Central Library SUMMER hours 2023 — Mondays/Wednesdays 9am-8:30pm; Tuesdays/Fridays 9am-6pm; Thursdays 11am-6pm; Saturdays, 10am-5pm (through June). *CLOSED* Saturdays in July/August and *CLOSED* Sundays.
FFRPL, Central Library, and all branches will be *CLOSED* for Juneteenth (Monday, June 19) and Independence Day (Tuesday, July 4).
The Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library (FFRPL) participates on Central Library’s Exhibits Team; provides supplemental funding for exhibits when needed; and helps plan, present, and promote many of the Library’s juried and historical exhibits.
Art of the Book (left and center), Rochester Edible Books Festival and Competition (right)
For many years, FFRPL has supported Central Library’s juried shows, including Annual Art of the Book exhibitions and the Rochester Edible Books Festival and Competition.
Learn more about FFRPL-supported juried shows at the Library here.
As part of the celebration of its 150th anniversary, Lollypop Farm has mounted a historic exhibit at the Rundel Memorial Library Building in Central Library’s Anthony Mascioli Gallery. The exhibit is on view now through August 2023 during regular Library hours, and it is free and open to the public.
The exhibit features artifacts from Lollypop Farm’s history, an historical timeline, a humane law enforcement display, historical pet care and veterinary items from the last 150 years (in collaboration with Genesee Country Village & Museum and Cornell University), and information on the origin of the name Lollypop Farm.
Lollypop Farm is a nonprofit organization and the largest animal welfare organization helping pets and people in the Greater Rochester area. With a main campus located in Fairport and three other adoption centers throughout the community, the organization provides shelter, care, and adoption for dogs, cats, small animals, birds, reptiles, horses, and other farm animals.
For more information and to meet current animals available for adoption, please visit www.lollypop.org.
Punjab: Land of Five Rivers was on view at the Central Library Rundel Memorial Library Building, December 1, 2021 through March 5, 2022. The exhibit explored the majestic beauty and rich culture of the northern state of Punjab, India. Once an ancient Indus Valley civilization, Punjab is now a modern society of varied religions and ancestries revered for its agricultural harvest, vibrant festivals, colorful clothing, energetic music and dance, savory cuisine, and inspirational poetry. Known as the Breadbasket of India, Punjab produces an abundance of wheat and rice that is not only life sustaining but a symbol of the renewal of the human spirit.
Central Library Celebrates the National Museum of African American History and Culture With An Online Smithsonian Poster Exhibit
Central Library is proud to present this online version of the Smithsonian’s exhibit A Place for All People: Introducing the National Museum of African American History and Culture in place of the traveling version originally scheduled for Black History Month (February 2021).
Learn more about the Smithsonian poster exhibition here
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s exhibit, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race was on view at Central Library from March through September 2020 (extended due to COVID-19) and was sponsored by Central Library, FFRPL, the William & Sheila Konar Foundation, and the Israel & Helen Wortman Memorial Fund of The Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.
FFRPL worked with Central to offer two free online programs in conjunction with the Deadly Medicine exhibit: Eugenics Under the Nazis and The Complicity of Physicians.
Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism, August – November 2019
In 2019, FFRPL was proud to support Central Library’s exhibit Crafting Democracy: Fiber Arts and Activism. The exhibition drew upon handicraft to express hope, voice dissent, critique the curtailment of civil rights, comment politically and restore dignity to the human experience in the U.S.
Learn more about the Crafting Democracy exhibit here
Stonewall: 50 Years Out – 2019
In 2019, FFRPL sponsored Central Library’s exhibition Stonewall: 50 Years Out, commemorating the anniversary of the uprising that sparked the gay liberation movement and exploring the history of Rochester’s LGBTQ+ communities, organized by the Local History & Genealogy Division.
Learn more about the Stonewall exhibit here
Because Of Women Like Her – 2017
In 2017, FFRPL sponsored Central Library’s exhibit, Because of Women Like Her … Winning the Vote in New York State as part of the NYS Suffrage Centennial Celebration.
Al-Mutanabbi Street: Start the Conversation – 2014
In 2014, FFRPL sponsored Al-Mutanabbi Street: Start the Conversation at Central Library, an international exhibit of over 260 artist’s books and broadsides that was organized by Letterpress and Book Artists, in response to the car bombing in Iraq, that targeted Al-Mutanabbi Street, which was populated by hundreds of bookstores, publishers, printers, bookstalls and cafés, and had served as the booksellers’ street in Baghdad for hundreds of years. The exhibit sought to educate and enlighten our community about the ‘silent consequences’ of war, including censorship, freedom of speech and free access to ideas.
Partners: Central Library, The City of Rochester Sister Cities, Empire State College State University of New York, Monroe Community College, Nazareth College’s School of Education, Writers & Books, the Genesee Center for the Arts & Education, the Rochester Brainery and Visual Studies Workshop.
Pride & Passion: the African American Baseball Experience – 2013
In 2013, FFRPL sponsored Central Library’s Pride & Passion: the African American Baseball Experience exhibit, which celebrated the story of black baseball players in the U.S. over the previous century and a half.
