We offer so many free services and resources here at the library that most people are not aware of! I've tried to narrow down my scope to just the services for children and their families, but for a full list of the resources and services we have available for adults, check out this landing page!
Each of our 21 branches offers a variety of story times for little ones and their families! These programs are a wonderful opportunity to learn and practice early literacy skills with your child, meet other families with young children, and socialize your child. We offer story times just for babies and their caregivers, preschool story times, Music and Movement, evening story times, and more! Click here for a schedule of story times to find one closest to you. Come join us for a bilingual Spanish and English Cuentacuentos at Main every Thursday at 10:30 AM! This Spanish-immersion program features songs, puppets, and a craft at the end.
Not to toot my own horn here, but I am part of a pretty fabulous team at Bringing Books to Life! We have so many free resources for young children and their families as they get ready to begin the lifelong journey of reading. From professional development teacher workshops for early childhood educators to community parent workshops, our program has been nationally recognized as a pioneering early literacy initiative.
We offer ten different early literacy workshops for parents and caregivers of children! Click here to learn more about each workshop and schedule one for your school or organization by calling us at (615) 880-1625 or emailing us at bringingbookstolife@nashville.gov. Each workshop can be delivered in-person or virtually, and we do offer two of these in a Parent-and-child format, providing engaging activities for the children attending.
BBTL hosts public Saturday TrainTN-certified teacher trainings on a monthly basis and on-demand. There are twelve different trainings available. Contact us for more information and to schedule one for your faculty today!
Interested in a free partnership with Bringing Books to Life? Our partners have access to priority scheduling for Puppet Truck visits, special interactive story times, giveaway books, and classroom activity kits. All early childhood education programs in Davidson County are eligible! Click here to become a partner site.
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Our incredible Puppet Truck spreads the joy of storytelling and puppets all over Davidson County! We rotate our travelling shows quarterly and can come to daycare and pre-K centers, schools, senior centers, and other organizations and institutions across Davidson County. It is also available for public community events in Davidson County. The Puppet Truck cannot perform at birthday parties, private events, or locations outside Davidson County, however. Our current shows in rotation are The Frog Prince and Tomás and the Library Lady. Request a show for your center here!
Read to Rise is another early literacy initiative to get families with young kids reading! It's easy to participate. Just read with your child for 90 days and keep track of this using the Beanstack app or a paper log (printable). Every 90 days that you read, your child will receive a special prize! Just bring your completed log to the library to receive each reward. Children can repeat this as many times as they like until they enter Kindergarten. Read tp Rise also curates special book lists, posts monthly Activity Calendars, and has a super fun monthly newsletter full of exciting early literacy ideas for families to put into action.
Limitless Libraries is an amazing program that serves as a partnership between NPL and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS). Children enrolled in any MNPS school, as well as teachers/faculty, have access to any materials from the 21 library branches. Using their student/employee ID number (always begins with "190"), children and staff can borrow books from any library, with the option of having them delivered to their school or picking them up at any branch. Limitless will soon be débuting their brand new Bookmobile, an on-wheels library that will extend Limitless' reach and serve students at charter schools. Stay tuned!
NAZA is a collaborative partnership between NPL, MNPS, and over 30 local youth development organizations in Nashville that serves children in out-of-school educational programs. These include before and aftercare programs, summer learning programs, and more. Visit their website to find free programs near you or at your child's school!
We have over 100 themed Curriculum Kits available for check out to educators and adults to share with their students. Each Curriculum Kit contains up to fifty books, audio, and videos based on popular classroom study topics. There is also a series of kits called The Concious Child Kit, which aim to help classrooms and families start conversations around kindness, diversity, racial equity, justice. There are a number of topics including Identity and Belonging, Immigrants and Refugees, and Joy and Self Love. These also come in two different age ranges: ages 4-7 and ages 8-11. Kits can be borrowed for six weeks (no renewals, sorry) and are available by placing a hold on the website. These kits must be returned inside a Nashville Public Library location. Browse our Curriculum Kit collection here!
