News & Announcements

The library system will offer more services customized to fill community needs

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) will launch the MicroLibrary at the Millie Brooks Library, 13024 Hwy 365, Wrightsville, with an opening celebration on Tuesday, October 13, at 1:00 p.m. The new MicroLibrary will be a reconfiguration of the library’s space,

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) has added a new book to its publishing catalog. OUTSPOKEN: The Olly Neal Story is the autobiography of civil rights activist Olly Neal Jr., Arkansas’s first black district prosecuting attorney. OUTSPOKEN was published by Butler Center Books, the nonprofit publishing project of the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies,

The Library is working to increase outreach to Latinx and African American population

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) has hired two community liaisons to assist with outreach to the Latinx and African American communities, Maria Aguilar and Jessica McDaniel. The new positions were approved as part of the library’s strategic plan adopted in early 2019.

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) has added Juneteenth to the organization’s paid holiday schedule for employees effective in 2021. The library system notes this is an important step toward building a more equitable community by acknowledging the experiences and obstacles affecting people of color, particularly those in the African American community.

“I can start by imagining how the public library can help us find ways to move our country’s policies closer to her creeds,” wrote CALS Executive Director Nate Coulter in a statement released on June 3 following the killing of George Floyd by an officer in the Minneapolis Police Department.

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) has announced a partnership with Central Arkansas Legal Services to host Lawyers in the Library, a series of presentations on navigating the unique legal challenges related to COVID-19. These presentations are conducted by legal experts and funded by grants from the Legal Services Corporation to supply disaster-related legal aid for both the pandemic and the 2019 flood.

Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) seventeenth annual Six Bridges Book Festival has been rescheduled for Thursday, October 8, through Sunday, October 11, 2020. The event will still include popular events such as Author! Author!, Little Readers Rock (in partnership with the Junior League of Little Rock), and the teen poetry competition. CALS Speaker Series author Tim O’Brien and award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson,

Due to concerns regarding the COVID-19, CALS has made the decision to postpone the Fest until the fall. We hope all will understand. CALS is currently closed until at least May 11, with all public programs suspended at least through May 9.

We had a terrific event planned for April, and we certainly thank everyone for their work.

The Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Max Milam Library, 609 Aplin Avenue, Perryville, will rename its meeting room in honor of Charlie May Simon. Simon, a noteworthy author of children’s literature and nonfiction, was a resident of Perry County during the Great Depression and had a fondness for the people and lifeways of the region.