Summer 2013

President’s MessageThe Friends year ended and started anew on June 19 with a rousing rendition of the song “Happy Birthday” to celebrate the Friends’ 60th year at the Annual Friends Dinner honoring our volunteers and the installation of officers. Thanks to the wonderful committee of Beth Smith-Kellock, Sandra Dickey, Fran Garbaccio, Pat Locher, Sharon Murphy, Toni Navarro, Mary Talwar, and Connie Wortham for their planning and coordination and hard work for the evening. Thanks too to the volunteers who made the table decorations (birthday cakes); Sue Hart, for the display boards with things from the past, the set-up and clean-up crew; and, of course, the great food, which made the evening a great success.

Without our many volunteers, who reported over 3000 volunteer hours this year, we could not have raised over $55,000 to contribute to the Sierra Madre Library budget. That same request has come from Library Director, Carolyn Thomas, for this coming year, so we have our work cut out for us.

A new project that we will be focusing on in the coming year is a facility to house our used books for the ongoing Best Used Book Sales. The books are temporarily stored in the bin behind the Library which formerly held the Wine Tasting and Art Fair materials. Those materials are being stored at Board member’s homes until such time as we can come up with a permanent home. Being looked at is a modular structure to be placed on the empty property behind the Library parking lot. If we go that way, the City will need to approve a zoning change. Be on the look-out for this to happen in the very near future.

I want to urge you to answer the call when asked for your help on our various fund raising projects and help make this year one of the best ever. Please invite your friends and neighbors to get involved too. We’re always looking for new faces.

Pat Alcorn

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2013-2014

At their recent June dinner meeting, the Friends of the Library were pleased to announce the candidates that had been approved for positions on the Board of Directors for 2013-2014. They are:

President: Pat AlcornVice President: Beth Smith-KellockTreasurer: Sandra DickeyRecording Secretary: Teresa ChaureCorresponding Secretary: Mary TalwarArt Fair Co-Chairs: Janet Emery and Susan GallagherBest Used Book Sale Co-Chairs: Martha Troedson and Alan LeahyBoard Development: Margaret QuigleyHistorian/Archives: Sue HartMembership: Vicky RyanNewsletter/Web Site: Sharon MurphyPublicity: Jane ZamanzadehTrustee Liaison: Darlene TraxlerVolunteer Development: Connie WorthamWine Tasting: TBADirectors at Large: Toni Navarro, Pat Locher, Jerry CarltonBoard Member Emeritus: Fran Garbaccio

SUMMER READING PROGRAM UNDERWAY

Summer Reading registration is underway and stats for the fi rst week: we had 58 Beginners, 46 Readers, 58 Challengers, 19 Teens, 47 Adults and 18 Teen Volunteers. The Summer Reading program ends on August 3.

DOWNLOADING CITY DOCUMENTS IS EASYCity Council packets are available online from the City’s webpage. Contact the Library and we can help you access the meeting packets. Other Boards and Commissions also have agendas and meeting packets online.

MEMBERSHIP It’s with some sadness and excitement that the Membership chairperson responsibilities will be handed off beginning in July. Sadness, as the experience has been incredibly satisfying, so enjoying each of our many Friends’ volunteers; excitement, as I know your new chairperson, Vicky Ryan, will do an amazing job.

In 2011, our membership roster began at 272. Today’s number is 348, a 28% increase in the number of folks who have joined our efforts. This is now the second year of mailing individual renewals to our members. We’re seeing a 92% return of renewals, and many of our members are increasing their level with higher membership dues. This change is appearing to improve what was previously a 70% renewal level. As you can imagine, replacing 30% of our members each year was a pretty big hole to begin to dig from!

We have 184 members renewing within the next couple of months. Thanks to all of you who have already forwarded your renewal dues.

Along with the letter recognizing the receipt of your dues, we’re enclosing an additional Friends’ brochure. No, this is not for YOU, but intended to be passed on to a friend or family member who might be interested in becoming a Friend. Please help us grow our membership numbers as we could easily reach 400 members by the end of the summer!Dave Hart

23rd ANNUAL SIERRA MADRE ART FAIR POSTERS ARE AVAILABLE

While we were cleaning out the Friends’ storage unit in May, we found prints from the 23rd Annual Sierra Madre Art Fair (1990) that are signed and numbered by well-known Sierra Madre artist Gary Wesser. Gary received his art training at the California Institute of the Arts and worked very closely with the Pasadena Symphony. His artistic stamp could be seen all around Sierra Madre on buildings, signs, trucks and autos. He was an interior and exterior decorator, graphic designer, and painter, famous for his color experience. Gary passed away in 1994. If you would like a poster they are available, free of charge, and can be picked up, delivered or shipped to you. Please call Beth Smith-Kellock at 626-355-8637 or bethgerrysmith@aol.com.

