The Smith Memorial Library

10/06/2026

Our sentiments exactly!

⏳ The countdown to the season continues!

We’re getting more excited every day and can’t wait to welcome everyone back to the grounds. Before we know it, we’ll be making memories together again!❤️

👇 Comment below and tell us: what are you most excited for this summer?

09/06/2026

Expand your digital horizons!

We have a Libby Partner! Get more digital access with your Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System library card. Your library card can be used in the Mid York Library System's Libby Collection with some limitations.

06/06/2026

We’re delighted to photo bomb another exciting literary announcement.

🏆 Announcement!🏆

Chautauqua Institution proudly announces Flashlight by Susan Choi as the 2026 winner of The Chautauqua Prize. Award annually since 2012, The Chautauqua Prize celebrates a book of fiction, literary/narrative nonfiction, or poetry that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts.

Flashlight is an expansive, ambitious, multigenerational novel that is equal parts historical fiction, family saga, and bildungsroman. It is a story of secrets, shadows, and absences that reverberate across time and continents. As the novel progresses, shifting perspective from one character to the next, we learn more about a family who has not only lost a husband and father, but has been severed from their pasts in unfathomable ways.

Gratitude to our independent jury of guest judges, Oliver de la Paz, Glory Edim, Jillian Hanesworth, and Kao Kalia Yang, for your time and expertise and to the donors who make this Prize possible!

Learn more: https://www.chq.org/announcements/susan-chois-flashlight-wins-2026-chautauqua-prize/



Susan Choi
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Poet Jillian Hanesworth
Kao Kalia Yang
Oliver de la Paz

02/06/2026

While the Monday New York Times is no longer delivered to the region, remember you can always access it online through smithlibrary.com.

All patrons of the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System have access to The New York Times. Visit the James Prendergast Library website for details. https://www.prendergastlibrary.org/nytimes/

27/05/2026

Libby’s not hiding, but she is experiencing some technical difficulties. Many smart friends are hard at work getting the app back to fighting shape—but in the meantime, note that you can access the digital collection via browser at libbyapp.com.

26/05/2026

We love lists!

🚨 ALERT! 🚨

Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce 7 exceptional books as the 2026 finalists for The Chautauqua Prize, now in its 15th year:
Universality: A Novel by Natasha Brown (Random House)
Flashlight: A Novel by Susan Choi (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
O Sinners! A Novel by Nicole Cuffy (One World)
Old School Indian: A Novel by Aaron John Curtis (Zando - Hillman Grad Books)
Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd (Haymarket Books)
The River is Waiting: A Novel by Wally Lamb (Scribner)
This is Your Mother: A Memoir by Erika J. Simpson (Scribner)

Awarded annually since 2012, this award draws upon Chautauqua Institution’s considerable literary legacy to celebrate a book that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and to honor the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts. The winning book will be selected from this list of finalists and announced in early June. Read more at: https://bit.ly/4dNuu34.

All these books are available for purchase in-person and online at The Chautauqua Bookstore: https://bit.ly/4nRMyxP

Chautauqua Literary Arts

21/05/2026

We’d love to see you Wednesday May 27th at 5 for our Latinoland discussion! If you’ve not yet registered, simply contact the library—we’ll put you on the list 😊

YWCA Jamestown and Chautauqua Institution selected “LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority” by Marie Arana as the common read book.

For information about the CHQ Book Read and to register to attend the book discussion, please visit the link below:
https://www.ywcajamestown.com/chqbookread

21/05/2026

The library will be closed Sunday and Monday for Memorial Day. Visit us this holiday weekend on Friday 10 to 5 and Saturday 10 to 3!