Centralia Regional Library District

Friends of the Library Sale
2026-05-16 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Support the Friends of the Centralia Regional Library by buying used (and sometimes new) books, DVDs, puzzles, and more! Fill up a bag provided by the Friends for only $8 per bag. Become a Friend and get into the sale a whole hour early!
This sale is in the 2nd floor Monken Activity Room, accessible by elevator.

State Representative Blaine Wilhour Traveling Office
2026-05-13 11:00 - 12:30, 2026-04-08 11:00 - 12:30 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
110th District Legislative Assistant Lori Bear of Blaine Wilhour’s office will be in the Library’s back lobby once a month to help anyone with State issues, such as DCFS, FOID, fishing licenses, property taxes, etc.
Share your ideas, voice your concerns, and receive assistance with state government programs and issues.
An appointment is not necessary but if you would like to make an appointment, call 618-665-4109 or connect online at https://repwilhour.com/

Family Fun
2026-05-12 16:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-14 16:00 - 17:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Get ready for some Family Fun!
Each Family Fun night we have a different themed craft and activity for everyone of all ages to do. Other games and activities will be available too, so bring the whole family for an hour of fun!
This event takes place in our 2nd floor Youth Area, accessible by elevator and stairs.

Staff Quick
2026-05-12 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-05-05 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-04-28 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-04-21 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-04-14 14:00 - 16:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Looking for a new job can be frustrating, and you may not have the time to complete multiple job applications. As one of the top hiring agencies, Recruiters at StaffQuick can bypass the introductory period of the job application process and help you find the right job opportunities that meet your needs professionally and financially.
This service is free and happens in our first floor back lobby on Tuesdays from 2-4pm.

Crochet Club
2026-05-11 16:00 - 17:30, 2026-04-13 16:00 - 17:30 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Join Centralia Regional Library District’s social Crochet Club!
Whether you’re new to the craft or a professional, bring your own project to work on as we chat and swap tips and ideas with each other. We will have extra yarn and hooks for those without. Please note that this is not a formal class.
No age restrictions or registration required to join–just come on in!
Crochet Club meets in the second floor Monken Activity Room on the second Monday of every month, unless otherwise noted. The Activity Room is accessible by elevator or stairs.

Afternoon at the Movies
2026-05-09 14:00 - 16:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Enjoy an Afternoon at the Movies, brought to you by the Friends of the Library!
All ages are welcome to join us and admission is free! There will be refreshments.
Doors open 10 minutes to the start of the movie at 2pm on Saturday, May 9, in our 2nd floor Monken Activity Room (accessible by elevator).
Check out which movie we’re watching!

LEGO Club
2026-05-04 16:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-06 16:00 - 17:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Show off your love of LEGO and LEGO building skills in Centralia Regional Library’s LEGO Club for ages 6-11!
This fun, interactive club meets in the 2nd floor Youth Area every 2nd Monday of the month at 4pm, unless of a holiday or other closure. The 2nd floor is accessible by elevator and stairs.

Teen Reading Club
2026-05-02 14:00 - 15:30, 2026-04-04 14:00 - 15:30 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Join Centralia Regional Library’s reading club for ages 12-17!
This club is a laid-back, bring-your-own-reading-content type, with snacks and activities/games. There is no required reading, but a display in the Teen Room will be curated each month for guidance. It’s alright if you don’t read a book–all reading is welcome here, so tell us any kind of story you’ve read. It can be from a game, a movie, a news article, fanfiction–whatever!
And the more meetings you attend, the more entries you’ll get into a prize giveaway at the end of the year!
Currently, meetings are from 2PM to 3:30PM on the first Saturday each month in the 2nd floor Teen Room (elevator accessible).

Bingo
2026-04-29 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-03-25 15:30 - 16:30 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Come play bingo with us and High Point Residence!
It’s free for anyone of any age to play with free prizes up for grabs, from snacks to home goods and seasonal decor to toiletries, so come join us!

Chess Club
2026-04-25 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-03-28 14:00 - 16:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Whether you’re wanting to learn or just wanting to play, come join our Chess Club at Centralia Regional Library!
This club meets in the 2nd floor Monken Activity Room of the Library on the 4th Saturday of each month, from 2-4pm. The Activity Room is accessible by elevator and stairs. No registration is required and all ages are welcome!

Sensory Storytime
2026-04-22 16:30 - 17:00, 2026-04-22 10:30 - 11:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States

Book Club
2026-04-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Join the Centralia Regional Library District’s Book Club for adults!
For this meeting, we are reading The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien.
If you are interested in joining us by becoming a Book Club member, please fill out our member form, especially if you would like for us to place a hold on the book for you. You do not need to have a library card or live in Centralia to join.
Join the Facebook Group!

