Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library

10/27/2025

Here is our schedule for the week of October 27-November 1. Aside from our regular weekly offerings, some things to note:

Friday, October 31
➡️ 3:00-4:30 p.m. Mask Making at the Library! Join us after-school for mask making! Create your own masks and learn about different mask making traditions. We will use creativity and a hot glue gun to transform paper, foam shapes, feathers, and pom-poms into vibrant art that you can wear. For kids K-12.

Saturday, November 1
➡️ 2:30-4:30 p.m. Headshot Photos. Get a free headshot photo taken at the library! No appointments are needed. The last person will be taken 10 minutes before the program’s end (today that’s by 4:20 p.m.). Photographs by Aaron Stallworth of Aaron Stallworth Photography.

10/25/2025

Our thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday for the screening of Unedited Philadelphia: Germantown, an archival documentary by John Pettit of Temple University’s Urban Archives. John stayed after the screening so we could discuss and examine the archival media he had digitized to make the film, like16mm, ¾” Umatic, Beta SP, and 2” quad film stocks, AND to watch an antique film rewinder in action. Do you have home movies in any of these formats? We’d love to hear about it! Come to Coleman Library and let’s talk about modes of memory!

We also want to thank for providing the delicious Mediterranean platter 😋

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10/22/2025

Mayor Cherelle Parker will be holding a Community Townhall on Wednesday October 22nd at True Light Fellowship Church at 6400 Ardleigh St. from 6 to 8pm. She will be joined by PPD Commissioner Kevin Bethel, Public Safety Director Adam Gere, and Clean and Green Director Carlton Williams, among others. You are cordially invited to attend.

10/21/2025

In the mood for something seasonably scary? Don’t be afraid of a good book! Try one of these great reads from our teen and adult collections and ask us for our recommendations.

10/21/2025

10/21/2025

Please join us this coming Saturday, October 25, for the 2nd Annual Germantown Community Archiving Fair! What’s your Germantown history? Join us from 1:00-4:00 p.m. for hands-on archiving activities, including digital scanning, scrapbooking, and conversations about our community’s past, present and future. Bring out your photos, letters, and life souvenirs for this 2nd annual event!

Saturday is also the official opening celebration of Ancient Technologies: Modes of Memory, exhibiting the tools we’ve used to make and share family histories. Generations of technology evolve so quickly, what’s new today can soon feel ancient. Visit Modes of Memory and dream about the future of your past!

Finally, we celebrate the unveiling of our beloved dragon on Saturday. We’ll share memories from back in the day of the dragon formerly known as “Regional Ricky” and announce the winner of the Dragon-Naming Contest to bring this icon to the next generation in Germantown!

These events are all part of our Hyperlocal Heritage programming series.


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10/17/2025

J.E. Coleman Library’s dragon needs a name! Enter the contest with your name idea, then come celebrate the unveiling of our beloved dragon on Saturday, October 25th. We’ll share memories from back in the day of the dragon formerly known as Regional Ricky and announce the winner of the 2025 Dragon Naming Contest to bring this icon to the next generation in Germantown. This celebration, in the Pit section of our Children’s Department, is a part of our 2nd Annual Germantown Community Archiving Fair, which runs from 1:00–4:00 pm on the 2nd Floor. To enter the contest, click the link in the comments or in our bio, or stop by the library in person to submit an entry!

10/14/2025

This Saturday, October 18, join us from 6:00-8:00 p.m. for a screening and conversation with Temple University Urban Archives’ John Pettit. This documentary airs raw tv news footage of Germantown neighborhood life (1940s -1990s), including every day and landmark moments in art, music, politics, religion, and more. A Hyperlocal Heritage Program.

10/14/2025

Here is our schedule for the week of October 13-18. Aside from our regular weekly offerings, some things to note:

Tuesday, October 14
➡️ 1:00-3:00 p.m. Headshot Photos. Get a free headshot photo taken at the library! No appointments are needed. The last person will be taken 10 minutes before the program’s end (today that’s by 2:50 p.m.). Photographs by Aaron Stallworth of Aaron Stallworth Photography.

Saturday, October 18
➡️ 6:00-8:00 p.m. Unedited Philadelphia: Germantown. Join us for a screening and conversation with Temple University Urban Archive’s John Pettit. This documentary is part of The Unedited Philadelphia series, drawing on raw news footage, nightly broadcasts, outtakes, and Public Affairs, and features based programming to depict vignettes of life in the Philadelphia region from the 1940s through the 1990s. The film features everyday and landmark moments in neighborhood life, art, music, politics, religion, and more. This is a Hyperlocal Heritage program.

10/07/2025

Generations of technologies evolve quickly. What’s new today can soon feel ancient. Technology works in both physical and digital worlds, using various carriers or modes like video and audio to communicate memories. Some technologies travel through space and time along radio waves while others are tinkered with and fixed into existence.

Ancient Technologies: Modes of Memory is an invitation to memory, tinkering, various times and spaces. Items are alive. They move, show, tell. People are invited to interact with them and share memories about sounds and places and times. Items will interchange over the year.

Visit Joseph E. Coleman Library to explore modes of memory and dream about the future of your past. Join us for the opening celebration on Saturday, October 25th, from 1pm-4pm during our 2nd Annual Germantown Community Archiving Fair.

09/29/2025

Make an appointment to get your City ID at the pop-up City ID mobile site that will be here at the library tomorrow from 11-1

Appointments can be made here for Action Center 8: https://tinyurl.com/yxs393w9