Friends Of The Library

In-Person Book Sale

Saturday, October 1st | 10:00am - 4:00pm

Library SmartGarden

Mark your calendar! The Friends of the Library In-Person Book Sale is returning on Saturday, October 1st. With thousands of books to choose from, this is the place to find pretty fabulous deals on high quality best sellers, with an excellent inventory of fiction and non-fiction items including children's books. 

Can't make it to the In-Person Book Sale? Shop the  Friends of the Library's Online Bookstore anytime of the day or night.

The Mycological Society Of Marin Presents

Making Scents of Fungi, from Stench to Perfume

Wednesday, October 5th | 6pm

Creekside Room

If you've ever gone on a walk with an old-time mushroom picker, you've probably noticed that they often lift mushrooms to their noses as soon as they pick them. Besides being intriguing, alluring, and surprising, aromas can be extremely important clues for identification. Come take an olfactory tiptoe through the world of fungi!

Christian Schwarz is a naturalist based in California, the land of milk (caps) and honey (mushrooms). He teaches Natural History of Fungi at UC Santa Cruz and is co-author of Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast and the upcoming Mushrooms of Cascadia. Fungi satisfy his curiosity with their seemingly endless forms, from the grotesque to the bizarre to the sublime.

Doors open at 6pm. Presentation starts at 6:30pm. Register for the event.

The Marin Poetry Center Presents

Fall Poetry Reading Series Launch

Thursday, October 6th | 7pm

Mill Valley Public Library

Join us as members of the Marin Poetry Center read from recent work and celebrate the return to in-person programming at the Mill Valley Library! In addition to great poems, enjoy this moment of community and togetherness, buy a few new books from old friends, and get ready to launch a season of terrific Marin Poetry Center readings.

Registration recommended. Click here to register.

Upcoming Fall Poetry Reading Series Events:

All events are at 7pm at the Mill Valley Public Library. 

Thursday, October 20th - An Evening of Translation

Tuesday, November 1st - Iris Jamhal Dunkle and Dana Levin

Thursday, November 17th - Zeina Hashem Beck and Lynne Thompson

Thursday, December 15th - Anthony Cody and Mai Der Vang

The Mill Valley Historical Society Presents

Ghost Ships of the San Francisco Bay with Pat Broderick

Wednesday, October 5th | 7pm

Virtual event on Zoom. Registrants will be sent a Zoom link upon registration. Click here to register.

The first ship to enter the San Francisco Bay was the Spanish packet San Carlos, commanded by Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala, on August 5, 1775. The San Carlos departed Sept 18, 1775. Since that day, not all ships have departed the Bay or arrived successfully. How many shipwrecks lie scattered on the floor of the Bay, or in nearby waters or landfill? Few of us are aware of these relics from San Francisco’s maritime past, many forgotten for a century or more. Yet every day Bay Area residents pass over long- buried ships. Some MUNI riders even tunnel through a ship on their daily commute. 

This evening’s talk will visit some of the steam schooners, Gold Rush ships, Golden Gate wrecks, and U.S. Navy ships that forever remain “ghosts” in our waters, if not in our memories. 

PAT BRODERICK has sailed on San Francisco Bay since 1971. He became interested in San Francisco Bay nautical archeology when a tug boat engineer neighbor came home with wine bottles from a Gold Rush era ship uncovered by construction along the old Embarcadero.

Mill Valley Public Library Presents

National Preparedness Month Series: Evacuations, Resources, & Community Refuges

Thursday, September 22nd, 6-7pm

Creekside Room |  Register here.

Where do you go when you evacuate? Michelle Terrell, the Community Engagement Coordinator from the City of Mill Valley, will walk participants through updated city evacuation routes, resources for staying well-informed in a crisis, and community shelter locations. 

See upcoming National Preparedness Month Series workshops.

Join us for one or all of this series of emergency preparedness workshops for National Preparedness Month. Every Thursday in September, learn one of the building blocks of emergency preparedness, from packing your personal kit to hands-on CPR. Attendees of all five programs will be entered to win a raffle. 

Our five-part Emergency Preparedness Series is a collaboration with the Mill Valley Neighborhood Response Group, the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, the Mill Valley Police Department and ReadyMarin.

Upcoming Events For Kids

Storytelling and Challah

Wednesday September 21st at 2:30pm |  Outdoor Amphitheater

Bring a friend and enjoy Rosh Hashanah stories and a Challah-braiding class for kids with Chabad of Mill Valley. Take home your very own Challah loaf to bake! Ages 1-12. No registration required. 

NEW: Saturday Family Storytime

Saturdays at 3:00pm | Children's Room

Children's early learning happens when they read, write, talk, sing and play. At Family Storytime on Saturdays, you'll hear favorite books, rhymes and flannel stories in our beautiful Children's Room.

Ages 0-5 and their families. No registration required.  

Sing & Stomp 

Mondays at 11:15am  | Outdoor Amphitheater

Preschoolers and their caregivers can sing, dance, jump and play with musician Emily Bonn in this drop-in music and movement group. Feel free to bring a blanket to sit on, but Emily's banjo tunes will have you up and on your feet in no time! Weather permitting. Ages 2-5. No registration required. 

Can’t make it to the Library? Check out our Pop-Up Storytimes in Hauke and Boyle parks. Click here for the schedule.