Line Dancing with Bonnie Love
2026-04-20 17:00 - 18:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States

National Library Week
2026-04-19 - 2026-04-25 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Celebrate National Library Week by finding your joy at Centralia Regional Library!
This celebration week is packed with activities and prizes for everyone who uses the library:
Line Dancing with Bonnie Love on Monday, April 20, 5-6pm, in the 2nd floor Monken Activity Room.
Sensory Storytimes about water, boats, and bubbles on Wednesday, April 22, at 10:30am and 4pm, outside in the Library Park (in case of bad weather, we will move indoors to the 2nd floor Monken Activity Room).
Activity stations set up throughout the library during open hours Monday, April 20, to Friday, April 24:
– Writing and Journaling in the 1st Floor Reading Room
– Arts, Crafts, and Zentangle in the 2nd Floor Junior Room
– Puzzles, Board Games, and LEGO in the 2nd Floor Teen Room
Free bag of popcorn to anyone visiting the library.
Entry into a grand prize giveaway at the end of the week when you use, renew, or replace your library card.
Come tell us how you find joy at the library today!

Cristina Henríquez: Voice, Culture, and Human Connection
2026-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Online, IL, United States
NOTE: This is a live, online event. A recording will be made available for those who register but cannot attend the event live.
Join critically acclaimed, bestselling author, Cristina Henríquez, for a compelling conversation about her work. Henríquez’s newest book, The Great Divide, is a moving exploration of the people who lived, loved, and labored during the construction of the Panama Canal. Named a New York Times’ Editors’ Choice selection and TIME Magazine “100 Must-Read Books of 2024,” The Great Divide explores history and adversity in a place very special to her – her father’s homeland of Panama.
Henríquez has also authored The Book of Unknown Americans, The World in Half, and Come Together, Fall Apart, all to significant acclaim. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Best American Short Stories 2018, and she is a recipient of the 21st Century Award given by The Chicago Public Library Foundation. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and lives in the Chicago suburbs with her family.
Carmen Álvarez will join Henríquez as moderator. Álvarez is an advocate for libraries and Latinx representation in the publishing industry. Her work has appeared in Glamour, Elle, and Vogue and she has a social media presence surpassing 180k followers across platforms.
This event is intended for adults.
This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present (ILP), a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
ILP is committed to inclusion and accessibility. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Closed Captioning are provided for all events by default—no special request needed.
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Registration for this event closes at 5:00 p.m. on event day. Late registrations will be processed after the live event, allowing access to the event recording.

Board Meeting
2026-04-15 16:00 - 18:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
The Centralia Regional Library District Board of Trustees meets the third Wednesday of every month.
Meetings are held in Monken Activity Room, 2nd floor, at the Main Library at 4:00 pm on the date designated and are open to the public. Accessible by elevator or stairs.
A link to the meeting agenda will be posted on this page and a paper copy at the Main Library.

Local Author Fair
2026-03-21 13:00 - 16:00 | Centralia Regional Library District, 515 East Broadway, Centralia, IL, 62801, United States
Illinois authors will be selling, signing, and discussing their books at this meet-and-greet in the 2nd floor Monken Activity Room (accessible by elevator and stairs). Admission is free and there will be a raffle drawing sign-up!
This year’s lineup includes:

Kristina Brand – Ridge Lane Series (2025)
Shelia T. Cisco – The Extinction of the Marriage Covenant: Fact or Fiction (2024)
Lauren Fischer – Orphanland (2025)
Queen Kirkwood-Hatchett – Categories of Women in the Bible (2025)
Lee LoBue – Hungry Dinosaur and the Bad Case of the Tummy GROWLs! (2024)
Jon Christian Minor – The Profane (2025)
Beatrice B. Morgan – Blood Enchantress (2025)
Deb Obermeier – A Simple Stitch Series (2025)
Sami Patron – He Who Waits in the Shadows (2025)
Roxane Runyon – Faces of Faith (2024)
Renea Starr – Come Explore the U.S.A. with Austin the Airplane (2025)
G. ‘Doc’ Swift – The Warpiper Series (2019)

For questions and concerns about the fair, please contact program coordinator Charessa Sistek with the information provided below.
If you are an Illinois author that would like a chance to exhibit at our next fair, let us know!

Beyond the Page with Percival Everett
2026-03-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Online, IL, United States
NOTE: This is a live, online event. A recording will be made available for those who register but cannot attend the event live.
Industrious, irreverent, humble–though he may deny the accusation–Percival Everett, like his fiction, defies categorization. His most recent novel, James, earned both the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award, and his 2001 novel Erasure inspired the film American Fiction, which received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2024.
Everett’s other titles include Dr. No, The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. Despite these accomplishments, he remains devoted to reviewing his own work critically, and indeed his writing process involves intensive research and revision. Tune in for our conversation with Percival Everett to get a glimpse beyond the page.
Brandis Friedman will moderate the event. Friedman is a writer and anchor for WTTW’s Chicago Tonight and Chicago Tonight: Black Voices, and also serves as a champion for libraries.
This event is intended for adults.
This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present (ILP), a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
ILP is committed to inclusion and accessibility. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Closed Captioning are provided for all events by default—no special request needed.
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Registration for this event closes at 5:00 p.m. on event day. Late registrations will be processed after the live event, allowing access to the event recording.
