March 2009 Report

Library Director’s Report- March 2009 

 Several budget meetings have been held this past month and all staff have attended at least one of them. Lots of valuable feedback and discussion. Recommended options are being developed by Department Heads for Council review in June.

 I can’t say enough about the success of the new Redwood Shores Library. This past month the library lent over 50,000 items, and had 27,000 visitors, more than any other month! And the facility looks great, hosts tours from libraries and architects from around the country, has hundreds of kids at storytime and teen programs, and hundreds more receiving homework help. A big thanks to the Shores staff and our PRCS facility and custodial staffs.

 Liz Meeks, Chuck Ashton, Sarah La Torra, Maria Kramer and Maria Diaz-Slocum attended and participated in four (4) full days of Emergency Management Earthquake training. The staff was part of a large group of approximately 70 City of Redwood City employees that participated in the training that was presented by California Specialized Training Institute (CSTI). The training included lectures, presentations, and exercises designed to familiarize the staff with the principals of emergency management and prepare them to respond to an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the event of a disaster. These library staff members have been designated as EOC workers.  

 Building community—one group at a time

One of this month’s highlights for Traveling Storytime Coordinator Jan Pedden, was providing a tour and storytime at Redwood Shores for the “Schaberg Moms”. This a group of mothers and their children that first met several years ago at her Tuesday afternoon Tiny Tales at Schaberg. Over the years of attending storytimes together, these mothers formed a close-knit group that began meeting for playgroups and other activities outside of the library. A year ago, one of the original mothers announced that she was expecting her second child and they all celebrated with her. A week later the group was the first to learn that this same mother had just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. They grieved with her when she lost her baby and encouraged her as she faced many difficult medical procedures. The “Schaberg Moms” helped by providing childcare, meals and unending support. The group still meets in each other’s homes for storytimes and play groups. The event at Redwood Shores served as a celebration that she is now a cancer survivor!  This is certainly an example of community building at its finest!! 

 Collaboration the key

Thanks to generous funding from the Friends of the Library, we had another sparkling Family Author Night in the Schools event. Upwards of 275 people jammed into the gym at Taft school to hear author and illustrator Yuyi Morales. So many people came that they ran out of chairs! The turnout included an impressive number of fathers, and older brothers and sisters. Each classroom received a set of Yuyi’s books, again courtesy of the Friends, which teachers used to stoke excitement for the visit. Judging from the turnout, the vivid artwork that decorated the gym, and the breathless anticipation of the kids, the teachers promoted the event with real dedication. Many teachers were there that night, too, waiting patiently in line with their students for Yuyi to autograph their copies of her books. Yuyi gave a multifaceted bilingual presentation that culminated in the creation of a drawing of her beloved character Señor Calvera which the principal of Taft plans to frame and display as a reminder of a wonderful night for the Taft community.  A big thanks to our library staff, and, of course, our Friends for financial support.

 Better than 5 Stars

This from Chuck Ashton, our Youth Services Manager: As far as Chuck and Cristina knew, they were just going to do their usual schtick at Hoover School’s Reading Assembly. Then they were asked to dress as first graders. No problem, as Cristina could borrow a white polo shirt from Homer, and Chuck had another excuse to wear drag. Yes, he found a navy blue pleated skirt, and yes, his legs look great in tights. But when they went up on stage to receive their Reader of the Month certificates, they were surprised by the presentation of a banner, beautifully hand-painted by one of the Hoover moms, congratulating the library on receiving the Five Star award! And then they were given graduation gowns, crowns, flowers, and basically kicked out of first grade, which was bittersweet, since they were just getting used to it. