San Marino Public Library to Hold Used Book Sale

The Friends of the San Marino Public Library will hold their semi-annual used book sale on Saturday, October 30, 2004 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the Library patio.

This will be a special "Two-Fer" blowout sale. Buyers pay $2.00 for one bag of books and get an additional bag for free.

Book lovers from around the Southland look forward to these sales that offer lightly used books at deeply discounted prices.

Throughout the year, the Friends of the San Marino Public Library run a used Book Shoppe in the Library auditorium. It is open on Mondays from 11:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Wednesdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and again from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Thursdays from 11:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Fridays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., and Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The Book Shoppe is closed on Tuesday and Sunday.

For more information, call the Library at (626) 300-0777.

Free Internet Class Saturday, October 23, 2004

On Saturday, October 23, there will be a free hour and a half workshop, "Internet for Beginners" starting at 9:00 AM. This class is for people who have little or no Internet experience and want to begin learning what the Internet is and how to use it. A "follow-up" class called "Internet: Beyond the Basics" will be held on Saturday, November 20 at 9:00 AM. This class is for those who have taken the first class or have had some Internet experience, but want to learn more about finding information on the Internet.

Space in both classes is limited, so those who wish to obtain further information or reserve a place can call (626) 300-0777. The San Marino Public Library is located at 1890 Huntington Drive in San Marino.

Halloween Hunt

Looking for something safe and fun to do for Halloween? Well, look no further!! Magician David Skale will be at the San Marino Public Library to presents his "Vampire Magic Show", Saturday, October 30th at 2:00 p. m. Don't miss an opportunity to scream with glee and laugh with delight as Magician David promotes the importance of books and reading. Come join us for an afternoon of fun, interactive comedy, and lots of magic. All children are welcome and are encouraged to dress their Halloween costume. This free event sponsored by the Friends of the San Marino Public Library.

Free Art Workshop

The San Marino Public library, along with Chouninard School of Art, will offer a free drawing Class for children ages 9 - 13. The class will be taught by artist Vivian Flynn, teacher and Head of Children's programming at the Chouninard School of Art.

Class will be at the San Marino Public Library on Thursday, November 4th from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Space is limited, so please call (626) 300-0777 to reserve a spot!!!

Children's Book Week

In celebration of Children's Book Week, (November 15 - November 20) the San Marino Public Library will be asking all children to help contribute in building a library bookworm. For each book read, the child will come into the library and fill out form that will represent a piece of the bookworm's body. This "body piece" includes the name and age of the child along with the title and author of each book read. Each piece will then be added to the bookworm in an effort to see how long the bookworm will grow by the end of Children's Book Week. Children can begin helping the library bookworm grow on Monday, November 1st.

New Reference Material @ the San Marino Public Library

In an effort to assist younger children with their research needs, the San Marino Public Library recently purchased a new set of encyclopedias, "The New Book of Knowledge". These encyclopedias are specifically geared towards younger researchers beginning from grade 3 and up. And it has long been the leading source of accurate, accessible, and fun-to-read information. With its thousands of articles, written by over 1,880 authoritative contributors, and many special features, "The New Book of Knowledge" has been consistently judged the best in its class.

Guaranteed Quality Information at the Office and at Home-Through Your Library

Are you worried about the quality of the information that you find on the Internet? Wouldn't it be nice to have Web-based facts at your fingertips that you could be sure were reliable? Now you can, through your San Marino Public Library.

The Library has subscribed to eleven different products that you can get into through our Web page with your library card. These include a magnificent magazine database that lets you search through over 1200 well-known periodicals, many of which will serve up entire articles just as they appeared in print. Forget about a copy machine! Just mark the articles you need and have them sent to your e-mail inbox.

Need an old article from the Los Angeles Times? From our Web page, you can pull up every story that appeared in the paper going all the way back to 1985. Students, visit Facts on File to find science experiment suggestions or CQ Researcher to get the pros and cons of modern societal dilemmas. High schoolers can browse College Catalogs online.

Book group members can find reviews and recommendations for modern fiction in Novelist, and background information about older authors in Gale's Writers' Lives and even Current Biography, a database that has articles about the famous reaching back to 1940.

Finally, everyone can use online articles from Encyclopedia Americana (the U.S. answer to Encyclopedia Britannica) and the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. How do you reach these gems? Grab your library card and point your browser to http://smpl.us. Most of these products require users outside library walls to type in their 14-digit library card number, with no spaces. Once you do that, you can explore the world of subscription information-all with a strong guarantee of quality, courtesy of the San Marino Public Library.

Food for Thought

Beginning October 9th, 2004, the San Marino Public Library will participate in the In-N-Out "Food for Thought" Reading Program for children aged 2 to 12. A child visiting the San Marino Public Library may register at the Children's Reference Desk and receive a "Food for Thought" reading log. The Children's Services staff will validate the log with a program stamp for each book a child reads at his/her reading level. When the child has five stamps on the log, he/she will receive a "Food for Thought" Achievement Award certificate good for a free cheeseburger or a hamburger at any In-N-Out Burger. For children too young to read, parents can read to the child. The "Food for Thought" reading program will end on November 20, 2004

Research Workshop at the San Marino Public Library

Do you have an assignment due that requires you to do research? Don't know where to turn? Then come to the San Marino Public Library on Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30 p.m. We are holding a hands-on workshop that will introduce students to research procedures and the electronic resources available to assist them in completing their assignments. Discussion topics include the Newspaper and Magazine Databases, Science and History homework helper and Current Biography Illustrated. This workshop is specifically geared toward 5th - 6th graders, but anyone with an interest in Research and Electronic Resources is invited to attend.

Halloween Hunt

Looking for something safe and fun to do for Halloween? Well, look no further!! Magician David Skale will be at the San Marino Public Library to present his "Vampire Magic Show", Saturday, October 30th at 2:00 p. m. You will be thrilled with fantastic feats of magic along with creepy, crawly tales of past Halloweens. Don't miss an opportunity to scream with glee and laugh with delight as Magician David promotes the importance of books and reading. Come join us for an evening of fun, interactive comedy, and lots of magic. All children are welcome and are encouraged to dress as their favorite Halloween character.

This free event sponsored by the Friends of the San Marino Public Library.

Digging Underground

Have you heard that the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and Caltrans are exploring the possibility of tunneling underground to complete the missing segment of the Long Beach Freeway between Alhambra and Pasadena? It may sound far-fetched, but Paris and several other European have undertaken such projects with apparent success. For those who are interested in the subject, the MTA has just provided a videotape of a public presentation on the subject that was given last April. Entitled “Tunneling in the Urban Environments,” this presentation describes the current plans to study the feasibility of such a project here and gives you a glimpse of how it would work.