January Book Sale
The Library has had some wonderful programs recently, made possible by generous support from the Friends. Once each month, a special guest performer is featured at the Tuesday night Family Story Time. In January, Quack and Wabbit Puppet Theater presented Stone Soup at Preschool Story Time and Maisy Mouse visited the toddlers during their story time. The Library has also started after school programs once a month for the older kids with funding from Friends. There are also programs for the older folks as well. A movie discussion group on the second Saturday of each month is proving to be very popular, and the book discussion groups (one for adults and one for middle school children) are also well received.
Book Sale
The next book sale will be held on:
Octobert 3rd to
October 5th
(Watch for flyer!)
Friends' Tattler: Summer 2003
April Book Sale
The April Book Sale was a huge success bringing in $6500 for the Milpitas Community Library. This money is made available entirely through the efforts of volunteers. We are grateful to the following individuals who volunteered their time during this book sale:
Maria Scoles, Margie Stephens, Nicole Lynn, Melanie McInerney, Annell Spencer, Aria Lynn, Bessie Louie, Marilyn Hay, Sen Fan, Richard Swain, Ross Scoles, Eli Yani, Natalie Johnson, Diane Davies, Vo Nguyen, Geneva Aday, Paul Hay, Rob Kamoto, Zachary Jacobson, Jenny Giang, Daniel Hay, Dina Jacobsen, Sibyl Wright, Alyssa Wong, Josephine Nguyen, Yu-Lan Chou, Sonya Yip, Madelyn Grey, Paulette Booth, and Len Booth
If you wish to join this group of volunteers, call the library at 262-1171 and leave your name and phone number so a member of FOML can contact you. You may also sign up to volunteer at a specific book sale by contacting the Adult Reference Desk and placing your name on the list to help.
FOML General Meeting
There will be a general meeting of the Friends on Thursday, June 12th at 7:00 p.m. at the Library. All members of the Friends are invited to learn about the Special Library Benefit Tax (extension of Measure A). County Librarian Melinda Cervantes will tell us about this important measure, which will be on the ballot in March 2004.
Measure A was passed by the voters in 1994 and has a life of 10 years. It stipulates that each parcel of property within our service area be taxed at the rate of $33 per year, which accounts for over $5,000,000 annually in the county library budget. The voters must approve a follow-on measure in order for this support to continue.
All members of the Friends, as well as future members, are urged to attend this kick-off meeting. For more information, call the Library at 262-1171.
Melinda Cervantes, New County Librarian
Melinda Cervantes has been appointed as the new County Librarian. Cervantes assumed the County Librarian position on December 30th. She brings to this position more than 17 years of experience in the public sector library system. To join the County of Santa Clara, Cervantes left the Contra Costa County Library where she has held the position of Deputy County Librarian, Public Services. Cervantes has a Master's Degree in Library Science from Kent State University. She was selected by the Arizona Library Association as the Librarian of the Year in 1997.
Friends of the Milpitas Library welcome Melinda Cervantes. We look forward to our partnership with her as we begin planning and building the new Milpitas branch.
New Milpitas Library!
The Milpitas City Council is planning a new and larger library. Since it was built in 1982, use of the library has skyrocketed with well over 50,000 visitors and 100,000 items checked out each month. Last year, a Community Needs Assessment for the library project was completed. You can find the Needs Assessment on the City's web page. It's estimated that the new library building should be somewhere between 48,000 to 60,000 square feet in size which is considerably larger than our current 19,500 square foot library. Work on the next step in the project has already begun. A Building Program will outline where various functions in the library should be located and the amount and type of equipment and furnishings that should be provided. If you have any questions regarding the library project, please contact Cindy Maxwell at 586-3282 or cmaxwell@ci.milpitas.ca.gov.