Tolland Public Library Foundation

Home
United States
Tolland, CT
Tolland Public Library Foundation

Call Directions Website Contact the organization

The Foundation raises money for and provides grants to Tolland Public Library programs and materials to augment what is provided by town taxpayers.

The Foundation was established in 1996 to receive donations to benefit the Tolland Public Library and to enhance library services beyond what the town budget provides.

10/25/2026

There are still seats available for a free book talk on Oct. 26, featuring Mike Soltys, the co-author of "Sports Heaven: the Birth of ESPN."
Soltys will discuss the origin story of the sports network on Monday, Oct. 26 at the 6:30 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland.
Soltys wrote the book, a companion to the documentary of the same name that was released in April, with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen and Garrett Z. Sutton, the documentary’s executive producer. Soltys was hired at ESPN as a college intern in 1980 while a University of Connecticut student and spent 43 years in corporate communications for the network. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time historian.
Rasmussen founded the network dubbed the “worldwide leader in sports” with his son Scott in 1979. He died on Aug. 18 at age 93.
The free book talk is being sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation as part of its Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, which is now beginning its 16th year.
Space is limited for Soltys’ talk, and registration is required. Register at https://tollandct.libcal.com/event/17372083.

10/19/2026

There are still seats available for a free book talk one week from today, on Oct. 26, featuring Mike Soltys, the co-author of "Sports Heaven: the Birth of ESPN."
Soltys will discuss the origin story of the sports network on Monday, Oct. 26 at the 6:30 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland.
Soltys wrote the book, a companion to the documentary of the same name that was released in April, with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen and Garrett Z. Sutton, the documentary’s executive producer. Soltys was hired at ESPN as a college intern in 1980 while a University of Connecticut student and spent 43 years in corporate communications for the network. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time historian.
Rasmussen founded the network dubbed the “worldwide leader in sports” with his son Scott in 1979. He died on Aug. 18 at age 93.
The free book talk is being sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation as part of its Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, which is now beginning its 16th year.
Space is limited for Soltys’ talk, and registration is required. Register at https://tollandct.libcal.com/event/17372083.

10/14/2026

Co-Author of “Sports Heaven,” a book on the birth of ESPN, will speak at Tolland Public Library on Oct. 26
Mike Soltys, the co-author of “Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN,” will discuss the origin story of the sports network on Monday, Oct. 26 at the 6:30 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland.
Soltys wrote the book, a companion to the documentary of the same name that was released in April, with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen and Garrett Z. Sutton, the documentary’s executive producer. Soltys was hired at ESPN as a college intern in 1980 while a University of Connecticut student and spent 43 years in corporate communications for the network. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time historian.
Rasmussen founded the network dubbed the “worldwide leader in sports” with his son Scott in 1979. He died on Aug. 18 at age 93.
The free book talk is being sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation as part of its Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, which is now beginning its 16th year.
Space is limited for Soltys’ talk, and registration is required. Register at https://tollandct.libcal.com/event/17372083.
The book is based on the diary that Bill Rasmussen kept in 1978-79. Shortly after being fired from the New England Whalers in 1978, Bill Rasmussen developed his ambitious plan for a 24/7 sports network. At a time when national sports coverage was limited and cable television was still emerging, Rasmussen’s vision challenged conventional thinking about how sports could reach fans.
“Only Bill Rasmussen can take you back, back…to the beginning of the greatest success story in the history of sports television,” ESPN anchor Chris Berman writes in the book’s foreward. “His ideas, his fierce determination and belief in success changed the way we all watch television and televised sports today.”

