry, in 2012. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. She lives in Lexington with her husband and together they have five adult children.

E-mail DeLaine Bender

Digital Archives - Collection

The Fayette County Postcard collection contains images of well-known sites in Central Kentucky, such as Keeneland, Transylvania University, Ashland, and many others. The 80 images provide an interesting perspective of Lexington architecture, industry, and culture in the early 20th Century.

Digital Archives - Collection

Mountain Ballads for Social Singing contains 15 songs selected for the Vesper Hour gatherings at Berea College. The songs were part of a larger collection, English Folk Songs in the Mountains of the Southern Appalachians, which was published in 1918 as American-English Folk-Songs: collected in the southern Appalachians and arranged with pianoforte accompaniment.

Digital Archives - Collection

The Hamilton Female College catalogs list the school’s Board of Trustees, faculty, alumnae, graduates that year, directory of students, courses of study, and the members of each department. Policies for students and parents regarding boarding, correspondence, school attendance, graduation, and expenses are also included. The included directories cover 1891/1892 and 1895/1896.

Hamilton Female College began in 1869, named the Hocker Female College after founder James M. Hocker. The name was changed in 1878 after a donation by William Hamilton. The Kentucky University – later Transylvania University – gained control of the school in 1903 and Hamilton became a junior college, the first two-year college in the state of Kentucky. The College closed in 1930, with the building converted to the Lyons-Hamilton Hall dormitory and was razed in 1962.

Information from Lexington: Heart of the Bluegrass by John D. Wright, Jr., 1982.

Digital Archives - Collection

The Knowles Postcard Collection contains images of notable Kentucky locations, such as Ashland, Keeneland, and Mammoth Cave, as well as county courthouses, farms, schools, and many others. The 84 images are both artist-drawn and photographs from the early to mid-20th Century.

The Knowles Postcard Collection was donated to Lexington Public Library by Johnson and Catherine Knowles, along with their son Colin, in 2006.  The Kentucky postcards are part of a larger collection of 14,000 cards inherited from Johnson’s mother, JoAnn Baxter Zeisler, which consisted of images from across the United States.  Upon inheriting the collection, the Knowles family decided to donate sets of postcards to their respective locations in museums, libraries, and historical societies throughout the United States.

Podcast Episode
Alexa and Jenny are joined this week by our middle school expert, Ellie, as we discuss the very popular book Wonder by RJ Palacio. Wonder tells the story of a very special kid named Auggie, as he navigates his first year of middle school, takes on bullies