May 16, 2008

Off the Shelf

June heats up at the library

By Tim Collins
Special to the Times

June approaches: it’s Effective Communications Month and National Headache Awareness Month. Communicate effectively so you avoid those nasty headaches! Books on the subject of communicating effectively can be found at your local San José Public Library! Try Dewey 658 (business) and Dewey 808 (letter writing and public speaking.)

Don’t have time to get to the library? Let the library come to you! Check out the eBooks, that you can read on your own computer screen. It’s no surprise that there are a great range of titles of this nature among our eBook offerings: Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication, The Creative Training Idea Book, and Effective Business Speaking, just to name three examples.

To search SJPL’s collection, including eBooks: (1) go to our website sjlibrary.org, then (2) Click on “Library Catalog” and then happily search away. If you are just interested in eBooks, then: (1) go to sjlibrary.org, then (2) on the drop-down menu on the left that is headed by the caption “More Quick Links,” choose “eBooks and Digital Audio.” Your local library is only a mouse-click away!

Medical Emergency Response
From May 19 to May 23, San José’s Fire Department will be visiting libraries throughout the city. Come and learn about SJFD’s Emergency Medical System. Join firefighters and paramedics as they demonstrate automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and provide free blood pressure checks. In an emergency, and any other time for that matter, knowledge is power and can save precious seconds.

The five offerings of this program take place at the following libraries, from 2 to 5 p.m.:

Monday, May 19: Rose Garden Branch Library, 1580 Naglee Ave.

Tuesday, May 20: Almaden Branch Library, 6445 Camden Ave.

Wednesday, May 21: Cambrian Branch Library, 1780 Hillsdale Ave.

Thursday, May 22: Tully Community Branch Library, 880 Tully Road

Friday, May 23: Berryessa Branch Library, 3355 Noble Ave.

Summer Reading Approaches - We need volunteers!
Public libraries could not function without volunteers. That truism especially applies during the summer, when San Jose libraries hold our annual Summer Reading celebrations. Summer Reading runs from June 14 to August 9. That’ll be here before we know it. So at Tully, we’ll be holding volunteer trainings and orientations in the next few weeks, on the Fridays May 23 and June 5 starting at 4:30 p.m., and Wednesday June 18 from 6-8 p.m. If you are a teenager, and would like to volunteer for more than 15 hours, please also attend a teensReach meeting on the third Wednesday of the month from 6 to 7 p.m.: June18.

Baby Bounce
On Wednesday mornings from May 7 to June 11, at 11:30 a.m., Tully presents Baby Bounce, a special story time just for babies 0 to 12 months old, and their parents. Enjoy bonding with your baby while sharing baby songs, nursery rhymes, finger plays and board books. Each week parents will be learning one of six pre-reading skills and how it applies to their babies.

Tully, of course, provides regular story times throughout the week, as follows:

Fun for Ones: Tuesday mornings at 11:30 a.m., followed by ‘Stay and Play’

Toddler Time: Thursday mornings at 10:30 a.m., followed by ‘Stay and Play’

Preschool Storytime: Friday mornings at 10:30 a.m., followed by ‘Stay and Play’

Family Storytimes: Tuesday evenings at 6:45 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 11:30 a.m.

Anime/Manga Graphic Novel Contest extended to July 11
Both the Tully and the Berryessa libraries are holding an anime/manga graphic novel making contest. We’ve extended the deadline to Friday, July 11. During summer, more people might have more time to wield their pens and pencils! So if you’re a fan of anime and manga, have imagination and are blessed with a degree of artistic talent, share your gift with the world! Or at least, your fellow library customers. The winner will earn a $20 cash prize, and 50 colored copies of his/her work will be published and distributed at the Tully and/or Berryessa libraries. Library staff and a volunteer panel will judge the content and the illustrations of your book.

Eat Your House
What? Yes, you read that right. No, I’m not referring to the expression “eating yourself out of house and home.” On Friday afternoons, we generally have a mid-afternoon activity that has appeal to children. On May 30 at 4 p.m., we’ll be making an edible spring house, with graham crackers, frosting, gum drops, chocolate and jelly beans.

Tully Book Club; Last Wednesday of the month, 7 p.m.
The May 28 book discussion offering will be that classic oldie but goodie Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. The June 25 book of choice will be House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III, which is set right here in the Bay Area.

Seven Trees closes…for now
It’s Seven Trees turn! Namely, the old Seven Trees Branch Library is closing on May 31. In 18 months or so, it will be reborn as the brand-new Seven Trees Community Center and Branch Library. We at the Tully, Evergreen and Edenvale libraries look forward to serving Seven Trees’ customers in the meantime.

Citywide Library Events
For a listing of all upcoming Tully events, pick up a calendar next time you visit us. For library events citywide, including the Dr. King library downtown, check the Events section of the SJPL website www.sjlibrary.org.

Tim Collins is the Adult Services Librarian at the Tully Community Branch Library, 880 Tully Road, between McLaughlin and Senter. The Library’s phone number is 808-3030, and its email address is tu.sjpl@sjlibrary.org.