Cumberland County Library System (CCLS) serves residents of all ages with many resources and programs.
Library services are available free to county residents and those living in the Shippensburg Area School District.
Residents may obtain a county-wide library card at any CCLS facility. People living outside Cumberland County without a valid Access Pennsylvania card from their home library may purchase a non-resident card for $60 per year or $5 per month.
The county system, founded in 1960, is funded by a county-wide library tax on real estate, state aid and local donations.
The federated library system consists of an administrative office, seven local libraries and one branch facility. The administrative office is a department of county government.
Bosler Memorial Library and Cleve J. Fredricksen Library are the system’s two reference resource centers. They are open additional hours and have more in-depth resources to help people with their information or research needs.
People are also reading…
Jonelle Prether Darr is executive director of CCLS.
Computer catalog
All library materials — books, compact discs, DVDs, videos, tapes, puppets, kits and so forth — are listed in the system’s county-wide computer catalog.
The computer catalog also allows users to do the following for any library:
- Search the online catalog for materials;
- Request items;
- Find out if items are on the shelf or checked out;
- Identify each library’s newest materials;
- Find out what is checked out on a card;
- Renew borrowed items;
- Search for children’s materials, or items in special formats such as audiovisual or large-print materials.
Internet
Each system library has at least two public computers to access the Internet. The system’s largest, Fredricksen, has 15. All libraries have wireless Internet access available.
Computers are available on a first-come, first-serve basis for any library card holder. Users generally are limited to one hour use per day to make Internet service available to as many people as possible.
To assist families with providing Internet supervision, parents may block their child’s library card from Internet use. The library system’s Internet service is filtered for all users under age 17.
The system’s Web site at www.cumberlandcountylibraries.org allows users to learn more about each library’s services, search the system catalog, renew items, place holds on items and use reference databases.
A variety of reference databases are available on the Web site, including full-text magazine, journal and newspaper indexes and encyclopedias, as well as resources for young children. Among the databases are HeritageQuest (a genealogy database), Health and Wellness Resource Center, Biography Resource Center, Morningstar and World Book Online.
Terms
Most materials are loaned free for two weeks. DVDs and videos are loaned for one week. A due date receipt is included with items borrowed.
Most items may be renewed twice. DVDs and videos may be renewed once. But nothing may be renewed if someone else is waiting to borrow it.
Items may be renewed at the circulation desk, by phone at 240-7889 or by self-service online using a library card number and personal identification number.
Items may be returned to any CCLS member or Access Pennsylvania public library.
Each library has an after-hours return bin for library books, but fragile items such as DVDs, videos and audio tapes may only be returned in bins designated for those items.
CCLS also has a service called STAR that provides free home delivery of large-print books and books-on-tape to elderly and homebound readers.
Shippensburg Public Library
73 W. King St.; 532-4508; director Susan Sanders.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Summer Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Shippensburg offers more than 50,000 items, including books, large-print books, newspapers, magazines, audio books, videos and music.
Story time programs will begin in September for infants to 6-year-olds. Call the library for details.
The library’s Pennsylvania Room contains extensive resources for tracing local history and genealogy. as well as census information on microfilm.
Shippensburg Library has extensive holdings of books related to fine arts. It has two computers and two printers for public word-processing use, encyclopedias and other reference sources in print or electronically, and six Internet computers.
The library building was constructed in 1880 as the George Stewart home and remodeled in 1936. It was sold to the library in 1956. The second-floor rooms have been converted to a library for children.
John Graham Library
9 Parsonage St., Newville; 776-5900; director Sally Smith; johngraham@ccpa.net.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Children’s storytime begins each Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Registration is required by calling the library. Each session can accommodate about 25 children.
Holdings include 20,000 books plus videos, large-print books and tapes.
The Friends of John Graham Library assists the library with fund-raising and advocacy. Members also volunteer to help staff the library and provide building maintenance.
The library building was the Grahams’ family home and a summer vacation house for the late Katherine Graham after her husband’s death. Mr. Graham bequeathed the home to John Graham Library Association.
In 1992 the C. Fremont Graham Memorial Children’s Room and an office were added, expanding services to more children and freeing space for adult materials.
Bosler Memorial Library
158 W. High St., Carlisle; 243-4642; director Linda Rice.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m to 5 p.m. Saturdays, plus Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. from September through June.
The Bookery, the Friends of the Bosler Library’s book-sale room, is open Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.; and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Bosler provides extensive year-round programming for children. Included are story times for infants through elementary-age children, after-school programs, puppet shows, summer reading and special evening programs.
The library has a free computer lab for word processing, spreadsheets, research, and other needs. Instructional classes are offered at various days and times.
