Community Calendar

What’s really happening in the Martian sky? Scientists are eager to find out, and the public can help. Cloudspotting on Mars invites participants to examine NASA images for signs of clouds above the Red Planet, contributing to real scientific research on daily and seasonal weather patterns.

Using data from the Mars Climate Sounder aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, participants will help identify high-altitude water-ice and carbon-dioxide clouds. These observations support ongoing research into Mars’s climate and offer clues about the planet’s past, including conditions that may once have supported liquid water. Participants will learn how to recognize and label cloud features so scientists can study how Martian clouds form and evolve over time.

This program will be in-person, livestreamed by SciStarter, at the Granville Branch, allowing participants to contribute data and chat with scientists in real time. Attendees should bring their own devices, laptops are recommended, followed by tablets, and charging cords for the two-hour program.

The event is part of Acts of Science: Connected, a Citizen Science Month collaboration with SciStarter and NASA Citizen Science. No science background is required, just curiosity and an interest in exploring Mars. The program is free and open to the public.

The Tallest Dwarf follows filmmaker Julie Forrest Wyman as she searches for her place in the little people community and unpacks rumors of dwarfism in her own family. Through intimate stories, creative collaborations, and archival history, the film delves into identity and medicine, asking whether society should change people or the structures that limit them. The film is 60 minutes, not rated, and is made possible through Independent Lens.

What do you do when the company that employs your town is also making it sick?

This powerful investigative documentary follows the small, working-class town of Crossett, Arkansas, where decades of pollution from Georgia-Pacific, one of the nation’s largest paper mills and chemical plants, have left residents facing serious health consequences. Georgia-Pacific is privately owned by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch through Koch Industries, a corporation that produces many familiar household brands, including Brawny paper towels, Quilted Northern, Angel Soft toilet paper, and Dixie paper cups.

Crossett’s story is not unique. It represents countless American communities caught in a painful bind: economic dependence on major employers whose operations may be harming public health and the environment. Often unseen and unheard, these towns bear the hidden costs of industrial pollution. The film documents one man’s determined fight to protect his community, and asks urgent questions about corporate responsibility, environmental justice, and who pays the price for everyday products.

The film is 1 hour and 30 minutes, not rated, and made possible through Kanopy. The program is free and open to the public.

This documentary explores the enduring legacy of James Cameron’s Titanic through rare, personal reflections from cast members and devoted fans. Actors read from their 1997 diaries for the first time in 25 years, offering an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the making of the blockbuster film. Titanic superfans also share their deep connection to the ship’s history and the movie, showcasing remarkable collections of costumes and memorabilia that celebrate this cultural phenomenon. The film is 1 hour and 34 minutes, not rated and made possible through Kanopy. The program is free and open to the public.

This fascinating film tells the story of one of the greatest rescues in cultural history. In 1623, two former colleagues of William Shakespeare—John Heminges and Henry Condell—undertook the extraordinary task of preserving their friend’s work by collecting his plays into a single volume known as the First Folio.
The First Folio preserved 18 plays that had never been printed before, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest. It was also the first book to organize Shakespeare’s plays by genre and includes an engraved portrait believed to be one of the most authentic likenesses of the playwright. Presented by Shakespearean scholar Emma Smith, the film explores Heminges’ and Condell’s fear that Shakespeare’s words might fade after his death. Featuring performances by Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry, Roger Allam, and others, the documentary brings to life the enduring legacy of Shakespeare’s work and the remarkable effort that saved it. The film is 58 minutes, rated PG, and is made possible through Hoopla.

Presented through Independent Lens as part of the Indie Lens Pop-Up series, The Librarians explores the growing national debate over intellectual freedom and the role of public libraries in American democracy. When Texas lawmakers begin reviewing lists of challenged books, librarians find themselves on the front lines of an intensifying cultural conflict. The film examines mounting pressure on libraries, particularly around materials addressing race and LGBTQIA+ themes, while placing today’s controversies in historical context. The 84-minute screening will be followed by a facilitated discussion with representatives from the Humankind Initiative in Ottawa. The discussion, expected to last approximately 30 minutes, will offer attendees an opportunity to reflect on the film’s themes and engage in thoughtful dialogue about education, public institutions, and the freedom to read.

This program will be offered both in person and virtually. Those planning to attend virtually are encouraged to register in advance at: https://shorturl.at/XDBc6. The program is free and open to the public and is in celebration of National Library Week.

Narrated by actress Asia Argento, Frida: Viva La Vida offers an intimate and layered portrait of Frida Kahlo, the feminist icon, painter, and complex soul whose legacy transcends borders. Through Frida’s own writings, personal reflections, and a stunning visual journey through her artwork and homeland, this film reveals the duality of an artist who turned pain into power and suffering into strength.

Banned Together is a powerful documentary that follows three teenagers fighting to reinstate 97 books removed from their school libraries. What begins as a local challenge quickly grows into a national movement, as the students confront book bans, curriculum censorship, and the forces shaping public education today.
Featuring banned authors, First Amendment advocates, legal scholars, and elected officials, the film offers an urgent look at who decides what young people are allowed to read, and why it matters. The film is 1 hour and 32 minutes, not rated, and is made possible through Kanopy. The program is free and open to the public and is in celebration of National Library Week.

Free for All: The Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today's librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free, and the doors are open to all. The film is 1 hour and 25 minutes, not rated. The program is free and open to the public and is in celebration of National Library Week.

This documentary examines the events leading up to the May 4th, 1970, shooting of unarmed students by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University, which left four students dead and thirteen wounded. Told through firsthand accounts, the film places the tragedy within the broader civil rights and anti–Vietnam War movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

The shootings sparked the largest student strike in U.S. history, spreading to more than 3,000 campuses nationwide. Just ten days later, police killed two students at Jackson State College in Mississippi, an event that received far less national attention. The film traces how years of organized activism, racial injustice, opposition to the Vietnam War, and inflammatory political rhetoric created the conditions for these acts of state violence.

Featuring more than twenty personal testimonies, Fire in the Heartland offers an intimate look at a pivotal moment in American history and provides critical context as campus protests and state responses once again shape national conversations. The film is 56 minutes, not rated, and made possible through Kanopy. The program is free and open to the public.