IN REMEMBRANCEWe are remembering Mary Tumilty’s passing on July 28, 2010, at the age of 96. She was a past President of the Friends, our City Librarian for 10 years, Chair of the Sierra Madre Art Fair in its early years, very proud of the Mary Tumilty Endowment Fund which was established in her honor on the occasion of her retirement from the Library, and towards the end of her life --- Board Member Emeritus of the Friends. Mary has left us all a beautiful legacy.

PROCEDURE CHANGES COMING IN JULY Starting with the new fiscal year, Library users will see a change in services. Patrons will make their own computer reservations in the Library instead of calling in and making reservations over the phone. Catalog computers throughout the Library will serve as computer reservation stations and staff will be happy to show users how to get started.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON CAFÉ SOUNDSDrop by for mellow music for adults on Saturday afternoon, July 13, at 4:00 p.m. and again on Saturday, July 27, at 4:00 p.m.

FAMILY FUN PROGRAMS IN JULY • Wednesday, July 10, 7:00 p.m. Storytime & Stuffed Animal Sleep- over. Children leave their stuffed animals at the Library for sleepover. • Monday, July 15, 10:00 a.m. Clint Perry and the Boo Hoo Crew. Hilarious music, costumes, play, pirates, toys and more! • Monday, July 29, 10:00 a.m. David Cousins. Bright, fun award-winning comedy juggling with audience involvement, music and thrills!

THIRD THURSDAY BOOK CLUB Lively roundtable discussions of new and noteworthy books highlight the Third Thursday Book Club which meets at the Library from 11:00 a.m. – Noon. A flyer listing the upcoming selections is available at the Library Service Desk and on the Library website.

The July 18 selection is Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel. For August 15, A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick.

READER’S REVIEWThis month’s review is by Lida Bushloper

Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953, by Elizabeth Winder

This engaging book is only a partial biography of the tragic poet, and you don’t have to be a Plath fan to enjoy it. In talking about Plath’s one month in New York as a guest editor at Mademoiselle Magazine, along with 19 other college girls, the author recaptures an America that most of us now see as seriously flawed. We can look back with nostalgia at the fashions, beauty products and entertainments that defined the 1950’s, but Winder also illuminates the rigid gender roles, the class system, the sexual restrictions and the limited choices that negatively affected most of the nation’s people, but especially, its young women. Plath and her fellow interns endure a grueling month of apprenticeship, while getting a coveted look inside the worlds of fashion, publishing, and advertising, meeting celebrities and being squired around Manhattan by dashing young men, and generally burning the candle at both ends. The book is a splendid recreation of Plath’s life just before her first suicide attempt, and all the more poignant since we know how it all ends. Call # Status: 921 Plath New Book Section

BEST USED BOOK SALE

STAFF CHANGES AT THE LIBRARYAlice Kuo, Library Deputy Director, bid farewell to the San Gabriel Valley and accepted a position at the Beverly Hills Public Library near her home. Alice was with Sierra Madre Library for a year and a half. Her last day was June 18 and she will be missed by staff and patrons alike.Meegan Tosh, formerly Youth Services Librarian, be-came the new Acting Library Services Manager on June 24. The Library Services Manager oversees program-ming, collection development, scheduling of staff, and acquisitions. You will be seeing Meegan at many of the Friends’ monthly meetings too.

· The June Best Used Book Sale earned $2250.74 while the Internet sales and $1-2 Buck Truck for the period brought in $1210.11. Added to that were proceeds of $345 from the Spring Silent Auction for a total of $3805.85 during the two months. The Book Sale Committee is pleased to announce that earnings for the 2012-2013 fiscal year totaled $22,068. This is the largest amount ever! Thanks to all of our many volunteers who donated hundreds of hours pricing, shelving, and staffing the Book Sales; setting up, cleaning up and storing tables and boxes of books at the sales; posting, selling, and shipping books on the Internet; and carrying and arranging the books on the $1-2 Buck Truck. We are also so thankful to the Friends who have donated such wonderful “gently-used” books and to those who come and buy books at the Book Sales and bid at the Silent Auctions. Your generosity supports the programs, services, and acquisitions needed by the Sierra Madre Public Library. The August Book Sale will be held on Friday, August 2, from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. and on Saturday, August 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. In the basement there will be many beautiful cookbooks, art books, and books on popular culture. Newer fiction and non-fiction and children’s books will also be featured on the display tables. The parking lot will have $1.00 bargain books (including teen titles) and children’s books and paperbacks both for 5/$1.00. Also featured outside will be teacher materials and workbooks for $1.00 each. These materials are often priced more than $10 in school supply stores!