Homeschool Friends is a program that brings together home school families in Nashville for an hour of social learning experiences. Every week, families explore a new topic through fun games, books, and STEAM activities. Homeschool Friends is for all ages, from Kindergarten -12th grade. Here at Main, we host Homeschool Friends weekly every Thursday from 2-3 PM. The Bordeaux branch hosts their own Homeschool Friends every 2nd Wednesday from 12-1 PM for families in the Bordeaux and Whites Creek area. Goodlettsville also hosts Homeschool Friends the 3rd Thursday of every month from 2-3 PM. Come make friends with other home school families and enjoy some free educational programming!
We offer tours of the Main Library, including our Special Collections, and all the different branches. Schedule a tour here or contact branches directly to set one up there. The Main library has a strikingly beautiful art-deco look to it and features our Civil Rights Room and Votes for Women Room. The Children's department also offers tours every Thursday morning or any other weekday afternoon (by appointment). The Teen room also offers tours (for 40 people or fewer) that can last up to 2 hours and include special demos on their 3D printers. We also offer tours of our state-of-the-art Equal Access and Library Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing room (for groups of 10 or fewer people). If you have never visited this area, I highly recommend it, as there are some very interesting pieces of equipment from decades ago.
Our in-house puppet troupe, Wishing Chair, also offers personal puppet shows for groups of ten or more every Thursday morning. Appointments must be made at least three weeks ahead of time. If your organization, school, or community is interested in booking a group puppet show from Wishing Chair, fill out this form at least 3 weeks in advance.
Librarians love a good field trip! Children's Services, Teen Services, Special Collections, Studio NPL, and Bringing Books to Life all offer outreach to schools, community groups, etc. We absolutely love the opportunity to come share stories and books with the community here in Nashville, so don't be shy! Click here to arrange for one.
Community Passports grant you access to the Country Music Hall of Fame and to borrow BCycles (Nashville's rentable e-bikes) for free! Be sure to plan ahead, however, as you have to place a hold on them with your NPL library card account.
Check out the CMHFM Community Passport for two free entries to this world-class museum! There are lots of kid-friendly exhibits and activities along the way. I'd highly recommend this museum to everyone, regardless of their taste in music. There really is something for everyone here! Make sure you check out their events calendar so you won't miss out on anything super exciting! They often have weekend programs for families and children, as well as live music events.
You can borrow a BCycle fob for up to one week at NPL. Place a hold on a BCycle pass, pick it up at your desired NPL branch, sign a waiver, and you're good to go! You can pick out a bike from any BCycle station in Nashville and use it for up to two hours before docking it at a station. Return the key fob at any NPL location. If you lose the fob, there is a $5 fee, so be careful to keep track of it! You must be 18 years or older to check out a BCycle Pass.
The Library of Things is an amazing collection of useful odds and ends, all available for free check out with your library card! The categories of things are Musical Instruments, Tools & Electronics, Food & Party, Health & Fitness, Activities & Games, and Crafts & Hobbies. I've personally checked out some awesome items from the Library of Things, including an ice cream maker, some fitness equipment, and a sewing machine. The possibilities are literally endless! You can check any item out for a limit of three weeks, with the option to renew up to three times (if no one else has put it on hold). Patrons are also allowed to borrow two items from the Library of Things at once.
We have over 200 board games available for checkout here at Nashville Public Library! From role-playing games (RPG) to cooperative games, we've got quite the selection. You can check out up to two games at once, for a maximum of three weeks (sorry, no renewing these). We also accept gently-used board game donations. Family game night, anyone?!
Our Teen Center here at Main is home to a beautiful 3D printer! We provide free printing for anyone who fills out this form (only one submission at a time) and submits their design in .STL format (I can't say that I know what this means). We cannot accommodate short-notice orders, however, so please be patient! The Teen Center also provides workshops for teens who would like to learn how to use the 3D printer. For more information, visit the 3D Printing landing page!
