Spotlight on the Magazine Index: An Online Subscription from Your Library

Need to do some research but can't get to the library? No problem! The San Marino Public Library subscribes to eleven different services that you can use through our Web page with your library card at any time of day or night.

The crown jewel of this collection is the Magazine Index. This database, also known as MasterFile Elite from EBSCOhost Web(tm), lets users search through a database that reaches back to the early 1990s and covers over 1200 magazines and journals ranging from People to the Journal of Interamerican Studies & World Affairs. Many entries contain the entire text of articles just as they appeared in print!

Students love this database because it means that they don't have to physically go to the library, find the correct edition of the magazine that they seek, and then photocopy it. Parents find this collection useful when they want to read articles about home repair or appliance reviews. This service can also help busy businesspeople to find quality information right from their desks at work.

How do you reach this information treasure? Grab your library card, point your browser to http://sanmarinopl.org, and then click on "Online Reference Resources". On the next screen, choose "Magazine Index". The login screen will ask for a "Patron ID". This is your 14-digit library card number typed in with no spaces. On the following page, choose the service called "EBSCOhost Web". Once you do that, you will be free to explore the world of magazine and journal articles online--all with a strong guarantee of quality, courtesy of the San Marino Public Library.

The San Marino Library home page is your gateway to quality information online.

Three New Faces Come to the San Marino Public Library

The San Marino Public Library is pleased to announce the arrival of three new additions to our staff: Yvonne Cheng, Jessica Keating, and Crystal Yu.

Yvonne Cheng has returned to our library as an accredited reference librarian. She last worked for us as a library assistant in 2002. Cheng brings many talents to the reference desk including a fine arts background and an understanding of the Chinese language. Cheng earned her Masters of Library and Information Science at UCLA in 2003. She lives in San Gabriel with her husband.

Project Coordinator Jessica Keating comes to us from City Hall. She will oversee the implementation of various library administrative tasks. In addition to her work with us, Keating is studying for a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University. Keating has worked for the City of San Marino since 1996. She lives in Arcadia with her husband and dog.

Crystal Yu will manage the administrative details for the Library Capital Campaign. At the same time, she is writing her Masters thesis for the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Program at San Jose State University. Yu received her undergraduate degree in Psychology at U.C. Irvine. She currently resides in Monterey Park.

Please join us in welcoming these professionals to our team!

Rose Pruning Workshop 2005

For you do-it-yourselfers and nature lovers, it is time to plan your schedule for a beautiful rose display in the spring. The free Rose Pruning workshop that Ron Serven, of the San Marino Parks Department, has given annually in the Library's auditorium will be held on Saturday, January 22, 2005 at 9:00 AM. Ron always does a great job of explaining and demonstrating the philosophy and technique of rose pruning. Some people attend year after year as a refresher course. He is great about answering questions and readying people to go out and spend a couple of hours in the garden.

This year there will be a new twist. The session at the Library, which runs from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, will be followed by a hands-on pruning demonstration at Lacy Park (1485 Virginia Road) from 11:30 to 1:00 PM. Lacy Park has plenty of roses to practice on and this part of the program gives those attending the opportunity to get immediate feedback and answers to questions from Ron. He will give some instruction, but the emphasis will be on the doing. Bring your pair of pruners. Also on hand will be volunteers from the Lacy Park Rose Garden Deadheaders, a group of knowledgeable and helpful people who help the Parks Department keep up with the massive amount of rose pruning in Lacy Park. Anyone who wants to join this group is encouraged to attend and find out more about what they do. This segment will give participants more exposure to different types of rose plants, including climbing roses. Please enter at the Virginia Road entrance and sign in there.

There is no need to make a reservation for either part of the program, but call (626) 300-0777 for information on the Library segment, or (626) 304-9648 for information about the hands-on segment. Everyone is welcome to attend either or both sessions.

Audio Update

The library's collection of unabridged audio books continues to grow, with over a dozen new titles being added in October and November. Clive Cussler is back with a new thriller, Lost City, the fifth installment in his popular NUMA files series. The Darling, Russell Banks's latest book, is described in Publishers Weekly as "A rich and complex look at the searing connections between the personal and the political, and one of Banks's most powerful novels yet."

New non-fiction offerings include Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts and Jon Meachem's Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship. Meachem is managing editor of Newsweek and his well researched book examines the unique friendship forged between two vital figures of the 20th century, FDR and Winston Churchill.

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.