|
(11/7/07) Join Palo Alto and all Silicon Valley
in reading and attending events surrounding Bo Caldwell's
bestselling first novel, The Distant Land of My Father.
The Washington Post Book World says, "This is a novel for old China hands, new China hands - and everyone who has ever felt himself in exile from any beloved place or time that can never return."
The many discussions and events will take place throughout February 2008.
Get a head start and
check out a copy of the novel from the Palo Alto Library. |
|
|
(10/9/07) Please attend our
annual meeting on Thursday, October 18 at 7 pm at the Palo Alto Art Center
Auditorium, located at 1313 Newell Road next to the Main Library. Our
special guest speaker will be
Nancy Cassidy, a local singer and songwriter who has delighted
audiences of all ages over the past 30 years with her warm and engaging voice
and wide variety of songs. Nancy will talk about how she became interested in
her craft and more and more involved with singing, songwriting and performing. |
(10/9/07) Palo Alto's City Council voted on October 1 to focus on just one proposed
configuration for a new Mitchell Park library and community center, thereby
reducing architectural costs and simplifying planning.
For the last year, the city has
considered various design options for the site, which houses both a 9,500 sq
ft. library and an 10,000 sq. ft. community center. One possibility was to build
a new library first and replace the community center later.
This would have placed the library closer to the park, which is less desirable
than having it alongside Middlefield Road.
The council instead opted to replace
both structures simultaneously, creating a single 51,000 square foot building
with the
library portion closer to Middlefield. The facility will also house the
library’s technical services department, which processes new and damaged items,
moving it from the Downtown Library to free up more space at that branch for the public.
Plans are also being developed to remodel the Main Library and add
group study rooms and a small auditorium. The new Mitchell Park library and
community center plus the Main and Downtown branch improvements were estimated
last year to cost $45 million. The council is considering both a bond measure
and seeking donors to raise the funds.
The council heard earlier that evening from a
pair of political consultants who have studied the likelihood of passing a bond
measure. Based upon a poll of 600 residents in February and 21 likely
voters who served on focus groups in late August, Jessica Reynolds of the Lew Edwards
Group and Richard Bernard of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates concluded that
support for the project likely falls short of the 2/3 supermajority required for a construction bond.
The poll showed that 62% of voters favored or leaned in favor of the project
when given the total cost, pros, and cons, while 51% supported it when told how
it might affect their property taxes. A majority of focus group
participants also supported the project. Their top priority was
additional space for collections and youth services, while "completing a series
of improvements to all of Palo Alto's branch libraries" ranked highest among a
series of 21 choices. Reynolds and Bernard also found that "participants had a
significant level of concern about what they perceived as inefficiency,
division, and a lack of responsiveness in City government" and stressed that
providing detailed information and further engaging the public over a 12 to 18
month period could increase support.
Complicating the issue are new
city public safety (police) building and Palo Alto Unified School District
ballot measures also likely in 2008. The consultants recommended that the city consider
putting the library/community center measure on a separate ballot from the public
safety building.
Watch an
online video of the Council discussion and read the
Palo
Alto Daily and
Palo Alto
Weekly coverage.
(10/9/07) Palo Alto City Auditor Sharon Erickson's report on the libraries
was praised at the September 10 City Council meeting and Library Director Diane
Jennings said her staff expressed agreement with most of the recommendations.
For example, Cornelia van Aken, Palo Alto's new Assistant Library Director, will
be looking at the auditor's proposal to try rescheduling staff to provide more open hours
for the public. The library has already implemented other
recommendations to improve cash handling and is working on ways to reduce the
number of checked-out items that aren't returned.
Jennings pointed out that the recently-completed Children's Library and planned
improvements at the College Terrace branch were steps toward meeting the audit's
finding that facilities needed improvement. Moreover, the proposed ballot
measure would address the three other city libraries. One aim of the audit
was to assure voters that all appropriate efficiencies were in place prior to
any election.
Erickson noted that her office did not come to a firm conclusion that Palo
Alto's libraries were either under- or over-staffed. Rather, she
recommends annual staffing evaluations, as library services are changing
dramatically faster than any other city department's.
