Conway, Massachusetts
Knowledge is power.
Location & Hours
1 Elm St.
Conway, Massachusetts 01341
413-369-4646
The Field Memorial Library Hours
Open:
Monday 3-6;
Wednesday 2-7;
Saturday 10-2.
Face coverings and social distancing are recommended. Please bring a face covering with you.
Click for an up-to-date list of local places to get a COVID test or vaccine in Franklin County
The Field Memorial Library will be closed on Monday May 29, 2023 in observance of Memorial Day.
We will resume normal hours Wednesday, May 31
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The Field Library is now fully operational in CWMars Library Network
We are distributing our own library cards – the first in 121 years! Patrons can stop in and complete a “Library Registration Form” to receive a Field Memorial Library card. With our card, a patron can search our Conway library collection, all CWMars Libraries, or search any one of the other 157 library members. Patrons can also search for an item we do not hold, put a hold on it at another library, and specify you wish to pick it up at the Field Library in Conway. You will receive an email when it is received at the Field Library.
To search the CWMars network, any of its member libraries, and/or to access your account, click here
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Periodicals such as The Boston Globe, New York Times, The Atlantic, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Academic Journals and more are available through this link: Periodicals and Other Databases. You must be in Massachusetts for free access.
Email us using the form at the bottom of this page with your requests and interests.
News & Notices:
The Field’s new seed library is up and running as of March 1. Stop by during open hours to collect some seeds for your head start on spring!
We also offer many book resources for learning about harvesting, saving, and growing from seeds.
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Our children’s room has hundreds of titles including Board Books, Early Readers, Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Juvenile, and Young Adult (YA) titles in fiction and non-fiction.
MUSEUM PASSES AVAILABLE from the FIELD LIBRARY
Museum Passes – Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Library, we have the passes listed below available to Conway residents. Please note that specific passes to these institutions are required for entry and a library card alone is not enough. The specific passes must be checked out at the library for not more than a one week.
Please Note:
The Clark pass is for one adult only.
The MASS MoCA pass provides gallery admission for 2 adults and 2 children under 16.
The Historic-Deerfield pass admits up to 4. Winter hours end and their 2023 new season kicks off Saturday, April 15
The Pioneer Valley Symphony pass “may be redeemed for up to 4 tickets.”
The Eric Carle Museum admits 2 adults and up to 4 children. These passes expire June 30, 2023
Click on the museum below for their home page.
Clark Art Museum
Mass MoCA
Historic Deerfield
The Pioneer Valley Symphony
The Eric Carle Museum
We also have two Parking Passes for Massachusetts DCR State Parks that charge a parking fee (A $60 VALUE). The DCR Parking Passes are not valid for parking at Quabbin Reservoir; Squantum Point; NorthPoint; Draw Seven Commuter Lots; or for camping. Click here for more details on the Mass DCR website.
For more information, call the library at 413-369-4646 during open hours (see above)
Vintage Book Collection (VBC) The Field Memorial Library has a wonderful collection of antique books published in the 19th and the early twentieth centuries. Many of these books have been part of our collection since the Field Memorial Library opened in 1901! The VBC is located in the Fiction Room. These books are old and some are fragile. They are for use in the library only.
The final report of the CONWAY OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION PLAN for 2022 – 2029, with assistance from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments is available for reading in the library only. The plan and maps give a bird’s eye view on Conway’s natural resources.
The Field library has an exhibit of images considering the first major change in the operation of the library since it opened 121 years ago: the transition from handwritten signatures and the card catalog (analog) to the CWMars online, searchable database of our collection and scanable library cards – all based on barcodes (digital).
Selected quotations reflecting on this change offer reflection on the meaning of these changes.
Summarizing the outcomes of the Perspectives on the Pandemic program at the Field Memorial Library
Click here to visit our Station Eleven page for links to discussions and events related to the spring 2021 Western Mass community read program.
Local producer Jonathan Boschen has completed a documentary on Marshall Field and the origins of the Field Memorial Library: “A Gift of Prosperity”: https://vimeo.com/558796442/fbf517161e
Links to the 1945 article As We May Think, an original, non-digital vision of what the Internet and Web deliver to us today
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/
A few of the titles at FML relevant to race are pictured below. Contact us for a more complete selection. Phone: 413-369-4646; email: director@fieldmemoriallibrary.org
Keep scrolling for links to more digital resources
Many free, digital resources may be found through the state at:https://libraries.state.ma.us. For some of these resources you need a library card number from a Massachusetts library. If you do not have a library card, you can get an “e-card” online through the Boston Public Library
Any Massachusetts resident can get an “eCard” from the Boston Public Library in a few minutes and then borrow eBooks and other digital resources from the BPL as well as CWMars if you do not already have a CWMars card and would like to get an e-card click here.
