Tuzzy Library Offers Storytime, Teen Art, and Book Club This March

The Friends of Tuzzy Library will gather Tuesday, March 31, at 6:00 p.m. for the group's monthly book club meeting, held inside the Tuzzy VCR, the video-conferencing room within the Iñupiat Heritage Center complex in Utqiaġvik. The meeting closes out a full month of programming at the Tuzzy Consortium Library that has included weekly Storytime & Crafternoon sessions and Teen Art @ Tuzzy classes for students.

Saturday's Teen Art @ Tuzzy session, which ran from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. on March 28, brought youth into the library for hands-on creative work as part of the Saturday programming cycle the library maintains through the school year.

Storytime & Crafternoon, which targets younger children and their caregivers, continues as a recurring fixture on the library's schedule. Both youth programs are listed on the library's LibCal event calendar, which Director of Library Services Teressa Williams and her staff update regularly so that patrons in Utqiaġvik and across the North Slope's villages can plan attendance or request remote access to materials and services.

The Friends of Tuzzy Library, a local volunteer and support organization, organizes the monthly book club as one of the library's most accessible adult programming offerings. Attendance is open to the public, and the meetings serve as a straightforward entry point for community members who want to support the library's broader mission or shape future programming priorities.

The Tuzzy Consortium Library operates with a dual mandate: it functions as the public library for the North Slope Borough and as the academic library for Iḷisaġvik College. That combination gives it an unusually broad collection that spans circumpolar research, Inupiaq language materials, and regional archives alongside the general and educational holdings typical of a public library. Programming like the book club and teen art sessions reflects the third dimension of that role, the library as a consistent, in-person gathering space during the months when Utqiaġvik's transition out of winter makes community anchors especially valuable.

The March 31 book club meeting at the Iñupiat Heritage Center begins at 6:00 p.m. Residents can check the library's online calendar or contact the library directly by phone or email for details on specific titles, materials, or remote participation options for patrons in outlying North Slope communities.