Move to Interim Library: Schedule Updates & Frequently Asked Questions

 

A major renovation of the library building at 200 Main Street will begin in the coming weeks. During construction, library services will be available at our "satellite" library at 15 Church Street. As we prepare, some library collections are being put into storage or relocated -- if you are having trouble finding something, please ask! 

When will the library building close for renovations? 

• The library building at 200 Main Street will remain open through Tuesday, April 15th, then close for construction, to reopen following completion of the renovation.
• The library will be closed to the public on Wednesday, April 16th through Monday April 21st, in order to complete the move to the satellite library at 15 Church Street. Library phones will be down for the day.
• The Church Street Library is planned to open with limited services at 1pm on Tuesday, April 22nd, and will be open for regularly scheduled hours throughout the renovation of 200 Main Street.

What will be available at the Church Street Library?

• More than 10% of the library collection will be moved to the interim library, including new and popular items for all ages.
• The library will continue to purchase new books, subscribe to magazines and newspapers, and recieve delivery from other CLAMS libraries and the Commonwealth Catalog.
• Some regular library programs will be temporarily paused or offered at other locations, please refer to our event calendar for the most up-to-date information.
• The interim library will have public computers, scanning, and printing services, but no table seating for internet use. WiFi hotspots and chromebook computers will be available to checkout for home use.

Will the Church Street Library have a book drop? How will I return books when the building is closed?

• Please return your items in the library book drop at 200 Main Street through Monday April 21st, or at another island library.
• The Church Street Library will have an outdoor book return available starting Tuesday April 22nd, next to the parking lot entrance to the library.
• Some items returned while the library is closed may not be checked in immediately, but no fines will accrue - Martha's Vineyard libraries do not charge late fees.

Can I continue to place holds on items?

• The library will be closed in both locations Wednesday April 16th through Monday April 21st, and holds will not be available for pickup those days. If you need an item right away, consider temporarily changing your pickup location to another island library.
• When the Church Street Library opens, you will be able to place holds on items from the CLAMs and Commonwealth Catalog collections, and pick them up at the Church Street library.
• Holds will be extended on items not picked up by Tuesday April 15th, so they can be picked up at the Church Street Library the following week.

Where can I park when visiting the Church Street Library?

• The library has two short-term parking spaces directly in front of the parking lot entrance (where the book drop is) Visitors will need to utilize street parking if those spaces are full. 
• Please do not park in any of the marked spaces in the parking lot that are reserved for building tenants.

Will the library have programs and meetings in the temporary space?

• The Church Street Library does not have a meeting space, but library programs will continue to be offered in-person at various locations in Vineyard Haven, or online.
• Storytime with Weezie will be held at 10am on Mondays at Grace Church.
• Yoga with Kat will be held at 11am on Mondays at the Tisbury Senior Center.
• Visit our event calendar for detailed program information, or subscribe to our weekly email newsletter.
• Thanks to donations from the community, the library renovation project includes the addition of a new community meeting room that will be available when we reopen at 200 Main Street!

The Library will be temporarily closed on Fridays, to allow staff to prepare for moving the collection. Hours will be expanded following the move to the satellite library.

Preventing and Managing Kidney Disease

On Thursday, April 24 at 6:00 PM, the Vineyard Haven Library welcomes Dr. Danielle L. Saly of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for a presentation on preventing and managing kidney disease. This event will be held at the Katharine Cornell Theater at 51 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven (above the Tisbury Town Hall). Free and Open to the public. No registration required. 

Danielle L. Saly, M.D., will provide an overview of chronic kidney disease, including what signs and symptoms to be aware of, and the biggest risk factors for its development. She will review the importance of healthy lifestyle choices, good blood pressure management, and good diabetes control as they relate to the development of kidney disease.

Dr. Danielle Saly is a clinician educator at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She serves as the Director for Quality and Safety for the Division of Nephrology at MGH and is Medical Director of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital’s Dialysis Unit. She obtained her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine Residency and Chief Resident Year at Yale New Haven Hospital. She completed a Nephrology Fellowship at the combined Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital Fellowship during which time she obtained her Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.  

