Lenox Library Announces Distinguished Lecture Series

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LENOX, Mass. — The Lenox Library is pleased to announce the 18th season of its Distinguished Lecture Series, organized and hosted by Dr. Jeremy Yudkin.

The first lecture of the 2024-2025 season will take place on Sunday, September 22, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. and feature Dr. Michael Hannahan and a discussion of the upcoming election. This event will take place in the main reading room of the Library, located at 18 Main Street, Lenox.

Michael Hannahan, PhD, is on the faculty of the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is Director of the Donahue Institute, which works to advance equity and social justice, foster healthy communities, and promote opportunities. He has managed over 50 exchange programs in dozens of countries, including Croatia, Russia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Turkey, and Bulgaria. Dr. Hannahan has given talks in Pakistan, Iraq, Indonesia, and Argentina. He has worked for political parties and managed campaigns and political consulting firms. He teaches courses on American Government, American Political Thought, and Campaign Finance and Reform. He speaks at the Distinguished Lecture Series every four years ahead of the Presidential Election.

Dr. Hannahan received his master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and his bachelor's degree from Miami University.

The Lenox Library's Distinguished Lecture Series will continue as follows:

  • Oct. 20, 2024: Paul Catanzaro, Co-Director of the Family Forest Research Center
  • Nov. 14, 2024: Smitty Pignatelli, State Representative and Lenox Interim Town Manager
  • Jan. 26, 2025: Tom Bernard, President and CEO of the Berkshire United Way
  • Feb. 23, 2025: Jerald Walker, Writer and Professor of Creative Writing at Emerson College
  • March 23, 2025: James Hatt, Attorney and Member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
  • April 27, 2025: Francisca Oyogoa, Assistant Professor in Sociology and African American Studies at Bard College at Simon's Rock

All lectures will take place at 4:00 p.m. and are free and open to the public.


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Lenox Library and Indie Lens Pop-Up Present The Librarians

LENOX, Mass.—On Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 2:00 p.m., Lenox Library and Indie Lens Pop-Up, presented by ITVS, INDEPENDENT LENS, will host a special free screening of The Librarians, the critically-acclaimed documentary that follows a network of besieged librarians as they unite to examine how book restriction policies are shaping library collections.

According to a press release:

From Oscar-nominated Director and Producer Kim A. Snyder (Death By Numbers, Newtown, Us Kids) and Executive Producer Sarah Jessica Parker, The Librarians takes viewers from Texas to Florida and beyond, where local libraries have become unexpected battlegrounds in a national struggle over parental control, intellectual freedom, and democracy itself. Sparked by the controversial "Krause List" in Texas, which targets 850 books centered on race and LGBTQIA+ stories, the film takes a deep investigative dive into the escalating movement against book banning. The film captures the courage and resilience of the everyday heroes, librarians, as well as concerned parents and students flanking them, who have become first responders in the fight for the freedom to read, standing defiantly against censorship at all costs.

After the screening, there will be an interactive panel discussion about censorship, its effects on democracy, and the broader implications for education and intellectual freedom:

Martin Garnar (he/him) is the director of the Amherst College Library and editor of the Intellectual Freedom Manual (10th ed.), the authoritative reference for librarians for day-to-day guidance on maintaining free and equal access to information for all people.

Jennifer Guerin (she/her) earned her M.A. in English from Georgetown University and her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. She also received her Law for Librarians training from the American Library Association in May 2024. Jennifer currently serves as Librarian at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School in Great Barrington, MA, where a complaint against Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer in a teacher's classroom made national headlines in 2024.

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