Watch an
online video
of the Council discussion and read the
audit
and library staff response.
(10/9/07) Here's one more use for used books: see how artist Brian Dettmer transforms them into intricate works of art. More examples. Our thanks to Nancy Welch for this recommendation.
(9/5/07) Library Director Diane Jennings reported in late August that Palo Alto library circulation rose significantly during the 2006-07 fiscal year. Already among the top library users in the state, Palo Altans checked out 1.4 million items, approximately 10% more than in the previous fiscal year. Circulation was up at each of the four open branches, as were the number of visits. With the Children's Library closed for all of the past fiscal year but only part of the prior one, overall library visits dipped by 2.6%, but the rise in total circulation defied expectations.
(9/5/07) Over the last five years, the Friends of the Palo Alto Library has given more than $1.3 million to improve the Palo Alto Library. This includes over a half million dollars to renovate and expand the Children's Library, approximately $410,000 of new books, DVDs, and CDs, about $100,000 for children's events and the Summer Reading Program, and about $220,000 of new computers, printers, and online resources such as the Rosetta Stone language training and the Historical New York Times. Thanks go to the thousands of donors, members, booksale customers, and volunteers who helped raise this enormous sum for their great generosity and support of our local libraries. In fact, from July 2005 through June 2006, our 150+ volunteers contributed 25,237 hours, up 6% from the previous fiscal year.
(9/5/07) After almost two years of reconstruction and expansion, the Children's Library will reopen this month. We invite you to visit the opening day festivities on September 29, which begin at the nearby Main Library at 10 am. There, a procession led by Palo Alto Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto will bring books from Main back to the Children's Library, with an official ribbon cutting at 10:30 am followed by an unveiling of a library mural. David Keane, author of the Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective series will speak at 11 am. Musicians will entertain at 1 pm and 3 pm and refreshments will be served throughout the day. The effort to improve the Children's Library took almost a decade. A larger expansion of the branch was part of the 2002 Measure D effort that narrowly failed. Subsequently, an anonymous donor offered $350,000 for the project, launching a combined effort of the City of Palo Alto, the Palo Alto Library Foundation, and the Friends of the Palo Alto Library to raise the remainder. Within a year, sufficient funds came in to start the construction process and a final push brought in additional contributions for furniture, fixtures, and equipment. In total, the project cost about $3 million. See many more pictures of the branch's reconstruction. |  |
(9/5/07)
A city-hired design firm recently displayed conceptual designs for improving the Mitchell Park, Main, and Downtown libraries
to several city commissions. The
most substantial development would be at Mitchell Park, when the proposals call for
replacing the present branch with a new
facility up to four times larger. The adjacent Community Center might be
replaced as well, resulting in a two-story 51,000 square feet building on the present
library/community center area that would not encroach into the park and have no underground parking.
Representatives from Group 4, the design firm that also developed the library
plans for Measure D in 2002, emphasized how the Mitchell Park design would
preserve a major oak tree and wrap a courtyard around it. The new
facility would meet stringent energy-efficiency standards and make major use of
natural light and views of the adjacent park and trees.
Group 4's
proposed improvements for the Main Library including adding air
conditioning, moving the book return area, updating interior furnishings, creating four
glassed-in group study rooms under the
eaves adjacent to the patios, and building a meeting room for up to 100 people
on the rear lawn that faces the Art Center. One challenge is ensuring that
the
5,500 square foot addition containing the meeting room fits in well aesthetically with the
existing building, which was designed by world-famous architect Edward Durrell
Stone.
Group 4 had two proposals for the Downtown Library.
One assumes that the technical services staff remains at the branch and expands
to meet extra demands on the overall library system, thereby shrinking the
public areas and eliminating public access to one patio. The other
proposal moves technical services to the Mitchell Park Library, freeing up space
for a large meeting room at Downtown. In either case, the building's
lighting would be improved and the interior redesigned to bring the collection
closer to the entrance, but the exterior would not be changed.
