Free event options at Rock Island Public Libraries from Monday, March 23 to Saturday, March 28 include:
Drop in Computer Skills and Job Search Assistance: Provided by Goodwill of the Heartland on Monday, March 23, 3 pm to 4 pm, Rock Island Downtown Library, 401 19th Street, near the public computers on main floor. The event repeats every Monday afternoon, unless it falls on a holiday or other conflict.
Freedom to Read ‘Em Book Club: Tuesday, March 24 at 2 pm, Downtown Library. Book club that discusses challenged and challenging books. This month’s selection is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. “Sterling, New Hampshire is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens - until the day its complacency is shattered by an act of violence.”
Digital Literacy Class with American Job Center: Wednesday, March 25 from 10 am to noon, also at the Downtown Library. free, basic digital literacy course. Topics include accessing the internet, searching safely, creating and using email, and organizing files. The class is two full hours, and requires registration. To sign up, contact American Job Center at 309-429-6429. It is free and open to all.
Thursday offers three major events at Rock Island Public Library sites:
- Coffee and Conversations: March 26 from 10 am to noon at the Rock Island Southwest Branch, 9010 Ridgewood Road. Seniors and retirees can drop in for connection, conversation, and treats. The twice-monthly events are part of the library’s ongoing mental health programming.
- Teens can sign up for a free dissection event on March 26, also at the Southwest Branch. The hands-on science program is offered from 5 pm to 6 pm, and is open to teens ages 12 to 18. Register online at the library website or call 309-732-7315.
- Poet Mark Turcotte will take the stage on March 26 at the Rock Island Library Watts-Midtown Branch, 2715 30th Street, to help kick off National Poetry Month. The free event from 5:30 to 7 pm features readings by Turcotte and others, and is presented by the library and Augustana College. Turcotte, the author of Exploding Chippewas, Le Chant de la route, and The Feathered Heart, was named 6th poet laureate of Illinois in spring 2025. He lives in Chicago, where he is Distinguished Writer in Residence at DePaul University. He is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band Anishinaabe and spent his earliest years on North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation and in the migrant camps of the western United States.
On Friday, the library leads a book discussion for the RIFAC Book Club on The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton. After a brief social time at 10 am, the actual book club discussion starts at 10:15 am in Room 6 of the Rock Island Fitness and Activity Center, 4303 24th Street. The RIFAC book club discussions are free and open to all, and occur on the last Friday of each month. No RIFAC membership is required to attend.
The week wraps up on Saturday, March 28 with a very special visit from Mary Todd Lincoln herself. Professional actress Debra Ann Miller brings her one-woman show, “Mrs. Lincoln’s Salon” to the Rock Island Public Library Watts-Midtown Branch from 11 am to Noon. The sympathetic, but realistic portrayal of the First Lady takes place in Mrs. Lincoln’s Blue Room on April 4, 1865. Mrs. Lincoln reminisces about her childhood, her days in Springfield and her children as she celebrates Tad's 12th birthday, and the end of the Civil War. The first-person performance runs 45 minutes with time for questions afterwards.
Debra Ann Miller is a professional actress, vocalist and voice-over talent with over 30 years of experience as a performer for live audiences, television, and film. She last portrayed Jane Austen at the Rock Island Public Library. Debra has balanced her career between commercial and educational theater. She has toured with her own company, Historical Women of Letters, since 2010. Her one-woman plays portray important historical figures such as authors Jane Austen, Beatrix Potter, Mary Shelley, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and this one-woman performance as Mary Todd Lincoln. She also still works in Chicago theaters.
For more information about library services and upcoming events for a wide range of ages, visit the library website, call 309-732-READ, or follow the Rock Island Library Facebook and Instagram social media sites.