Below are links to sites offering free and membership access to children’s and other books online:
Just books read aloud:
A free or member resource offering children’s books read aloud by volunteers, authors, or professional narrators. Categories include: short, medium, long; read by author or narrator, and more than 140 thematic categories!https://www.justbooksreadaloud.com/index.php?t=Home&p1=&p2=
Storyline Online:
Award-winning children’s literacy website, Storyline Online, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and more. https://www.storylineonline.net/
Project Gutenberg is one of the oldest and largest ebook sources on the web, with more than 60,000 downloadable books in different formats. No fee or registration! No special apps needed! great literature. https://www.gutenberg.org
Project Gutenberg Children’s Bookshelf: https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:Children%27s_Bookshelf
Please scroll down for more information about our library resources and events.
Please Note:
Friends Meetings – The Friends typically meet on the second Wednesday of each month. Meetings have resumed and please contact Co-President Linda McDaniel at lindamcdaniel2@verizon.net
Are you interested in starting a library Book Club or sponsoring a book discussion online? The FML has a Zoom license to use for these purposes. If you are interested in talking about books, email the director (contact form at the bottom of the page) or call 413-369-4646 during open hours.
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The Teachings of Plants and other Ecological Wisdom
The Field Memorial Library joined with 24 area libraries in the 2020 Libraries in the Woods program sponsoring a common reading of the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Subtitled: “Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants” Braiding Sweetgrass is a powerful weaving together of indigenous peoples’ understanding of nature and sustainable ecosystems, contemporary botanical science, portrayals of how plants provided valuable resources to native peoples and were managed sustainably. Vignettes of environmental harm caused by thoughtless industrialization are also included. Kimmerer writes as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, a PhD in botany, a fearlessly curious botanical explorer, and a poetic writer.
Click here to view our Braiding Sweetgrass resource page
Fans of “Educated” by Tara Westover may be interested in viewing a conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of the Atlantic magazine at the Aspen Ideas Festival June 26, 2019. Click here: Conversation with Tara Westover.
Treat yourselves to an amazing art show through the virtual art gallery from the Forbes Library in Northampton. Click “Virtual” below to go to the Virtual Hosmer Gallery.
The Robbins Library in Arlington, Massachusetts maintains a fine art collection that patrons may borrow for a two week period. Click on the image to the right for a tour of their wonderful collection.
Need to de-stress? Click here and then skip the ad and expand to full screen for the best effect
If you cannot login to CWMars you can see a limited view of the Field Library collection by clicking: Collections page.
In Other News:
About Our Library
Our building is a stunning example of nineteenth-century architecture, with a domed rotunda, Italian marble, original woodwork, a spiral staircase, and cast-iron shelving in the Fiction Room. Completed in 1901 and sponsored by Marshall Field, the library is dedicated as a memorial to his parents, John and Fidelia Nash Field.
What We Offer
Our library is located in the heart of Conway, Massachusetts, and we serve residents with a variety of materials, services and programs. If you’re a Conway resident and want to become a patron, stop in during open hours. Though the library is closed to the public until further notice because of the pandemic, our resources include:
- A Community Room available for programs, meetings and workshops
- Books, magazines, audiobooks and DVDs for adults and children
- Wifi with PC and printer
- Inter-library loan services
- Educational and entertaining programs
- Local History Collection and Vintage Book Collection
Get in Touch
Field Memorial Library
1 Elm St.
Conway, MA 01341
413-369-4646
Library Trustees
Howard Boyden|Chris Eugin|Nat Cohen |Joanne Clapp|Alice Herrmann
Library Staff
David Whittier, Director; Phoebe Hynes, Assistant Librarian.; Deb Craven, Building and Grounds.
Directions
The Field Memorial Library is located in the beautiful Pioneer Valley area of Western Massachusetts. Conway is also at the beginning of the Hilltowns leading to the Berkshire Mountain range. From south of Deerfield/Conway, take Interstate 91 North, and Exit 24 for Deerfield/Conway. Continue on Route 116 North toward Conway. Travel approximately six miles into town, past the Greenfield Savings Bank. Go downhill and then as you approach the main street, the library building will be on your right, across the street from the town hall.
From north of Deerfield/Conway, take Interstate 91 South to Exit 25. At the end of the exit, take a right onto Rt 116 North toward Conway. Travel approximately six miles into town, past the Greenfield Savings Bank. Go downhill and then as you approach the main street, the library building will be on your right, across the street from the town hall.
The library is located on Route 116 and may be reached by taking 116 South (actually Southeast) from North Adams, MA area or 116 North (actually Northwest) from the Amherst, MA area.
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