JMRL's blog.

Brown Baggers book club met Thursday, February 16 at noon to discuss My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson. This is Johnson’s debut publication: a collection of five short stories and one novella. The book explores race, familial relationships (especially intergenerational ones), and most of all, home and belonging. Because Johnson is a local author and […]

Books on Tap met on Thursday, February 2 to discuss Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. This is a 1993 speculative, dystopian novel about the “far off” future of 2025. We were inspired to read Butler again after reading Kindred in October. Once again, Butler’s writing was bleak and sobering, but plot-driven, compelling, and […]

Meet Ariana Rivens. Ariana moved to the Charlottesville area five years ago to attend graduate school at UVA. She says that the JMRL branches she’s visited are among the best libraries she’s ever encountered. She actually tweeted this not too long ago, which is why grow. learn. connect got in touch with her to learn […]

Brown Baggers book club met on Thursday, January 19 at noon to discuss The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, a literary, atmospheric, dramatic, heart-wrenching, and engaging historical fiction novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2021. It is only one book in her large canon of novels, poetry, and children’s books featuring Native American characters […]

Books on Tap met on Thursday, January 5 to discuss The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian. Many of our members are familiar with Bohjalian, who has published 20 novels in the last 30+ years, and most of the group enjoys his literary and historical fiction writing. This book is set in 1964, but does not feel […]

It was both an extraordinary year and, in many ways, an ordinary one. After operating for more than two years within tiers of service in response to community Covid rates, JMRL gratefully resumed standard operating procedures across all eight branches and the Bookmobile. A “return to normal” may sound unremarkable, but 2022 was definitely not […]

JMRL cardholders in 2022 checked out 1.6 million items from the library. Read on for the Top 10 Checkouts of the year. How many have you read? young adult fiction 1. We Are Not Free / Traci Chee 2. Firekeeper’s Daughter / Angeline Boulley 3. Shadow and Bone / Leigh Bardugo 4. Six of Crows/ […]

A record Books on Tap crowd turned out Thursday, December 1 at Champion to discuss The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig. Was everyone just looking for something to do? (This is the most fun you could possibly have on a Thursday night!) Or is there something about this title that brings people out to discuss […]

Writing poetry can be playful, cathartic, celebratory, and immersive. Writing poetry is good for our critical thinking, language skills, and creativity. Writing is also one of the best ways to prompt us to look at the world from a different perspective. Through writing, we build empathy. Today, we are pleased to present our top two […]

Choose one of JMRL’s new outdoor lockers as your hold pickup location The next time you place library materials on hold, you could pick them up at your convenience—even after hours—by choosing one of JMRL’s new outdoor lockers as your pickup location. The lockers are available 24/7 near the entrance of the following branch locations: Crozet Library, Gordon Avenue Library, Greene County Library, […]