Maine's public libraries are a great source of free family fun, from story hours to crafts sessions to book-themed parties.

But most of us only take advantage of the stuff at our nearest library, the one in our town. Why not shop around at area libraries to find as much free family entertainment as possible?

One way to do that is to search the events calendar on a Web site maintained by the Maine State Library called Maine Libraries.

The searchable calendar lets you plug in dates and then choose the type of event you're looking for, such as children's events, book sales, films, lectures, performances, or workshops.

If you plug in children's events for this coming week, for instance, you'll find there's a story and song time for babies at the Hollis Center Public Library, a fiber arts workshop for kids ages 8-12 at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick and a story and craft event at the Zadoc Long Free Library in Buckfield.

Plus a lot more.

The calendar listings include links to the specific library's Web site, so you can get a lot more information on each event.

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