You can subscribe to be notified of our latest CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, and large type books. Choose from 13 different lists for different formats and age levels. Our New at the Library lists now include the latest downloadable audiobooks!
Today at the Library
Mystery Book Discussion - Sonoma Valley
After School Crafts - Sebastopol
Baby Time (0-17 months) - Rincon Valley
Spring Art Show - Petaluma
Baby Time (ages 0 to 18 months) - Sebastopol
Book discussion - Guerneville
PAWS for Reading - Rincon Valley
"Along the Russian River" Quilt Exhibit - Cloverdale
Calendar of events
Forms and instructions for basic state and federal tax returns are available in Library branches.
Volunteer tax preparers will also be available in some libraries between early February and April. Check with your local Library to find out if volunteers are scheduled there.
For more information, see our Tax Forms & Information page.
Read about the Friends bookstore, Mary Moore archives, the Essay and Art Contest, and behind the scenes with your hold requests … plus much more, in the Winter 2010 Library Newsletter.
Kids in kindergarten through 6th grade are invited to enter this essay and art contest sponsored by the Library, the Sonoma County Office of Education, Sonoma County Public Library Foundation, Schulz Museum, Press Democrat and KRCB. Entries will be due on February 12 and the award will be given in April.
Eighteen cash prizes will be awarded and free passes to the Charles M. Schulz Museum will be given to the first 2,000 entrants. The first-place winners within each category (K-2, 3-4, 5-6) will also receive an award entitling their entire class to visit the Museum for free.
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.
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.