Depending upon which options are chosen, the improvements were previously estimated to
cost between $25 and $45 million, necessitating a bond measure. The Mitchell Park Community Center replacement
accounted for about $10 million of the earlier estimate, and the City Council is expected to decide whether to
include that portion after hearing from Group 4 on September 17. The Council will also review the recent library audit
findings on September 10. If the bond measure
goes onto the June 2008 ballot, final decisions about the library and community
center project must be made by February, including whether to have a single
measure that also funds a new public safety building.
Recognizing
that a recent survey showed fewer than the requisite 2/3 of likely voters
support these projects, the City recently hired a communication specialist to
hold focus groups and develop strategies to inform the public of the need.
See recent articles from the
Palo Alto
Weekly and
Palo Alto Daily News.
(9/5/07) This year's special early admission for members of the Friends will be at our November 10 booksale. This annual event lets lifetime members in to our Main Room at 9 am and other members in at 10 am. Non-members then can enter the Main Room at the usual 11 am. There will be more information in our November issue. Please note that members only get in early once a year.
(9/5/07) Attend a free talk by environmental writer Jennifer Roberts on September 27 on practical ways to incorporate environmentally-sound principles into buildings and everyday living. The presentation will be at the Main Library at 1213 Newell Road from 7 to 8 pm and is sponsored by the library, the Friends of the Palo Alto Library, Books Inc., and the City of Palo Alto Recycling Program.
NEW (8/8/07) Not only can you avoid huge crowds by coming to the sale on Sundays, but you also get an automatic 20% discount on Sundays in our Main Room if your purchase $5 or more. This special sale discount will continue throughout the summer.
(8/8/07)
Thanks to our many booksale customers, donors, volunteers, and members, we're
giving $163,000 to the library this year for new books, DVDs, e-books, audio
books, electronic databases, author events, children and teenager summer reading
programs, performers at children's events, and staff appreciation. In
addition, we're providing new printers and network equipment for the Children's
Library and eight new laptops for the College Terrace and Downtown branches as
part of our 9 Libraries project, which is funded by a Cable Co-op Legacy Grant.
The laptops are already available for checkout at the College Terrace branch and
will be soon at Downtown.
Library Director Diane Jennings says: "The ongoing support of the Friends has
been tremendous. Through our partnership and shared goal of improving the
Library, we’ve been able to enhance our service in many ways. The Friends not
only provide funding to enrich the collection, but also support innovative pilot
programs. I am very appreciative of the hard work many Friends volunteers put
in to raise money for the Library." Read
the
full
press release.
(7/11/07) The Stanford University Bookstore in downtown Palo Alto closed recently and donated thousands of brand new books to our booksale. These include volumes on computers, technology, both advanced and popular science, and literature. Look for all these new items in our usual sections rather than in a special area. We'd like to thank the Stanford Bookstore for their enormous generosity and support of our sale.
(7/11/07) Palo Altans place a few hundred thousand holds on books and other library items a year, but approximately one in six never get picked up. This delays getting the item to other borrowers and adds work for library staff. As of July 1, the library is now charging $1 for each hold you don't pick up within one week. You can now also have up to ten holds at a time. See press release.
(7/11/07)
Palo Alto's City Auditor Sharon Erickson, released a 51-page report last week on how to improve
the Palo Alto Library. Among her 32 recommendations were to
reduce crowding, improve lighting, replace outdated furniture and shelving, be
open more hours by rescheduling existing employees, have a list of substitutes who can
fill in during absences, and circulate items between branches on weekends.
Other recommendations were to establish
and track objectives for many library operations, simplify various procedures
and job titles, make more effort to collect overdue fines, reexamine how the
library prevents theft, use more volunteers, and consolidate many part-time positions.
Library Director Diane Jennings agreed with most of the recommendations in a response and gave
timeframes for implementing many of them. City Council discussion of the audit
was to have occurred this past Monday but was postponed until September 10. Read
the
full audit and response, a
Palo Alto Daily News editorial,
and a
Palo Alto Weekly editorial.
(7/11/07)
The library now offers a free online information on stocks, bonds, funds,
industries, and the economy from Standard and Poor's. Called
NetAdvantage, it provides unbiased analysis on specific securities and
more general topics and can be accessed from your home and office, as well
at the office. The online materials includes the full text of Standard
and Poor's publications such as Outlook, Industry Survey, and Stock Reports. Just
click here to try it out
right now.
