Home - Mono County Free Library

New @ Your Library

Mono County Community - we need your feedback! Once again Mono County Library and High Sierra Energy Foundation are partnering on a statewide library grant to provide programs relating to the topic of Sustainability in the new year. We have created a brief survey to solicit your input on what ideas resonate most with you. Please click here to complete the survey. Thank you and we look forward to offering new programs to you soon!

Comunidad del condado de Mono: ¡Necesitamos sus comentarios! Una vez más, la Biblioteca del Condado de Mono y la Fundación High Sierra Energy se están asociando para obtener una subvención bibliotecaria a nivel estatal para ofrecer programas relacionados con el tema de la sostenibilidad en el nuevo año. Hemos creado una breve encuesta para pedirle su opinión sobre qué ideas resuenan más en usted. Por favor haga clic aquí para completar la encuesta. ¡Gracias y esperamos traerles nuevos programas pronto!

Learn more & sign-up on the MonoBookBox webpage.

Register for this month's FREE live-streamed author talks! No library card needed!

CLICK HERE OR IN THE QUICK LINKS MENU TO THE RIGHT

Click on the image below to get instructions to expand your Libby Ebook & Eaudiobook collections to include those of MARINet and Peninsula Library Systems with your Mono County Library Card - more ebooks and eaudiobooks to choose from at your fingertips for FREE! (Mono County is part of NorthNet)

Click the image below to access our new FREE online tutoring assistance provided by the California State Library!

Click the image below to sign up for our next author talk! No library card number needed!

NEW! A FREE Self-Help Legal EBook Collection for Mono County Library Cardholders! Check them out from home, office or school! Click here or find it on the Law Library page under the PROGRAMS menu above.

DID YOU KNOW WE OFFER MANY MORE EBOOKS, EAUDIOBOOKS AND STREAMING VIDEO FOR ALL AGES THAT YOU CAN CHECK OUT FROM HOME? Expore the "ONLINE LIBRARY" menu at the top of this page to see all the online resources you can access for free from home, and check back frequently as we look to add more!

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Volunteer Opportunities

Vintage Books Subcommittee

The Vintage Books Subcommittee sells donated used books that are more valuable than our regular bargain-basement book sale prices, due to age, first edition status, signatures of authors, or other collectible characteristics. This committee of volunteers researches, evaluates, and prices these books for the Mini Book Chalet (our books sales inside the library). Volunteers must be computer literate with access to a computer (library computers are available as is one-on-one training).

For more info, leave your contact information with the Mammoth Lakes library, 760-934-4777, or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Read at Story Time

If you like to read to children and sing simple songs teaching about numbers, the alphabet, the stories, becoming a Story Time volunteer is perfect for you! Please contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.for details.

Storytime

Mammoth Lakes Library offers two weekly Storytimes:

Storytime - Wednesdays @ 10:30

Itty Bitty Rhyme Time - Fridays @ 10:30

Storytime is intended for children 2-5 years old and includes songs, stories and hands-on activities to help promote early learning skills such as executive function, fine and gross motor skills & imaginative play.

Itty Bitty Rhyme Time is intended for younger children, aged 0-24 months and includes songs, rhymes & fingerplays as well as a book followed by hands-on activities to help promote early learning skills such as tactile exploration, creative exploration and fine and gross motor skills. Both programs aim to foster social interaction for children and their big humans.

While each of these programs is designed with a specific age group in mind, you are welcome to attend the program that best fits your schedule. That being said, note that the selected books and hands-on activities may not fit as well to your child’s developmental level if you attend the storytime intended for an older/younger audience.

Wee Make

Part of the Wee Connect Project, the Mammoth Lakes Library recently introduced Wee Make as a new program offering that provides supplies & space for you and your child to make and create. Ask at the circulation desk about the Wee Make art cart, and they will let you into the Children’s Program Room. Make and create to your little’s content, clean up any messes with the supplies provided, and return the cart to the circulation desk. By offering supplies and space, we hope to make the library more accessible for you and yours!

Wee Play

Also part of the Wee Connect Project, this program will be coming soon to the Mammoth Lakes Library! Because free-play is such a vital part of early learning, we’re purchasing an array of toys for children 0-5 that you can enjoy with your little ones. Like the Wee Make art cart, you’ll be able to stop by the circulation desk and ask to be let into the Children’s Program Room to have access to the toys. Stay and play as long as you’d like – we only ask that you only play with the toys displayed on the shelves and return them to their home when finished. Please let the library staff know when you are leaving so that we can lock the door after you leave.

Stay Connected

Looking for more details on what's happening at the library for early learners? ¿Está buscando más detalles sobre lo que está sucediendo en la biblioteca para los primeros estudiantes? Follow @Mammoth Lake Library on Facebook and/or Instagram, or check out the additional resources below. Siga @Mammoth Lake Library en Facebook y/o Instagram, o consulte los recursos adicionales a continuación.

Youth Programming Newsletter - Quarterly

Youth Programs Calendar - October

Youth Programming Newsletter Sign-up

Mono County Early Literacy Facebook Group

Musical Storytime from the Felici Trio

Ensemble-in-Residence with Chamber Music Unbound

Every year, the Mammoth Lakes Friends of the Library Foundation host the Felici Trio at the Mammoth Lakes Library for a magical Musical Storytime with the youngest grades at Mammoth Elementary Schools (Tk - Grade 2). While these interactive performances are once again offered in person, the Felici Trio put together a virtual version of their Musical Storytimes during the pandemic, which we are pleased to share with you. Click through the images below to explore and learn from these wonderful performances.

