March 25, 2005

The Evergreen Branch Library needs your support!

Right now, the Evergreen Branch Library is a cluttered construction site. Loyal library patrons miss their convenient old neighborhood branch, but they are looking forward to the new, enlarged and improved library that will soon be taking its place.

The bond measure passed in 2000 provides funds for the construction of new and expanded libraries, but by law does not pay for fixtures, furnishings, equipment, technology and opening day collections. The San Jose Public Library Foundation is seeking $500,000 in philanthropic support from the local community served by the Evergreen Library to help cover these costs.

“I hope,” says Foundation Director Marie Bernardy, “that the Evergreen community will be willing to work together to ensure that the inside of the building is as beautiful as the outside.”

Contributions from neighbors and friends of the library will help provide the comfortable chairs for the adult reading area as well as colorful and cozy seating in the children’s center.

Neighborhood gifts will help outfit the Internet Cafe with computers available to students as well as residents. From the lamps shedding gentle light in the corner of the “living room,” the study carrels in the teen center, to the attractive display racks promoting new acquisitions and old favorites—the money donated to purchase all these things will make the new Evergreen Branch Library a useful, friendly and attractive destination.

Tax-deductible gifts, made payable to the San Jose Public Library Foundation, can be earmarked for the Evergreen Branch Library. Gifts of more than $1,000—donated by individuals, businesses, or groups—will be permanently recognized on a handsome Donor Wall in the lobby of the new building. Gifts of any size are welcome and appreciated.

Residents can help in three ways:
- by making a meaningful gift to the Foundation in support of the new Evergreen facility;

- by helping spread the word about the advantages that this facility, nearly triple in size at 21,000 square feet, will bring to people of all ages;

- by hosting a local information session about the features and benefits of the expanded library.

For more information, contact Bernardy at (408) 808-2174, or mbernardy@sjplf.org.

Upcoming library programs, book club meetings

The San Jose Public Library System offers a multitude of unique and interesting programs that are open to the public and free of charge. With our local library under construction, the Times will publicize more of the programs offered at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in downtown San Jose.

“California Stories Uncovered”
Two premises set “California Stories Uncovered” apart from other California anthologies. The first is that all Californians have their own uniquely flavored stories about how they fit into this beautiful and complex state of ours, which is as much a mythic space as a geographical location.

The second premise is that sharing these stories is of great importance, especially at this fraught and fractured time in post-9/11 America.

“For it is the nature of good stories to reach into the heart and foster understanding and compassion on a level that is deeper than that of other kinds of discourse,” writes well-known Bay Area author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in the introduction to an anthology published by the California Council for the Humanties.
 
To support this goal, San José Public Library will host Firoozeh Dumas, author of “Funny in Farsi: a Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America,” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 29 in Room 225/229, second floor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 150 E. San Fernando St. Call 408) 808-2183 for more information.

Dumas was born in Iran in 1962 and immigrated to America with her family in 1971, later attending and graduating from U.C. Berkeley. “Funny in Farsi” chronicles the American journey of Dumas’ wonderfully engaging family.

The family includes her engineer father, her elegant mother, who never fully mastered English (nor cared to), her uncle, who combated the effects of American fast food with an army of miraculous American weight-loss gadgets and Firoozeh herself, who as a girl changed her name to Julie.

Writers in conversation
The King Library and California Council for the Humanities (CCH) will also host “Writers in Conversation” featuring Yxta Maya Murray in conversation with CCH Executive Director James Quay, on April 16 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room 225 Suite B, second floor, phone (408) 808-2397.

In this question-and-answer session, audience members will also join the conversation. Murray is a law professor at Loyola Law School. She is the author of four novels “Locas,” “What It Takes to Get to Vegas,” “The Conquest” and her most recent, “The Queen Jade.”

Murray is one of the contributing authors of “California Stories Uncovered,” an anthology of stories published by the California Council for the Humanities to strengthen communities through stories. The anthology represents phase two
of a multiyear initiative of the California Council for the Humanities-California Stories, designed to strengthen communities and connect Californians by uncovering personal and community stories that, once gathered and woven together, tell the story of today’s California.

Book Clubs
Are you tired of the mind-numbing programming on television today? Why not join a book club housed in several different library locations.

“Women of Mystery”
“Women of Mystery” is a compelling and innovative book discussion program that inspires participants to engage in lively discussions of contemporary literary and social issues, and to draw connections between the fictional world of crime novels and the social challenges they face in their own communities.

In week one, participants view and discuss the film, “Women of Mystery.” The film profiles mystery writers Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller and Sara Paretsky, and delves into the worlds of their detectives. It combines engaging interviews with the writers, dramatized readings from the books and fascinating scenes following Grafton, Muller and Paretsky, as they research, photograph and explore Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Chicago.

This month’s meetings will be held Wednesday, April 6 and April 20 at 6:30 p.m. at Santa Teresa Branch Library, Community Room, 290 International Circle, (408) 281-1879.

Sci-Fi Book Club
Science Fiction Fans are invited to join this month’s discussion of Frank Herbert’s, “The Jesus Incident.” Visitors are welcome to come on Saturday, April 9 at 2 p.m. Vineland Branch Library, 1450 Blossom Hill Road, (408) 808-3000.

Commonwealth Club of California - Silicon Valley Book Group
The Commonwealth Club of California-SV hosts a monthly book group to discuss current works of fiction and non-fiction. Annelies Ashoff Ransome leads the discussions. April’s selection is “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown on Wednesday, April 13 from 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Room 229 Suite A, 2nd Floor, (408) 351-3476.

For the listing of 2005 titles, go to: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/commonwealthclubSVbookgroup.

Senior book discussion group
Seniors, 50 and up, are invited to join this month’s book discussion of Willa Cather’s “My Antonia,” on Thursday, April 28 from 10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the Vineland Branch Library, Community Room, (408) 808-3000. Visitors are welcome.

For more information about any of these programs, or to confirm program schedules, please contact the branch library specified or check the library’s Web site: www.sjlibrary.org.