The library is hosting two free one-hour classes to show you how to use
NetAdvantage at the Main Library at 1213 Newell Road and to answer
questions. Reserve your spot for either the August 8 10 am or August
22 6:30 pm sessions by emailing
libraryreference@cityofpaloalto.org.
(6/6/07)
Here's what the Friends of the Palo Alto Library book group will be reading over the coming year. The group
meets from 7:30 to 9 pm on the second Thursday of every month at the Lucie Stern
Community Center Fireside Room at 1305 Middlefield Road. Click on any
title to learn more it:
| Date | Title and Author | |
| June 14, 2007 | The Plot Against America by Philip Roth | |
| July 12 | Blindness by Jose Saramago | |
| August 9 | On Beauty by Zadie Smith | |
| September 13 | The Angel of Galilea by Laura Restrepo | |
| October 11 | The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham | |
| November 8 | Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev | |
| December 13 | The Final Solution by Michael Chabon | |
| January 10, 2008 | Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis | |
| February 14 | Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario | |
| March 13 | Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson | |
| April 10 | Choose the next eleven books |
(6/6/07)
Are you up for reading 800 books a day? That's how many new titles and
editions were released each day of 2006, according to preliminary data
from R.R. Bowker, compiler of Books
in Print. It totals 291,920
books for the entire year, which is up more than 3% from 2005 and close to the all-time
high of 295,523 new titles published in 2004.
Year-to-year changes in specific categories sometime indicate trends in reading tastes or
at least suggest areas publishers think are hot. For instance, 10% fewer
juvenile and cooking titles were released in 2006 than in 2005. Computer
books were down by 11%, while 17% more adult fiction titles were released than
in 2005, biographies were up 15%, and business titles rose 12%.
More
information.
(6/6/07)
The library is again holding two summer reading programs this year. Children
up through the fifth grade can join Get A Clue @ Your Library.
At the start, you set a goal for how many books you'll read over the summer. Once
you get to your goal, you receive a certificate, a free paperback book, a coupon
for a free pizza at Round Table, and other surprises. You can also attend a series of
Wacky Wednesday summer events each week at 3:30 pm.
Sixth through twelfth graders can set a similar summer reading goal in the YNK @ Your
Library teen program. Reaching that goal not only gives you a
certificate, free paperback book, coupon for a free Round Table pizza, and other
surprises, but also makes you eligible to win a $100 iTunes gift certificate and other cool
prizes such as ice cream coupons and movie passes. You'll also want to
attend five
evening
events, including a presentation by Dr. Uwe Bergmann of the Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center.
Sign up for these programs from June 14 through
July 31 at any Palo Alto branch library or
online. Prizes will be awarded August 1
through August 27. The programs are sponsored by local merchants and
the Friends of the Palo Alto Library.
(5/8/07) People donate more than just books to our sale. This month, look for dozens of beautiful framed prints being displayed outside the Main Room. You can purchase these at the ephemera area, which returns this month as well. Inside all three sale rooms are many hundreds of videos of films and documentaries, most of which are priced at $2 or less.
(5/8/07) After the May sale, we will no longer allow visitors into the book room between sales. We had previously permitted visitors to browse and purchase books at double price up to one week before each sale during limited hours, but we are ending that to assure the best selection for attendees of the regular once-a-month sales. We apologize for the inconvenience to those who cannot come to Cubberley for the regular sales.
(5/8/07) As you rush out of the Main Room with your purchases, be sure to take one of the free books on the cart by the door. This month, the free books include The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw, Dr. Bernie Siegal's Love, Medicine, and Miracles, and John Gray's Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.
(5/8/07)
Palo Alto offers a large collection of eBooks, which are books that you can
check out over the Internet and read on your computer. You can check out
eBooks at any time of day or night and then read them at your leisure.
With eBooks, there's never a late fee or a rush to return them because the books
automatically "expire" on your computer when due.
