Stonington Free Library

Sustainability and Accessibility Update

The Stonington Free Library aims to provide for all who want access to our space, our programs and our services. We focus on meeting existing community needs while continually planning for a rapidly changing future.

The Great Stonington Read Winter Reading Challenges

THE GREAT STONINGTON READ is the umbrella for our Winter Reading Challenges, 50 to Grow On (ages 7 and younger), Family Reading Challenge (school age) and Read BOLD! (teens – adults). All programs will run December 1 – April 1.  We are celebrating reading and encouraging literacy across all ages.  Please drop in to register

SFL Nightclub

This summer the Library collaborated with Deidre Toole, Community Classroom Coordinator and Transition Counselor at Stonington High School on an inclusive pilot program called SFL Nightclub.

Sustainers Are Priceless!

Stonington Free Library offers those who wish to support the Library the option to become a sustainer. If you would rather donate on a monthly basis, securely and worry free, we’d be happy to set you up. Each year sustainers receive a report on their contributions along with our wholehearted appreciation for their steadfast support.

You’re special people and we are so grateful that you are with us for the long haul!

The Return of a Legend

Who is the imposing yet amiable man greeting you from above the entrance to the reading room in the Library? He is Samuel Denison Babcock, eminent financier, President, VP or Director of twenty-one different corporations including banks, telephone, railroad and steamship companies. He was born in Stonington in 1822. He was described as ‘a venerable patriarch, self-made, a very respectable man’.

To the Rescue

Beth Walker has been part of the Stonington community for many years. She loves it here and she loves the Library. So, it is no surprise that when she approached the front door on a Friday afternoon in July and found it locked, she was incensed.

Library Hours Restored on Fridays

We are deeply appreciative of the many generous contributions made by a group of area residents and businesses which will allow us to reopen the Library on Friday afternoons through July 1, 2019. Local resident Beth Walker spearheaded this independent fundraising effort. Beth has long been a passionate supporter of the Library and took it upon herself to reach out to her network both to raise awareness of the Library’s current funding challenges and rally her friends, local businesses and the community to show how important the Library is to them and everyone who lives in Stonington.

Little Free Libraries

The Little Free Library movement began in 2009 when Todd Bol built a miniature model schoolhouse, put it on a post in his front yard, filled it with books and put up a
sign stating, “Free Books.” It was a way to honor his mom—a former school teacher— and to share his love of reading with his neighborhood. The idea took off, and now there are thousands of Little Free Libraries and thanks to a collaboration between the Stonington Village Improvement Association, Stonington High School and the Library, we have four of these magical structures right here in Stonington.