Her research interests focus on the role of renal replacement therapy for patients with advanced liver disease who are not candidates for liver transplant, as well as serious illness conversations regarding dialysis initiation. When she is not caring for patients, Dr. Saly enjoys exploring Martha’s Vineyard with her husband, two daughters, and Portuguese water dog, Wally. 

 

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

 

Free Concert with Touring Folk Artists Hungrytown

 

At 6:00 PM on Tuesday, April 22nd, the Vineyard Haven Library presents a concert by the indie folk artist duo, Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson, of Hungrytown. The concert will be held in the Katharine Cornell Theatre at 51 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven (above Tisbury Town Hall). This event is free and open to the public, made possible by a gift from the estate of Ruth Redding. No registration required.

Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson, through their years of worldwide touring and tireless devotion to many classic genres of music, have crafted Hungrytown into a true artistic hybrid. Lyricist Rebecca Hall is credited with compositions “that sound as timeless as any traditional songs” (Northern Sky, UK) while producer/multi-instrumentalist/husband Ken Anderson is lauded for his “remarkable affinity for instrumental embellishment” (No Depression) and for crafting Hungrytown’s “gorgeous vocal harmonies” (Folk and Roots, UK). 

Hall and Anderson met in New York City, where they had already been performing regularly--Hall as a jazz singer, and Anderson as a drummer for a variety of psychedelic pop bands. Their introduction to folk music came later, when a close friend--who died young due to a tragic misdiagnosis--entrusted to them her collection of 1960s folk albums and her guitar (which can be heard on all of their albums). 

Inspired by the grit and true-to-life experiences she heard in these traditional ballads, Hall wrote the lyrics that later became her first songs, aided by Anderson’s flair for musical arrangement. 

Soon afterwards, Hall released two solo albums, Rebecca Hall Sings! (1999) and Sunday Afternoon (2002), both produced by Anderson.  In the winter of 2003, the duo moved to the green hills of Vermont and decided to pursue a full-time career as touring musicians. They released their first CD, Hungrytown, in 2007; Any Forgotten Thing in 2011; and Further West in 2015. The couple continue to spend about half of each year on the road, especially roads in North America, Europe and New Zealand. 

Hungrytown's music has received extensive radio airplay worldwide and has appeared on several television shows, including The Daily Show and Portlandia.

For more information, please contact the library at (508) 696-4211 or send an email to vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org. 

Author Talk: The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club A Novel by Martha Hall Kelly

Save the date!

At 6:00 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, the Vineyard Haven Library welcomes New York Times bestselling author Martha Hall Kelly for a reading, discussion and signing of her new, World War II-era historical novel, The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club (Ballantine Books, May 27, 2025). This event will be held at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, with books available for purchase through Bunch of Grapes Bookstore.

Two sisters living on Martha’s Vineyard during World War II find hope in the power of storytelling when they start a wartime book club for women in this spectacular novel inspired by true events, from the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls.

“A dreamy beach book that also sizzles with tension . . . another winner by one of the best historical fiction writers around.”—Fiona Davis, author of The Stolen Queen

2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother’s death as she travels to the storied island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She’s come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux’s stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.

1942: The Smith girls—nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old war-obsessed Briar—are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island’s shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended. In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend, Bess, start a book club, which grows both in members and influence as they connect with a fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence’s dreams come true. But all that is put at risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore—and whispers of a spy in their midst. Who in their tight-knit island community can they trust? Could this little book club change the course of the war . . . before it’s too late?

Martha Hall Kelly is the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls, Lost Roses, Sunflower Sisters, and The Golden Doves. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Martha was inspired to write this novel by her mother’s family, the Smiths, who settled on Martha’s Vineyard in 1891. She received journalism degrees from both Syracuse and Northwestern Universities and worked as an advertising copywriter for many years before becoming a novelist. With more than two million copies of her books sold and translated in fifty countries, Martha lives in Litchfield, Connecticut, and Hobe Sound, Florida.