Many titles are available as eBooks, including William Poundstone's How Would You Move Mount Fuji? and Stephen Leavitt's
Freakonomics.
The library also offers eAudio books and music recordings that you check out over the Internet and listen to.
If you're not familiar with using these materials, attend a one-hour
free demonstration that will walk you through all the steps on either June 6 at 10 am or June 20 at 6:30 pm at
the Main Library
at 1213 Newell Road. To reserve a space, email
libraryreference@cityofpaloalto.org, indicate which session you wish to
attend, and provide your return email address.
(5/8/07) All Palo Alto's libraries will be closed on Friday May 25 for staff development and on Monday, May 28 for Memorial Day. Even when the libraries are closed, you can still search the online catalog, submit reference desk questions, access many online resources, and get book recommendations.
(5/8/07)
On May 7, Palo Alto's City Council approved a $1,280,400 library
design and construction cost estimation contract as the next step towards a
possible June 2008 ballot measure. The contract will have the Group 4
architectural firm develop further conceptual designs for a new Mitchell Park Library
and possibly an attached new Community
Center. After public and governmental review, the Council will then decide
in late summer whether to continue with the Community Center portion or pursue
just the new library building. Group 4 will then develop more detailed
plans, estimate construction costs, and update an environmental review.
The
Group 4 contract also includes planning a
1,800 to 5,300 square foot addition to the Main Library for a meeting space and
group study area and how the Downtown Library could utilize reclaimed areas for
the public should administrative staff move out.
Funds for this project came from capital improvement monies intended to improve the present Mitchell Park Library building. See the
City Manager's report, the
contract with Group 4, and our
previous coverage
of the library ballot measure.
(4/28/07)
Support the Children's Library in Palo,
Leyte, Philippines by enjoying an evening of show tunes at the "The
Best of Broadway" on Saturday, May 5, 7:00pm at the Palo Alto Art Center,
1313 Newell Road.
General admission is a $15.00 donation per person. Sponsorships are $50 and include two admissions. Refreshments are included.
The event is presented by Palo Alto Neighbors Abroad.
Call Ruth Carleton at (650) 326-8885 for reservations. Your name will be
placed on a list and you will be checked in at the door. No tickets will
be sent out. Make checks payable to Neighbors Abroad and send to 2350 Ross
Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
(4/12/07)
Even with one branch temporarily closed for construction, Palo Alto libraries
remain the busiest among comparably-sized California communities. According to
a draft of the annual State Librarian
report,
during 2005-2006 Palo Alto circulated more items per capita than any of the
state's other 74 library systems serving populations of 25,000
to 100,000.
Among the same libraries, only Cerritos
outranked Palo Alto in annual visits per capita, the other major metric of
library usage. Cerritos outspends Palo Alto on a per capita basis,
both overall and on library materials, according to the report.
(4/12/07) About 150 active volunteers ran our booksale, publicity, membership, and other operations during 2006. Together, they contributed 24,144 hours, which is the equivalent of a full-time crew of 12 people. Everyone you meet at the booksale is a volunteer, donating their time to sort and put books on the shelves, assist customers, staff the checkout tables, and much more. As one of our longtime volunteers says, "it's more fun than even reading the books!" If you're interested in volunteering, see more information.
(4/12/07) Marty Paddock, our Book Sale Manager, says it was a real highlight of her day to receive the get-well card signed by hundreds of customers and volunteers last month, plus she appreciates the many birthday cards and Easter cards people have sent her. We all wish her a speedy recovery.
 |
(4/12/07) This is a great time of year to visit the courtyards of the Downtown Library, with azaleas and flowering trees in bloom. There are outdoors chairs and tables to sit in and wireless access to the Internet. |
(4/12/07) 
The
library is sponsoring four free events to
celebrate National Library Week, which
is April 14 to 21:
| Green Thumb Stories and Crafts for little gardeners-to-be ages 3 and up | Saturday, April 14 |
2 pm | Mitchell Park Library |
| Get Jazzed with Karen Ehrhardt, for ages 4 and up | Wednesday, April 18 |
3:30 pm | Main Library |
| Amigos Music & Poetry for the whole family | Friday, April 20 | 7 pm | Main Library |
| Saturday Night Teen Poetry Slam | Saturday, April 21 | 7 pm | Mitchell Park Library |
(4/12/07)
The City Council voted unanimously on Monday, April 9 to continue to seek voter approval to fund a new Mitchell Park Library
and Community Center, upgrades the Main and Downtown branches, and a new police
headquarters. However, no decision was taken on a related parcel tax proposal
to operate the expanded libraries and improve service.