09/26/2026

Co-Author of “Sports Heaven,” a book on the birth of ESPN, will speak at Tolland Public Library on Oct. 26

Mike Soltys, the co-author of “Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN,” will discuss the origin story of the sports network on Monday, Oct. 26 at the 6:30 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland.
Soltys wrote the book, a companion to the documentary of the same name that was released in April, with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen and Garrett Z. Sutton, the documentary’s executive producer. Soltys was hired at ESPN as a college intern in 1980 while a University of Connecticut student and spent 43 years in corporate communications for the network. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time historian.
Rasmussen founded the network dubbed the “worldwide leader in sports” with his son Scott in 1979. He died on Aug. 18 at age 93.
The free book talk is being sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation as part of its Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, which is now beginning its 16th year.
Space is limited for Soltys’ talk, and registration is required. Register at https://tollandct.libcal.com/event/17372083.
The book is based on the diary that Bill Rasmussen kept in 1978-79. Shortly after being fired from the New England Whalers in 1978, Bill Rasmussen developed his ambitious plan for a 24/7 sports network. At a time when national sports coverage was limited and cable television was still emerging, Rasmussen’s vision challenged conventional thinking about how sports could reach fans.
“Only Bill Rasmussen can take you back, back…to the beginning of the greatest success story in the history of sports television,” ESPN anchor Chris Berman writes in the book’s foreward. “His ideas, his fierce determination and belief in success changed the way we all watch television and televised sports today.”

09/26/2026

Kindle your love of reading!
Stop by the Tolland Public Library's table at the Tolland Harvest Fest on the Tolland Green on Saturday, Oct. 3 from noon to 4 p.m. and enter the drawing to win an Amazon Paperwhite Kindle e-reader from the Tolland Public Library Foundation.
Entrants must be from Tolland and be ages 12 and over.

09/18/2026

Here’s a fun idea at the Tolland Public Library.

06/18/2026

Karen E. Olson, author of the Modern Tudor Mysteries series, was a fascinating guest last night in the Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series as she spoke with the host, Tolland Public Library Foundation secretary Kate Farrish, about "A Defiant Woman."
Karen's been interested in the Tudors since she was a teenager and said it was fun and relatively easy to bring King Henry VIII and his six wives into modern times. Her focus was on the wives, each of whom was strong, intelligent and interesting in her own right.
Karen told the appreciative audience that she actually wrote the ending of the first book, "An Inconvenient Wife," first and then went back to the beginning.
Thanks to Foundation President Linda Byam and Denise Schroeder for the photos and to Library Director MaryAnne Pelletier for helping to publicize the event.

06/17/2026

About two hours to go until our free book talk with Modern Tudor Mysteries writer Karen E. Olson.
Come on down at 6 p.m. to the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland to hear Karen talk about the latest in her 14 crime novels, "A Defiant Woman."

06/17/2026

Join us tonight, on June 17, for a free book talk with Karen E. Olson, author of "A Defiant Woman," the second in her Modern Tudor Mysteries series.
The talk takes place at 6 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland. Parking is free in Lot C behind the library and town hall.
Karen, the author of 14 crime novels, is speaking as part of the Tolland Public Library Foundation's Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, which is now in its 15th year.
Publishers Weekly had this to say about Karen's series: “the wives, children and courtiers of Henry VIII are shrewdly reimagined as contemporary acquaintances of billionaire businessman Hank Tudor…It’s royally amusing.”

06/16/2026

We still have seats available this Wednesday, June 17 to meet author Karen E. Olson, of the Modern Tudor Mysteries series, in person as she highlights her latest book, "A Defiant Woman."
Olson, the award-winning of 14 crime novels, will speak at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland at 6 p.m.
The free book talk is sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation as part of its Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series that is now in its 15th year.
The book is the second in Olson’s series of mysteries in which, according to Publishers Weekly, “the wives, children and courtiers of Henry VIII are shrewdly reimagined as contemporary acquaintances of billionaire business man Hank Tudor…It’s royally amusing.” It follows Olson’s first in the series, “An Inconvenient Wife.”
USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan writes that she loved “A Defiant Woman.” “It’s not only a solid twisty mystery, but this sly tale of marital deceit, manipulation, and murder is witty and clever and completely entertaining,’’ she wrote.
Space is limited for Olson’s talk, and registration is required. Sign up here: bit.ly/4xwIjfl

Address

21 Tolland Grn
Tolland, CT
06084

Telephone

+18608713620

Website

http://www.TollandPublicLibraryFoundation.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Tolland Public Library Foundation posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.