All of our NPL locations boast free wireless internet for patrons and most have access to printers, fax machines, and color photocopying. Anyone who has an NPL library card receives up to $10 of free printing (color and black & white) per month. Black and White prints cost 10¢ per page and color prints are 25¢ per page. If you run out of your free $10, you can pay at the machine using change or $1 bills only (no larger bills). You can print from a library computer or your own device. I know from experience that printing is sometimes tricky, so never be afraid to approach a librarian in the computer area for help! More info on printing here. We also have laptop "vending machines" at some of our locations (Main, Bordeaux, Madison, & Southeast) where patrons can borrow laptops for in-library use! These laptops are equipped with Microsoft programs such as Word, Excel, Publisher, and PowerPoint.
One of my favorite lending programs at NPL is the Seed Exchange! Borrow seeds from any NPL branch (except for Watkins Park) using your library card, and get your garden growing! We have lots of different seed varieties including vegetables, fruits, herbs, and more! Every year, I check out seeds for my garden, and I can vouch for their quality! At the end of your growing season, harvest your seeds and bring them back to the library so that they can recirculate. The Seed Exchange also features gardening workshops throughout the year! Click here to see our upcoming workshops about planning a spring garden!
Local artists generously lend out their works to the Metro Arts Lending Library Collection, for patrons to borrow for up to three months! All pieces are framed and ready to adorn an empty wall. One thing to know is that art must be picked up and returned at its respective "home" branch. Donelson, East, Green Hills, Hermitage, Madison, Old Hickory, and Southeast all house their own Art Lending Library! Please do not stick art in the book drop! Bring it to the front desk to return. You may check out one artwork at a time, with up to one renewal. Browse available art here!
Dalya, at the Madison Branch, provides weekly support for our Spanish-speaking patrons to help them access our Library Resources: Applying for a Library Card, finding a book, using the computer, printing, using our online resources, etc. She is also available to help them fill out forms online, use Microsoft Word, etc. for patrons that need more one-on-one support with technology.
The next dates available are:
Dalya, en la sucursal de Madison, provee apoyo semanal a personas hispanohablantes para ayudarles a acceder a nuestros recursos de la biblioteca: Solicitar una tarjeta de biblioteca, encontrar un libro, usar la computadora, imprimir, utilizar nuestros recursos en línea, etc. También está disponible para ayudarles a completar formularios en línea, usar Microsoft Word, etc. para los que necesitan más apoyo individual con la tecnología.
Las próximas fechas son:
Pathway for New Americans is an information booth available at all NPL locations, as well as select community centers throughout Nashville (Coleman Park Community Center, East Park Community Center, Madison Park Community Center, Southeast Community Center, & Smith Springs Regional Center). They feature free information about English language learning (ESL), immigration, naturalization, and citizenship. NPL and Parks also partner with local nonprofits to host English and citizenship skills classes.
We also offer conversation groups in English and Spanish at select branches. Southeast has an English Conversation Club that meets on Thursdays at 10:30 AM, and Thompson Lane on Wednesdays at 6 PM. Thompson Lane branch also offers a Spanish-speaking club that meets every Saturday at noon, followed by the Spanish Book Club, Saturdays at 1 PM! Both of these branches also offer Multilingual Computer keyboards in the following languages: Arabic, Hindi, Kurdish, Nepali, Somali, and Spanish.
All of our branches offer programming specifically for teens (ages 12-18). These include crafting sessions, clubs, spoken word, movie matinées, and volunteer days. Check out our calendar for the most up-to-date offerings!
Studio NPL is a technology-forward learning program for teens that focuses on STEAM, digital literacy, and job readiness. They offer workshops and facilities for 3D printing, music production, podcasting photography, graphic design, creative writing, and more. Check your local branch to see if they have a Teen Center, and which types of programming they offer!
The Southeast branch Teen Center hosts free ACT Exam prep for high-school students on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. This is an amazing offering, since many ACT prep courses cost a lot! There are also lots of SAT and ACT prep books in our catalog!
