News & Announcements

Shop Small Business Saturday with CALS

On Saturday, November 27, retail enthusiasts are invited to shop locally at Library Square. You can shop small this year by purchasing from local artists and entrepreneurs; give the gift of supporting a new business while also giving unique and handcrafted gifts to your loved ones. The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) will be participating in Small Business Saturday at two locations downtown: The Galleries &


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CALS receives $225,000 grant from the Windgate Foundation

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Foundation is honored to have received a grant of $225,000 from the Windgate Foundation.

The grant will support three programs:

  • $75,000 will expand the library’s community outreach program
  • $100,000 will support the hiring of two digital literacy coaches
  • $50,000 will fund instructors,

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Condray Chosen as 2021 Worthen Literary Prize Recipient

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) has announced the 2021 recipient of the Worthen Literary Prize. Kathleen Condray was chosen for her book, Das Arkansas Echo: A Year in the Life of Germans in the Nineteenth-Century South, which offers a fresh perspective on the German speakers who settled in a modernizing Arkansas.


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CALS Ron Robinson Theater Suspending Programming Due to COVID-19

The Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Ron Robinson Theater has suspended its August 2021 reopening plans until 2022 due to the rise in COVID-19 cases across the state. Movies Meant for the Big Screen, Terror Tuesdays, Made in Arkansas showcase screenings, and the new Thirsty Throwback Thursdays series will all be rescheduled when it is safer for large groups to gather in enclosed spaces.


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French Artist Donates Sculpture to CALS

Just prior to the pandemic, French artist, Stéphane Bolongaro, donated a large dog sculpture to the Central Arkansas Library System; “Totor” is a pop-art style sculpture made from resin. The 10-foot-tall dog covered in large orange spots can be seen from the parking lot of the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center, 4800 W.


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CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas Turns 15

The Central Arkansas Library System’s Encyclopedia of Arkansas is celebrating 15 years as one of the most trusted resources for information about Arkansas’s history and culture. In celebration of the EOA’s fifteenth anniversary, this month’s Legacies & Lunch, May 5 at noon, will feature historian William H. Pruden III to discuss “Lessons in Learning: The CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas &


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Little Rock Chosen as “Champion” for Model Community

CALS to host series of panel discussions to share “Our Common Purpose”

Arkansas’s capital city will be the nation’s municipal “champion” as part of a nationwide effort – led by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences – to increase civic learning and engagement across America. The Academy launched a bipartisan Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship to study political and civic life around the country.


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CALS Announces Earth Day All Month

Library invites patrons to “Go Green with CALS”

To honor Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) is celebrating all month long. The initiative, “Go Green with CALS,” will offer a variety of socially distanced in-person, virtual, and grab-and-go programing across all the branches and will have many ways for adults and children alike to reflect on and celebrate Earth Day.


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