Albany Library Blog

Poets Jack Marshall and Gerald Fleming

dannyhess — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:54:38 +0000

On Tuesday, June 11, Second Tuesdays Poetry Series had a rare treat. Two poets, Jack Marshall and Gerald Fleming, shared poems from books published this year by Sixteen Rivers Press. The open mic was equally entertaining with a wide range of voices. You may listen to the featured readers in the Youtube below:

Call in the Dewey Detectives!

dannyhess — Fri, 31 May 2013 21:36:36 +0000

Can’t find the book you’re looking for? Move over, library staff! Call in the agents from Albany’s #1 Dewey Detective Agency.

Over 200 fourth and fifth graders have learned a thing or two about the old “Dewey Gum Shoe” after recent visits to the library. (See the photos below and the entire album on Albany Library’s Facebook page.) They will be happy to help you conduct your library search, especially if it involves the hunt for Wooly Mammoths or increases their Monthly Allowance!

The class visits featured a tour of the library, including an inside peek at the book drop! Next we looked at the library’s online resources with a stop at the helpalicious Homework Page. http://guides.aclibrary.org/homework and a demo of our Digital Worldbook. (Thanks again to Gardener and Margaret Young for the bequest that transformed our meeting room into an audio-visual showplace!)

Once the show and tell was over, the kids got down to business. Albany’s Dewey Detectives drew a topic from a hat, decorated a cupcake to help them solve their case, and looked on our web catalog for a Dewey clue to guide them to a book on their topics.

The gooey part followed the Dewey part. After cupcake consumption, students checked out books with their new library cards. These info-seeking aces are ready for any case that comes along. Just ask ‘em.

more photos at

Albany Facebook album

Chabot Space and Science Center Needs You!

dannyhess — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:46:53 +0000

The Chabot Space & Science Center is planning some informal group sessions (1 hour each) at Chabot for parents and kids, to ask them questions that will help formulate plans for an upcoming outdoor exhibition. They would like to recruit parents with kids ages K-12. Please help with the recruitment by posting the attached PDF and graphic to a blog post and to Facebook. I’ve also combined the two (info and graphic) into one PDF if that works better for you.

If you have any questions, please contact the Creative Content Producer at Chabot Space & Science Center. Her name is Camella Bontaites, email: CBontaites@chabotspace.org

Thank you for helping make the upcoming programs a success.

We Want to Hear What You Think

ChabotEvalInfo

Albany Arts Committee Seeks New Poet Laureate

dannyhess — Sat, 18 May 2013 02:05:00 +0000

The city is looking to fill the position of poet laureate for a term beginning in Fall, 2013. The brochure below is prepared by the Albany Arts Committee, the group which oversees the application process and makes the final selection of the poet. (Please do not contact library staff about this opening. See application and contact information in brochure.)

AlbanyPoetLaureateBrochure

Poetry Writing Workshop Takes the Stage

dannyhess — Tue, 07 May 2013 00:25:37 +0000

Christina Hutchins, local poet and former Albany laureate, leads an excellent poetry writing workshop on the first Wednesday of each month. On April 9, four workshop members joined Christina as featured readers for our Second Tuesdays Poetry night.

The poets’ styles range widely, as you can see in the youtube below. If you are interested in participating in the workshop, just drop in on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm.

April_9_wkshop_reading

Victims Rights Awareness Week 2013

dannyhess — Sat, 04 May 2013 06:48:51 +0000

On April 26, Albany Library hosted groups raising awareness for Victims Rights Awareness Week. The information fair was coordinated by Kelli Sage of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. Children and adults passing through the lobby on their way to the library stopped and picked up information and spoke with the presenters. One ingenious display gave children a chance to write about their own experiences as victims and how they stood up for their rights in difficult situations. The Albany event was part of a series of consciousness-raising fairs, hosted by different Bay Area libraries.

DA-VRW-2013 flyer DA-VRW-teen flyer

Cristina Campbell and our Native Plants

dannyhess — Sat, 04 May 2013 00:26:11 +0000

Last month’s Brown Bag Speakers Forum featured Cristina Campbell, a volunteer at U.C. Botanical Garden. Since retiring from her work as a university librarian, she has worked in a volunteer capacity at the Garden, propagating California native plants.

Ms. Campbell introduced us to the Garden and its role as a lab for the university’s botany and environmental education programs. Read more about the garden: http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

Cristina’s talk was filled with detailed information about specific plants and the history of the garden’s efforts to conserve native species. (Plants are labeled native if they grew in a region prior to European contact and survived the introduction of new species brought by settlers and explorers.) She described the local habitats where these plants will thrive, encouraging gardeners to plant natives that are well-suited to our soil conditions and micro-climates.

Our Discover and Go program offers free day passes to the U.C. Botanical Gardens. Check it out online at http://guides.aclibrary.org/discover?topic=Library&cat=DiscoverGo

Of course, our own library is surrounded by a border of beautiful plants–some of them natives. See the geraniums and ceanothus intertwined below.

Albany City Council Recognizes Library

dannyhess — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:19:48 +0000

It’s no secret that libraries matter to the people of Albany and surrounding communities. Adults, teens and children continue to stream through the open doors to use public computers, attend programs and browse for books and movies.

In recognition of National Library Week, Mayor Peggy Thomsen, read a proclamation honoring Albany Library. Ronnie Davis confirmed the statistics cited in the proclamation, introducing Library Board President, Rosalie Gonzales, and the new children’s librarian, Dan Hess.

The 2013 theme for Library Week is “Communities Matter.” See this motto come to life at Albany Library.

2013-LibraryWeek

Friends Fly High!

dannyhess — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:29:50 +0000

Return of the Urban Sketchers!

dannyhess — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:50:42 +0000

Original! Fresh! Drawn locally! What could be more “Albany” than art work from our home-grown Urban Sketchers. Today we learned that Urban Sketching is a world-wide phenomenon with pockets of pen-wielding artists recording life in cities all over the world. The movement started in 2007–and while it pulls people away from computer screens to draw their subjects in the open air–it depends upon the connectivity of the internet to share the art with others. Check out the great Bay Area site here:

http://urbansketchers-bayarea.blogspot.com/

Cathy McAuliffe presented the topic to our YMCA/Library Speakers Forum. She, herself, likes to unwind over a sketchpad after a day working in front of a computer screen. Cathy’s compatriots were in the audience and it was a treat to hear their added perspectives and see their work projected on the screen.

The talk ended with a short “sketch-crawl” in and around the library. Audience members fresh from their exercise class at the Y were able to invigorate their imaginations by drawing the people and objects they saw around them. Thanks, Cathy, for the invitation to step outside and draw!