One
difficulty all these efforts face is achieving the 67% supermajority required
for passage. A recent City-conducted poll showed that none of the
proposals currently drew that much support, but that a library construction bond measure
was just a few percentage points shy. Several Council members stated that
the police station project should take precedence but there is wide
acknowledgement that combining the library and police projects might
increase support for the latter.
The Council also aims to put
these issues on the June 2008 ballot, although the
polling firm advised that deferring until the November 2008 election would afford
additional time for public education. See the articles in the
Palo Alto Weekly
and
Palo Alto Daily
News and our
previous
coverage.
(3/7/07) Today, our thoughts are with Marty Paddock, our Book Sale Manager. Marty has been on medical sabbatical since December, and we all hope that she'll be back with us before long. She has been the heart and soul of our book sales since she took over as manager in 2000. We encourage everyone to let Marty know how much we care by signing her get-well card at the Main Room entrance during this weekend's sale.
(3/7/07) A poll taken last week of 600 Palo Altans finds 69% feel our libraries need at
least some additional funding, but support for specific proposals fell just
short of the 2/3 supermajority needed to pass a library ballot measure.
65%
of those polled favored a $45 million proposal to build a new Mitchell Park Library
and Community Center and to upgrade the Main and Downtown branches.
After hearing what this would cost on a per
household basis along with likely pro and con ballot arguments, 62% then
supported the measure. David Metz, senior vice-president of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, & Associates,
which conducted the poll, explained that a successful bond measure generally garners at least 70% support during polling and then loses a few points by election
time. He noted that 65% of Palo Alto voters in fact favored a $60 million
library measure in an October 2001 poll but then only 62% voted for the $49 million
Measure D the following year.
A second rule of thumb Metz offered is
that at least 40% of those polled must express a definite intent to support a
measure for it to later succeed. For the present $45 million proposal, 34%
of voters were in the definite yes category. On the other hand,
Metz emphasized that intense efforts to inform voters of the needs of the
library system could raise support above the 2/3 threshold.
Several other possibilities
received lower levels of support in last week's poll. 59% of voters would likely vote for a
$35 million proposal that still improved all three library branches but not the Mitchell Park Community Center
while only 43% favored just building a new Mitchell Park library at $25 million. Paradoxically, when instead asked
how much taxes they'd individually be willing to pay, voters preferred the least expensive
proposal by 11% percentage points. One explanation is that voters want to
help all four facilities, but at the lower cost.
59% of voters
polled supported a $95 million bond measure that
provide the maximal library benefits plus a new public safety building to replace the police
station presently adjoining City Hall. 50%
of voters favored a $50 million public safety ballot measure by itself after
hearing the
per household cost and the pro and con arguments. This suggests that the
library proposals are slightly more popular than the public safety building,
with support for the combination somewhere in between.
The poll
also asked if voters would pay a $99 annual parcel tax to expand
the library collection, increase library hours by 12%, add programs for
children, teens, and parents, and improve maintenance. 53% of voters
supported this tax, which would also require a 2/3 majority to pass.
When asked about specific enhancements for the library, the collection and resources for children
rated highest, as they did in the library survey of 2006. Specifically,
54% of those polled said that expanding children's reading areas in the library
and space for books and other items to accommodate a larger collection were very
or extremely important. 49% felt it was very or extremely important to
upgrade the Main Library, with the similar statistic for the Mitchell Park and
the Downtown branches at 48% and 43% respectively. The poll's margin of
error is 4%.
Metz recommended that the city consider postponing the
ballot measures until November 2008 to provide more time to educate voters about
the library and public safety needs. The City Council will next discuss
this issue on April 3. See the articles in the
Palo Alto Weekly
and
Palo Alto Daily
News, the
poll details and
presentation to the Council, and our
previous
coverage.