The library has more than 106,000 holdings, including thousands of popular and educational CDs, DVDs, and tapes as well as subscriptions to more than 150 newspapers and magazines.
Also offered are reference materials, much of which focuses on business, book delivery to the homebound and programs for adults. Bosler also features a Pennsylvania/Local History Room.
Amelia S. Givin Free Library
114 N. Baltimore Ave., Mt. Holly Springs; 486-3688; director Cynthia Stratton Thompson.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The library has a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction materials, including “how-to” and hobby books, family and children’s videos, spoken cassettes, compact discs and DVDs.
The library was the first public library in Cumberland County. The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The oldest portion of the library, one of Mt. Holly’s best-known landmarks, is shaped like a castle and boasts an all-wood interior, a spiral staircase and fireplaces.
A wing built in 1989 houses more books, a children’s area and a large meeting room.
The library offers storytime sessions for newborns through grade two. Call the library for specific times.
Adult and family programs are offered frequently.
Joseph T. Simpson Public Library
16 N. Walnut St., Mechanicsburg; 766-0171; director Sue Erdman.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday hours during the school year are 1 to 5 p.m. In July and August, the library closes at 2 p.m. Saturday and does not open Sunday.
Story time sessions for babies through 6 years are held throughout the year, as are programs for school-age children, teens and adults.
The collection includes materials for children, teens and adults in the form of books, DVDs, CDs, magazines and large print books.
The library, established in 1961, has been housed in the former Home and Hearth building since 1996. The building had been a grain warehouse built in the 1840s and briefly was used as a hospital during the Civil War’s Gettysburg Campaign.
The library is using 16,800 square feet over three floors for the nearly 99,000 items in its collection.
Cleve J. Fredricksen Library
100 N. 19th St., Camp Hill; 761-3900; director Darlene Ford.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Sunday hours from September through May are 1 to 5 p.m.
The 37,000-square-foot facility was completed in 2000 and houses more than 117,000 items including books formatted for mp3 players, books on tape, bestsellers, large print books, books and music on CDs, videos and DVDs, software for children on CD-ROM, magazines and newspapers, puppets, theme-based Discovery Kits, a parent-teacher collection and extensive recreational and reference resources.
Twenty-nine stained glass panels represent local historical sites on the West Shore. Tours are available upon request.
The library offers free use of Internet computers as well as free wireless access, meeting room space for organizations and businesses, quiet study rooms and free blood pressure screenings.
The library holds programming throughout the year for preschoolers, school-age children, teens, and adults.
Programs include Picture Book Time, Reading Roundup, Just Baby and Me, Teddy Bear Time, Library for Lunch, Family Place, Video Game Tournaments, Chess Night, Movies, Concerts on the Lawn, Friends of Fredricksen Cultural Series,
and much more. Schedules are available at the library.
Drive-up book drops are open 24 hours.
East Pennsboro Branch Library
98 S. Enola Drive, Enola, on the second floor of the East Pennsboro Township Municipal Building; 732-4274; branch manager Maryann Haft.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday; and noon to 5 p.m. Friday.
This facility, a branch of Fredrickson Library, offers free wireless Internet access and three Internet computers for public use. In addition, this library’s collection of approximately 16,000 items include bestsellers, audio books, DVDs and videos, and a great children’s room with puppets, books and DVDs. If you can’t find what you want, just tell the staff and they will be happy to order the item for you.
The library offers story times for children ages 3 1/2 to pre-kindergarten, Toddler Times for children 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 accompanied by an adult, as well as a variety of programs for adults. Schedules are available at the library.
Anyone interested in becoming a library volunteer may contact Haft at the library.
New Cumberland Public Library
1 Benjamin Plaza; 774-7820; director Joy Hamsher.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The library was built as an addition to an 1819 mansion in 1976 and was recently expanded for the second time. The mansion rooms now function as conference and meeting rooms as well as a museum that houses local antiques.
The Charlie Krone Art Gallery on the second floor displays works of a different local artist each month. Two showcases, one on the first floor and one in the Children’s Department on the lower level, also exhibit art.
The library’s 2.5 acres double as an educational garden and a borough park.
Special programs at the library include a monthly travel program, monthly book reviews, weekly “Great Books” discussions, bi-monthly writing workshops and a weekly summer poetry program.
Book sales are held the first and third Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Foundation House adjoining the library property.
Children’s programs include several weekly story times, summer reading programs and special events including reading to therapy dogs for elementary age readers. Call the library for information.
The library has 93,000 items, including books on tape, large-print books, videos, compact discs, DVDs and a strong local history collection. The library is now wireless for patrons with laptops with wireless hookups.
