413-625-0306 
Building Access & Curbside Pickup Hours
- Monday 10:30 am–5:30 pm
- Wednesday 11 am–7 pm
- Saturday 10 am–3 pm
- Sunday 12–3 pm
Latest News
Led by Dr. Bill Strader, who writes,
“I'm a lifelong kite flyer! I love watching, supporting and flying kites and things that fly! So How about coming to see a Veritable Plethora of kites and things that fly! We will see a wide variety of kites, assemble some...and even make your own Scottish Sled Kite!”
All ages. Meet behind the Arms Library, on the grass.
Dr. Bill Strader is Professor, Early Childhood Education, Coordinator, New England Symposium on Play, Member of Men in Early Childhood Education, a past president of the Montachusetts Area Association for the Education of Young Children, the Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children, and Montachusetts Area Association for the Education of Young Children. "Dr. Bill" has been the librarian for the Newton School (Greenfield), and Substitute Teacher at Rowe School over the past several years!
Carrie and Michael Kline, of Talking Across the Lines podcast fame....
1 p.m. in back of the Arms Library during our Shelburne Falls June Art Walk, and Shelburne Falls 4th Annual Porchfest
Sunday, July 9th
Michael and Carrie Kline perform country harmony duets from coal mining songs to gospel, family songs and front porch music. Listeners may find themselves dancing a waltz to “Fiddler Jones,” the song that celebrates the role of music and old-time fiddlers in our lives and our communities, those who play for family and friends or local dances, or those who play for no one at all.
Carrie and Michael Kline's lives circle around one another and are inspired by Appalachian music and culture. Their voices carry the songs with truth and authenticity, and their guitar accompaniments and haunting harmonies get you where you live. With their lifelong focus on West Virginia history and tradition, the Klines' performances celebrate the old-time singers as well as the songs.
Michael and Carrie perform in Europe and across the United States. As folklorist-musicians they weave songs and stories, evoking the times that really matter, time with family and friends, spiritual times, wrapped in a patchwork quilt of vivid imagery. Kitchen songs. You can smell the biscuits baking.
Leapfrog Press' Global Fiction Prize winner reads from gender-bender-post-apocalyptic-speculative-fiction, JELLYFISH DREAMING, at the ARMS Library, Sat. July 29th at 6:30pm. (Jellyfish will be served & books signed)
"In the JELLYFISH DREAMING, beside the Atlantic-Coast-that-was, near an aging University, hard Fisher people from a dozen races and places fetch up in the Trash Cafe, last stop before the Great Garbage Ocean. The ocean coughs up jellyfish and plastic rubbish these days. But Jack remembers things no one else does, like birds and frogs. The lonely, 200-year-old teenager never quite makes it to adulthood before resetting, like the immortal jellyfish Turitopsis. Then Jack falls for Joon, one of the tough street kids who can choose their own gender. Even Jack barely remembers the environmental catastrophes that caused mass extinctions and changed the town’s youngest survivors. But when old bigotries erupt into violence, Jack surprises himself by racing to outwit a madman trying to destroy the fledgling inheritors of a dying world—even if the cost is his not-quite-immortal life."n Prize winner reads from gender-bender-post-apocalyptic-speculative-fiction, JELLYFISH DREAMING, at the ARMS Library, Sat. July 29th at 6:30pm. (Jellyfish will be served & books signed)
You can also read an interview with the author at The Mossy Skull
Shelburne Open Space Committee
Guided Walk - Urban Trees of Shelburne Falls, MA
Saturday, June 10th, Meet at the Arms Library in Shelburne Falls, at 9:00 AM.
The Shelburne Open Space Committee, Deerfield River Watershed Association, Shelburne Falls Senior Center, and Arms Library have partnered to lead a scenic and educational, 2-loop walk around downtown Shelburne Falls. Our plan is to learn about the local, urban trees, their identification, importance, and management issues, including diseases.
What to Bring: Hikers should wear comfortable walking sneakers, shoes, or boots and bring water to drink, a snack, sunscreen, hat, etc. Village Walking Tour maps will be provided.
What to Know: This walk is rated as “easy,” but with uneven sidewalks, street crossings, etc. The walk is broken into two loops. The first loop, a shorter & flatter loop, will cover the lower Shelburne Falls - Bridge Street Business District and some back streets, but will loop back to the Arms library for those walkers who do not want to walk a longer distance (maybe 1 hour). For those who want to carry on farther, a second loop will proceed up Bridge Street from the Arms Library and tour some of the back, more hilly streets before returning to the Arms Library (maybe add 45 minutes). Nothing too difficult is expected.
Where to Meet: Meet at the front steps of the Arms Library in Shelburne Falls at 9:00 AM on Saturday, June 10.
If you have any questions, or would like to pre-register so that you can be notified in case of a need to reschedule, contact Jim at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
See you there!
An Evening of Stories and songs by Eveline MacDougall
In the upstairs reading room of the library. The Arms is handicapped accessible via the lower level, with parking in the back parking lot.
Eveline's recently published "Fiery Hope" recounts how people acquainted through anti-apartheid work gathered one wintry day in Wendell, Massachusetts to share the joyful power of South African freedom songs. The first informal session in 1988 led to regular rehearsals, and when the singers accepted an invitation to perform publicly, they needed a name for their burgeoning chorus. A South African member suggested “Amandla,” a Zulu word for power.
Led by Eveline MacDougall as chorus founder and director for three decades, Amandla's work led to collaborations with influential leaders including César Chávez, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Pete Seeger, Wally and Juanita Nelson, and Malala Yousafzai. They’ve also made profound connections with schoolchildren, prisoners, elders, terminally ill people, and community members facing homelessness.
Light refreshments will be offered.
The Arms is handicapped accessible via the back lower level entrance.
The Friends of the Arms Library are having their Spring Book Sale!
Lots to choose from. Great variety. Carefully curated, creating an amazing array of books!
Plenty of children's books this time around.
9 a.m. - 3 p..m. on Saturday and Sunday. Downstairs in the Arms Library, and out back under the tent.
If you are purchasing a book, or books, you may "pay what you wish". This is a great way to help the Frineds and the Arms LIbrary with museum passes, "Bookpage", museum passes, select furnishings. And this year The Friends are sponsoring our Summer Reading Program "Find Your Voice!"