Celebrate the one-year anniversary of the new Union Public Library and Union Arts Center with us on June 8th! Join us for a day filled with fun, including a magic show, birthday festivities, trivia, and more. Enjoy stations throughout the building as we mark this special milestone together! See below for a full list of activities. Schedule subject to change. Union Arts Center’s Plaza 5:30pm – 5:45pm Union Arts Center’s Classroom: Magic Show and Cupcakes 5:45pm – 6:15pm Union Public Library Main Level: Birthday Party 6:15pm – 7:15pm Friends of the Union Public Library- Information Table Union Public Library Upper Level: Resource Fair 6:15pm – 7:15pm

To make picking up holds easier and more convenient, the Union Public Library now offers a drive-up window service at 1980 Morris Avenue. The drive-up window is open during the following times:

Access this library resource with your Union Public Library card here! Navigate the VA and Benefits VetNow navigators help veterans and their families understand and apply for the benefits they are eligible for from local, state, or federal programs. From housing and health care to education, mental health, and more, VetNow navigators are ready to help. Transition to Civilian Employment Through live online assistance, veterans can get the help they need transitioning from military to civilian careers throughout all stages of the job process. Our experts can help translate military skills for civilian job managers, restructure resumes, and practice interviewing. Brush Up on Academic Skills VetNow assists veterans and their families in preparing for college through a full suite of academic tools. Live online tutoring in a variety of college-level subjects is available, along with comprehensive writing support, extensive video lessons, practice tests, and much more.

Virtual Kitchen Skills Classes We’re thrilled to introduce a delicious addition to our library programs. This unique culinary journey offers you the chance to enhance your kitchen skills with expert-led classes, all from the comfort of your home. For Adults (3 Live Online Sessions per Month): For Junior Chefs (2 Live Online Sessions per Month): Here’s What’s Sizzling: Visit union.librarychef.com and enter your Union Public Library card number to register and start using Library Chef today!

Union Public Library is now part of a large library consortium called STELLA (formerly known as LMxAC). With 43 member libraries located in Union, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties, our cardholders will now have access to a shared catalog with over 3.2 million items. Going forward it will be quicker and easier to locate, request and receive items from these other libraries. In essence, a UPL cardholder will be able to search for and put holds on books from any of the participating libraries. This means that you have a much larger catalog to explore and that you are not limited to only those items in our library. UPL cardholders may also pick up books at any of the STELLA libraries. If you have any questions, please call the Adult Services desk at 908-851-5450 x3 or email us at unionpl@uplnj.org A New Way to Browse Online Our new library system launches with a redesigned library catalog and updated library app (coming soon). The new catalog is more intuitive and user friendly and will make it easier than ever to find what you’re looking for, manage your account, and to discover new things along the way! Features Of Our New Catalog Selecting Desired Format With the new rollup capability, you can select your desired format directly from the search results. Tabs will indicate formats such as book, large print, eBook, eAudiobook, and more, for easy selection. Author Details Clicking on the author’s name anywhere in the new catalog brings up a page with biographical information, books and resources written by the author, items of related topics, and more! Series Another helpful feature in the new catalog is that when you’re viewing details about a book that is part of a series, you’ll easily be able to find other books in that same series. New Arrivals Want to find the latest and greatest? You’ll be able to easily filter search results to new items at your home library for quick access to see what’s just arrived! My Bookshelf My Bookshelf will be your personalized area for account information, list of checked out physical and digital materials, bookmarked items and lists, saved searches, and reading history (if you choose to enable). FAQs Will I still be able to access my ebooks/audiobooks through Libby and Hoopla? Will there be a new mobile app? How will I be notified that my hold has arrived at my […]

Listen to and interact with authors to learn the story behind the story. Union Public Library presents free, live streamed virtual author talks each month featuring bestselling, award-winning, and highly acclaimed authors from around the world.  The featured writers and thought leaders will cover a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres including historical fiction, contemporary fiction, romance, OwnVoices, poetry, business, personal growth, social justice, history, art, culture, and more. Each talk will be a live, one-hour interview with a bestselling author and a professional moderator. Questions will be a mixture of those prepared by the moderator and those submitted by participants during the event. The events will be completely virtual so people can watch the talks wherever it is convenient for them. All events are closed captioned, and will be available for on-demand access. A complete list of events and registration information is available on Union Public Library’s virtual author talk series website at https://libraryc.org/uplnj.Funding for this is made possible in part by the Friends of Union Public Library