Frederick the Field Mouse (for Kindergarten students)

Wolfie Mozart (Grade 1)

J.S. Bach and His Musical Family (Grade 2)

Fundraising Mammoth Lakes Friends of the Library

How Do We Raise Funds?

In additional to funds raised through annual membership dues, we also have several ways to raise funds that go to the support of the Mammoth Lakes Branch Library. These include:

Operate a used book store, inside the Library.

MINI BOOK CHALET -- OPEN INSIDE THE LIBRARY

MiniBCOpen

There is a good selection of quality used books at low prices. Open all Library hours.

Hold raffles, auctions, and other fundraisers.

Online Research

Mono County Library Sponsored Resources

You can access these resources using your 14 digit library card number:

Britannica School

- Online encyclopedia with several tools to help students begin their research projects, including a citation generator, a double-click dictionary and audio options.

Proquest Homework Support Resources - use your Mono County Library Card to access these resources remotely:

- CultureGrams Unique cultural information provided by natives and long-term residents on daily life and social customs around the world. The World Edition is written at a higher Lexile for older grades. Grades 3+
- ELibrary A massive collection of digitized newspapers, magazines and images with editorialized topic pages to aid with navigation. Grades 6+.
- SIRS Discoverer Selected articles and graphics and books for social issues for early learners. Grades 3+
- SIRS Issues Researcher Selected articles and graphics on the enduring and talked-about issues of the day. Grades 6+.
- Research Companion (create account by opening at the Library and then use your login for remote access). A tutorial product providing video instruction on the important concepts in information literacy. Grades 9+
- School and Educators Complete . Thousands of multidisciplinary ebooks available 24/7. Grade 9+ and educators

California Library Services for People with Print Disabilities

FREE Resources (library card number not required):

Online Archive of California

- The OAC provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary source collections (artwork, manuscripts, papers, historic photographs, and so on) maintained by more than 200 libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California — including collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses. The OAC is a core component of the University of California California Digital Library (CDL) and is administered by the Digital Special Collections program.

California Digital Newspaper Collection

- The California Digital Newspaper Collection contains over 400,000 pages of significant historical California newspapers published from 1846-1922, including the first California newspaper, the Californian, and the first daily California newspaper, the Daily Alta California. It also contains issues of several current California newspapers that are part of a pilot project to preserve and provide access to contemporary papers.

Calisphere

- Calisphere is the University of California free public gateway to a world of primary sources. More than 200,000 digitized items — including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts — reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history.

Driver Education Program

- Includes 11 car practice tests, 6 motorcycle practice tests, 3 CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) practice tests, 3 online driver’s manuals (car, motorcycle, CDL), and a FAQ section with detailed answers to 100+ DMV-related questions.
  
  Historical Archives - So. Mono County Historial Society

Scans of Local Newspapers (Provided by So. Mono County Historical Society)

Tales Along El Camino Sierra, an Eastern Sierra history resource has a YouTube Channel with short historical videos.

Summer Reading Challenge July 2023

Read & Raffles
Kids’ Book Club
Special Events

Read & Raffles

Potions, dragons & gems -- oh my!

Celebrate the magic of the mountains & expand your imagination! Log your reading for a chance to win some magical prizes -- from a spyglass to a panning kit, a golden snitch and magical wands, even your own rock tumbler. Oh, did we mention the black dragon Squishmallow?

Sign up online using Beanstack (website or Beanstack Tracker App) or at your local library to receive a paper game board. Log your reading each day & earn a raffle ticket for every 2 hours logged. Get yourself a bonus ticket for completing the challenge (that is, reading 10 hours in the month of July) and for attending a special event at the library. Can’t make it to your local library? We’ll give you a bonus ticket if you make it a point to read outside – because an outside reading nook is a magical thing!

Kids’ Book Club Ideal for children aged 8 - 12 (5+ okay with parental support)

This summer, we are inviting Mono County readers to join us in reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Sign up at your local library (or email your Youth Librarian at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and get your very own copy of the book for FREE! We have discussions and activities inspired by the book scheduled throughout the county. See the calendar below to see where you want to join.

Kids Book Club Calendar

Special Events

We’ve got special events happening all across Mono County! Check out the calendar and short descriptions below.

Mineral Dig

Minerals are naturally formed by geological processes – and that’s pretty magical. Humans have long valued minerals for both their beauty and their function, from diamonds as jewelry to iron for building, clay for crafts & living and copper for medicinal purposes. Join the Mineral Dig at your local library & practice your excavation skills. Carefully extract a mineral from a lump of dried dirt & take him home for keeps! You can consider turning it into something or adding it to your rock & mineral collection.

Note: One of the Summer Reading Challenge prizes is a rock tumbler if you're thinking of becoming a rockhound!

Leather Workshop

Join Youth Librarian Carissa Devine for a hands-on leathercraft workshop. Using a touch of water and wooden mallets, carving stamps & embroidery wheels, personalize your own strip of buffalo leather into a bookmark or bracelet.

Power of Crystals Workshop

– at Mammoth Lakes Library only –

Join Kim from the Smoketree Apothecary for an introductory workshop on the Power of Crystals. We will learn about the properties of crystals and how they can be used as well as local crystals that can be found in our magical mountains. Kim will also share a few tips on collecting crystals.

After Kim’s workshop, the Makerspace team will be joining us for wire-wrapping crystal pendants!.

This workshop is for school-aged children, K-12.

Note: Because this event is a collaboration with the Makerspace team & their supplies, all participants must sign a Makerspace waiver.

Animal Tracking Magic with ESIA

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to communicate with animals? This course is a great first step. You’ll be learning how to look for clues left by four-legged friends that tell of their presence. Unlock your intrinsic connection to nature and learn how to read the world around you.

Wand-making