(3/7/07) Learn how to use the new genealogy online resources in the Palo Alto Library in a free hour-long course on Wednesday, March 28 at the Main Library at 1213 Newell Road. You'll be able to look up your family and ancestors in over four billion online records in genealogical databases to find birth, death, marriage, census, immigration, and other records. You may even find new relatives to add to your family tree. The class will also discuss special genealogical resources that exist within Palo Alto. Go to more information to RVSP.
(3/7/07) The Main Library will be closed Thursday, March 8 through Sunday, March 11 and again later this month for remodeling. The Downtown, College Terrace, and Mitchell Park libraries will be open during this time, and of course so will our weekend booksale! The remodel will shrink the circulation desks to expand room for books and other materials, add a new magazine area, and bring the restrooms up to current accessibility standards. More information.
(3/6/07) The forum co-sponsored by the Friends of the Palo Alto Library, the City of Palo Alto, and PAN (Palo Alto Neighborhoods), originally scheduled for April 5, has been indefinitely postponed.
(2/7/07) You'll be happy to know that a gate has been put into the new fence that separates the Cubberley Community Center from the Charleston Shopping Center just to the north of us. The gate lets you walk conveniently from the booksale over to the shopping center for breakfast, lunch, coffee, or dessert. Neighbors accustomed to walking in the area requested the gate's installation after the fence went up.
(2/7/07) You'll find new green subject guides posted in our Main book room to explain where all 97 sections are throughout the room. We updated the directory recently for the latest topics and locations. You can also print out your own copy of the directory to carry with you.
(2/7/07) Check out the many LPs on the west wall of the Bargain Room this month. You'll find many complete opera records and albums dating from the 1950s. The covers alone make wonderful gifts or decorations. LPs are priced at $1 per disk until 12:30 on Saturdays, and after that for 50 cents each. On Sundays, you can also fill an entire grocery bag full of records for $5.
(2/7/07)
About 120 Nolo Press legal and business self-help titles are available via
the Palo Alto Library as eBooks, which means you can check them out
and read them instantly using your Palo Alto Library card. Just go to the
library's
eBook resources page. You can print entire forms, letters, and
contractual language directly from the eBooks or copy them into your own
documents.
Among the popular Nolo Press titles are:
 | Work Less, Live More: The New Way to Retire Early |
| Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business |
| Everybody's Guide to Small Claims Court in California |
| Social Security, Medicare & Government Pensions: Get the Most Out of Your Retirement and Medical Benefits |
| How to Form Your Own California Corporation |
| Deduct It! Lower Your Small Business Taxes |
(2/7/07) Palo Alto's City Council recently made library improvements one of its top priorities for 2007, as in 2006. The other priorities for this year are sustainable budgets, climate protection, emergency and disaster preparation, and a new public safety building. See articles in the Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Daily News.
(1/10/07) Thanks to a lot of extra work by our volunteers, all of our Main Room fiction sections are now sorted by author. The main trade paperback section by the western wall now has the A's in the corner, beginning with Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah, right through to end of the alphabet with Banan Yoshimoto's Amrita. Other fiction sections are Mystery, Science Fiction, Hardback, Historical, 2005, 2006, and winners of the National Book Award, Nobel Prize for Literature, Pulitzer Prize, and Man Booker Prize. We hope sorting by author makes it much easier for you to find specific works and want to thank all the volunteers who helped out.
(1/10/07)
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Robert Frost, The Mending Wall
We're
sorry to report that a new fence now separates the Cubberley Community
Center from the Charleston Shopping Center, where Piazza's and Pete's Coffee
are located. This means that you'll need to go out to Middlefield Road
to get from our booksale room to the shopping center. Others have
already complained about the fence, and a gate is planned for the middle of
it. In the meantime, we wanted everyone to know about the problem in
advance and regret any inconvenience it creates. See the
Palo
Alto Weekly article.