Photo: © Frank Cordoba

This event will be held at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, above the Tisbury Town Hall, at 51 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven. Registration not required. For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.

Library Temporarily Closed on Fridays, Starting March 14th 2025

 

We have Library Renovation News!

The town has just received bids for the general contractor for the planned renovation and addition project, which is now expected to begin in the coming weeks. When construction is underway, the library building at 200 Main Street will be closed to the public, and library staff will be providing services from a temporary satellite location. More details will be announced soon, through our newsletter and on the website.

The Library will be closed on Fridays beginning March 14th, to allow staff to prepare for moving the collection. Friday hours will resume following the move to the temporary building.

Sign up for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten!

Book by book, step by step, help your child get ready for school and start a lifelong love of reading and learning!

Did you know that by reading, writing, talking, singing, and playing with your child that you can help foster their reading development? 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is a program that encourages all families and caregivers to read 1,000 books with their young children before they enter kindergarten.

When you register your child for “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” at Vineyard Haven Public Library, you will receive a log to record your child’s progress. In the log, there are lots of tips to help parents and caregivers to read, write, talk, sing, and play with their children in meaningful ways that will help them to be ready to read when they enter kindergarten!

Studies have shown that families who start reading aloud to their children at birth help to strengthen their language skills and build their vocabulary – two important tools for beginning to learn to read when they enter kindergarten. By participating in 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, you will be introduced to the Association for Library Service program called Every Child Ready to Read. Every Child Ready to Read has targeted pre-literacy skills and identified fve practices, or activities, that can help children enter school ready to learn to read.

How the Program Works

• Visit the library to register your child, at any age before they enter kindergarten, for this free do-it-at-home program
• Your child will receive a reading log to record the books you read together
• This month when you visit the library to register, you can also pick up some free board books and other rewards, while supplies last!

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can sign up for this program? Any child from birth until kindergarten.

Do I have to read books from the library? You can read books from anywhere, not just library books.

Can I count books that are read to my child in school, or by a nanny or day care provider? Yes! Any and every book your child hears counts for this program.

What if my child wants to read the same book over and over? Repetition is key to learning. Each time you read the book, it counts.

My child likes to listen to books on the computer/iPad/eReader/etc. Can I count them? As long as your child listens to the whole book, it counts.

Will I have time to read 1,000 books with my child? It's easy! 3 books a day for 1 year = 1,095 books. 1 book a day for 3 years = 1,095 books

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten was started by the 1,000 Books Foundation, whose objectives are to promote reading to newborns, infants, and toddlers and to encourage parent and child bonding through reading. The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program at the Vineyard Haven Public Library is funded by the Friends of the Vineyard Haven Public Library.

Virtual: Tick Ecology, Behavior, and Protection Measures for 2025

Click here to register and make sure you're prepared for the 2025 tick season: https://forms.gle/BNVtW45YR6j2W8NT8

At 2:00 PM on Friday, March 28, biologist Patrick Roden-Reynolds of the MV Tick Program and the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative returns for a virtual presentation on Tick Ecology, Behavior, and Protection Measures for 2025.

With the main tick season right around the corner, Patrick will discuss the best tips and tools to keep yourself safe, including the latest prevention measures he uses on a daily basis to prevent tick bites..

Patrick Roden-Reynolds is a Public Health Biologist for the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative and Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program. His work focuses on education and surveillance of vector-borne diseases and their vector populations. 

The Martha’s Vineyard Tick-borne Illness Reduction Initiative (aka the Tick Program) is dedicated to reducing the number of ticks and tick-borne illnesses on Martha’s Vineyard through education, advocacy, and cooperation with other organizations and individuals. The Tick Program is an initiative of the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

This event will be held via Zoom. The program will be recorded and sent via email to all registrants within 48 hours of the event. For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.