Ancestry Library

Find out more about your family tree by searching Ancestry Library, a public library version of the popular Ancestry.com that includes access to over 2 billion names and thousands of genealogical databases.
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LINKcat will be offline for a scheduled software update beginning at 9pm on Friday Dec. 6, and ending on Tuesday Dec. 10. This will affect all our public libraries in the seven-county South Central Library System.
For more information and updates visit madisonpubliclibrary.org/linkcat-update
Featured news, events, and stories from Madison Public Library
Find out more about your family tree by searching Ancestry Library, a public library version of the popular Ancestry.com that includes access to over 2 billion names and thousands of genealogical databases.
Visit the Bubbler Room and immerse yourself in All The Things! Illustrator and maker Emily Joy Balsley will host workshops and open studio sessions exploring various mediums throughout her September-October residency.
Enjoy Wisconsin Book Festival events all year round! Several incredible authors are headed your way in September, so make plans to join us. The complete list of events can be found at wisconsinbookfestival.org.
All Wisconsin Book Festival events are free and open to the public, no tickets or registration required.
During a 90-minute workshop, Jen Rubin will discuss her process of writing a family memoir that centered around the small business her family-owned for 80 years.
Jen will talk about how to balance 3 generations, deal with thorny family issues, and how to include enough history and sociology to inform the story but not so much that the central story is overwhelmed. Jen is a skilled storyteller and brought an oral storytelling approach to her writing. This will be an interactive workshop with a mixture of presentation, storytelling, Q&A, and small group work.
This summer, Sequoya Library has been asking kids to recommend their favorite books by writing them on "space" shapes like rockets, stars, and robots. Library staff created a book list based on their recommendations for all to share and enjoy.
Older elementary kids interested in programming and coding will enjoy Kids Code Madison events at Hawthorne Library! New and experienced coders are welcome.
The Library offers free movie screenings for all ages! From new releases to oldies-but-goodies, documentaries to blockbusters - there's something for everyone.
Each year Madison Public Library partners with UW-Madison to extend the perennially popular Go Big Read program into the broader community with book discussion groups and programs at our libraries.
The 2018-2019 Go Big Read selection is The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Quest for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum, the dramatic true story of the fight for food safety in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, led by the inimitable Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley.
Have you ever wondered about the stories your home has to tell? Are you fascinated by the history of historical homes in your neighborhood?
Madison Public Library partnered with the City of Madison Planning Department and Madison Trust for Historic Preservation to create a community presentation entitled, “Researching the Story of Your House.”
After 11 years in the space, the Friends of Sequoya Library will host their final book sales in their storefront at Westgate Mall.