(1/10/07)
You're just seconds away from researching your ancestors and
relatives in the massive Heritage Quest genealogy resource, which the
library recently obtained. Just go to the
library online resources webpage, click on the "Heritage Quest" link,
and enter your library card number. You can search for people through
various United States census records from the very first in 1790 up through
1930, which is the most recent available for public viewing. For
example, a search on the surname "Pelosi" finds a Louis Pelosi in Milwaukee
in 1860 who was the "director of the theater" at age 34. Heritage
Quest lets you search through many other genealogical databases as well.
The library also now offers the Ancestry.com genealogy resource, although
you must use it from computers at the branches. Ancestry.com contains
approximately two billion names from the U.S. census records and thousands
of books, government records, and genealogies. An annual membership in Ancestry.com costs $155 or more, so using it for free at the library is a
great bargain.
(1/10/07) The City Auditor's office
asks Palo Altans annually about municipal services, including
the library. The
2005-2006 City of Palo Alto Citizen Survey
results were released recently and show that:
• 78% of Palo Altans rate our overall libraries as good
or excellent,
• 71% feel the variety of library materials is good or
excellent, and
• 73% rate our neighborhood branch libraries as good or
excellent.
Just 9% of those surveyed rated the neighborhood branch libraries as poor
and only 5% said the overall libraries were poor.
These statistics are approximately the same as in
previous years.
Other cities in the United States that use
the same survey also found generally high praise for
libraries. As a result, Palo Alto's high marks for its
overall libraries ranked only in the 60th percentile. However, these
rankings are volatile, as Palo Alto ranked in only the 40th percentile just two years ago. The variety of our
library materials also now ranks in the 43rd percentile,
up from the 38th percentile two years ago.
The survey found that
76% of survey participants used the library or its
services at least once a year and 32% visited more than
12 times a year. Non-residents account for 20% of
library circulation.
(1/10/07)
The Friends of the Palo Alto Library has new officers and board members for 2007
based on the election held at last October's Annual Meeting. Our new president is Martha Schmidt,
who steps up from vice president since Betsy Allyn won't be able to serve as
president for personal reasons. Martha is a retired librarian who has served as the
City of Santa Clara's interim library director. She's
well-known to many of our booksale customers as a cashier on Saturday morning
and she has also helped sort incoming book donations.
Our new
vice president is Betsy Allyn, Margarita Quihuis will continue as
secretary, and Jeff Levinsky will be treasurer. John Burt, an avid booksale volunteer currently in charge of the
Non-Fiction and Movies/TV sections, is rejoining the Friends' board this year
and serving as assistant treasurer.
Enid Pearson, who served on the Palo Alto City Council in the 1960s and 1970s,
is also joining the Friends board. The other 2007 Friends board members
are Wendy Akers-Ghose, Rudy
Batties, Gretchen Emmons, Gerry Masteller, Bob Otnes, Marty Paddock, Gloria
Reade, Jim Schmidt, Barbara Silberling, Steve Staiger, Ellen Wyman, and Tom
Wyman.
(1/10/07)
By a 9-0 vote, Palo Alto City Council members decided in December to use an outside
polling firm to help gauge public interest in various library improvements,
including a new Mitchell Park
library and community center. The same polling effort is also likely to
ask about the proposed new public safety building / police station. The
first poll will occur early this year, perhaps in February or March. A second poll
is anticipated to hone the ballot language, with the ballot measures expected to
appear on the June 2008 ballot.
Some council members expressed concern about the approximately $40,000 needed
for polling, while others felt it was vital to determine how to attain the
necessary 2/3 majority.
You can learn more by reading the
Palo Alto Daily News and
Palo Alto
Weekly articles and our
previous coverage.
(1/10/07) The Main Library is slated to stay open during most of a three-month remodeling effort, which began this week. The project will shrink the circulation desk to provide more display of books and media items, create a new area in the rear for current periodicals, and make the public restrooms more accessible. The remodeling was approved in early 2005, with additional funding allocated in 2006. See previous coverage.
(1/10/07)
See our month-by-month
picture record of the Children's Library renovation and expansion. The
branch is currently scheduled to reopen in September 2007. Photo credit:
Ray Jadwin.
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