Please note: with each purchase, patrons will have the opportunity to select one wine glass (or more if needed) from previous Friends’ Wine Tasting events.

PARTNERS PROGRAM Many thanks to Beverly Clifton, a loyal Partner since 2010, and to Donna & Victor Howard, Alice & Eric Clark and Susan Quinn for renewing their annual pledge.

Congratulations to two of our Partners -- Marlene Enmark, for being named Sierra Madre Citizen of the Year and to Joan Crow, for being named Older Sierra Madre American of the Year.

LIBRARY DISPLAY CASE The display for July will feature this year’s Summer Reading program and for August it will highlight “Journeys into the Wild,” Eaton Canyon Nature Center’s new youth program that teaches Tongva Indian crafts as well as local history.

Editor: Sharon Murphy Contributing Writer: Alice KuoDesign/Set Up: Melissa SanchezPrinted By: Sir Speedy

Editor: Sharon Murphy Contributing Writer: Alice KuoDesign/Set Up: Melissa SanchezPrinted By: Sir Speedy

TEEN BOOK CLUB There will be no Teen Book Club during the months of June, July and August.PRESCHOOL STORYTIMEParents and preschool children meet on Monday mornings 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. and Wednesday evenings 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. for lively stories, songs and crafts. Storytime will take a break and we will not meet on Monday, August 5 and Wednesday, August 7.SIERRA MADRE HISTORICAL ARCHIVESExplore local history in the Archives, jointly owned and maintained by the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society and the Library. For research assistance, please call Archivist Deb-bie Henderson for an appointment at 626-355-7186.

JULY 7/1 10:00 a.m. Storytime 7/3 7:00 p.m. Storytime7/8 10:00 a.m. Storytime 7/10 7:00 p.m. Storytime/Stuffed Animal Sleepover7/11 3:30 p.m. Barks & Books7/13 4:00 p.m. Saturday Afternoon Café Sounds7/15 10:00 a.m. Clint Perry & the Boo Hoo Crew7/17 7:00 p.m. Storytime7/17 7:00 p.m. Friends Board Meeting7/18 11:00 a.m. 3rd Thursday Book Club7/22 10:00 a.m. Storytime 7/24 7:00 p.m. Storytime7/24 7:00 p.m. Board of Trustees Meeting7/27 4:00 p.m. Saturday Afternoon Café Sounds7/29 10:00 a.m. David Cousins Juggler7/31 7:00 p.m. StorytimeAUGUST 8/2 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. Best Used Book Sale8/3 10 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Best Used Book Sale 8/3 Summer Reading Program Ends8/5 10:00 a.m. NO Storytime 8/7 7:00 p.m. NO Storytime8/8 3:30 p.m. NO Barks & Books8/12 10:00 a.m. Storytime 8/14 7:00 p.m. Storytime8/15 11:00 a.m. 3rd Thursday Book Club8/19 10:00 a.m. Storytime 8/21 7:00 p.m. Storytime8/21 7:00 p.m. NO Friends Board Meeting8/26 10:00 a.m. Storytime 8/28 7:00 p.m. Storytime8/28 7:00 p.m. Board of Trustees Meeting

LIVELY BARKS AND BOOKS Children are invited to visit with and read to a gentle and spe-cially trained dog on the second Thursday of each month, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. Barks and Books will be held on July 11 but will take a break in August.

CLASSES TAKING A SUMMER BREAKAncestry.com and eReader classes will be suspended dur-ing the summer. Ancestry.com is still available in the Library for users who want to work on their family trees. Staff will be happy to help patrons with Ancestry and downloading eBooks. Just call the Library at 626-355-7186.

Editor: Sharon MurphyContributing Writer: Meegan ToshDesign/Set Up: Melissa SanchezPrinted by: Sir Speedy