Library News

A printable Library Closure News is now available with details of the 10-day holiday/furlough closure.  All libraries and all online services will shut down at 2 p.m. Thursday, December 24 and will reopen Monday, January 4.  During this time:

• All regional libraries and rural stations will be closed.
• No materials will be due and no fines will accrue.
  
• No book drops will be open.
• No access to the Library catalog, My Account, Wine Files, or other website services.
• No wireless Internet access outside libraries.
• No telephone services.

For details, see the Library Closure News.

You can also read our earlier Press Release.

While the Library is free to use, it is not free to operate. During times of economic hardship, the Library’s budget goes down while Library use increases. The Library has cut fixed costs, and staff have given up 4.75% of their pay, but the Library is still projecting a significant deficit. You can help by donating to the Sonoma County Public Library Foundation, or by joining your local Friends of the Library.

We apologize for the inconvenience of the 10-day closure.

The new version of SuperSearch is now available. To request items through the new SuperSearch,  you’ll need to create a SuperSearch account. At the SuperSearch home page, click Login, then click Register as a new user.

Several hundred SuperSearch requests did not transfer from the old system. If you had a SuperSearch request, please log into the new system and place your request again.

SuperSearch is a cooperative lending system that allows you to request books from surrounding counties when titles aren’t listed in our library catalog.

Now added to our event lineup for National Novel Writing Month, two author panels at the Central Library:

Wednesday, November 4 at 7 p.m.: Mystery Writers

Wednesday, November 18 at 7 p.m.:  Fiction Writers

Come hear published authors discuss their books and their craft.  Join us for these lively and informative conversations!

See all our NaNoWriMo events in the library-wide event calendar.

Over the next two months we are planning two holiday closures and a special budget reduction furlough/holiday closure.

The Library will be closed Wednesday, November 11 for Veterans’ Day, and closed from 6 p.m. Wednesday, November 25 through Friday, November 27, for Thanksgiving.

The Library will also be closed from 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve through Sunday, January 3, 2010, to help make up for a budget shortfall.

During this special 10-day closure, the Library’s website and all online services also will be shut down.  You will not be able to reserve or renew items on the web or by phone during this period.  However, books you check out by Christmas Eve will not be due until we reopen.

We will reopen for normal hours starting Monday, January 4.

Read the complete press release…

Got the urge to write? Join the Write-Ins for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in which aspiring writers attempt to complete a 50,000 word novel in thirty days.   Write-Ins will be held at the Central, Healdsburg, Rincon Valley, Petaluma, and Sebastopol branches. Details are in the library-wide event calendar.

Bilingual auditions in Healdsburg

Do you speak English and Spanish? Adults and children 8 and up, audition for a bilingual production of “Too Many Tamales!” / “¡Qué Montón de Tamales!” based on the children’s book by Gary Soto.

Actors of all ages and hand puppeteers are needed. Performances will take place in early December, 2009 at Sonoma County Library branches.

Auditions Saturday, October 17 at 3 p.m.
Parish Hall next door to St Paul’s Episcopal Church
209 Matheson St. (corner of East), Healdsburg
Printable flyer with more information

Readers Theatre auditions in Guerneville

River Friends of the Library and Readers Theatre 2010 need readers for the annual winter short play readings.

Auditions Saturday, October 17 at 2 p.m.
Maggie Boynton Forum Room at the Guerneville Library

Scripts available in the Library now. Time commitment for rehearsals and performances: 15 hours per month during January, February, or March 2010. Schedule to be announced.

All Library websites, catalog, My Account, and phone renewals will be unavailable Saturday night and Sunday morning the weekends of October 10-11 and October 17-18.  We anticipate shutting down service at 8 p.m. each Saturday and starting it back up by noon each Sunday.  The systems must be shut down due to a pair of scheduled power outages PG&E is planning.

The 9th annual Sonoma County Library Poetry Slam series is on now through next July.  Upcoming slam date is October 16 at the Northwest (Coddingtown) branch.  Teens and adults can participate.

• More info on the annual Poetry Slam

This year, in honor of Teen Read Week 2009, we are also hosting Teen Poetry Slams from October 20 - 28.   Teens only, please!

• More info on the Teen Poetry Slams

The new Testing & Education Reference Center has dozens of exam prep books and practice tests for you.  Whether you’re taking a high school, college entrance, grad school, or civil service exam, use Testing & Education Reference Center to help you prepare.

Also includes college and scholarship search, US citizenship information, and a resume builder to help you land that next job!

More about Testing & Education Reference Center

Back to school!  Children can now use our website to reach new tools for homework projects — online versions of classic printed references. 

• CultureGrams for state and country reports
• New: Social Studies Fact Cards covering California missions, Native tribes and more
• New: Wildlife Encyclopedia with animal photos and maps
• World Book Encyclopedia online

We will be keeping our print versions of these at the Library, as well.

We have discontinued our subscription to the Kids Infobits database and replaced it with the New resources listed above.  See the Kids’ Databases page for more web resources.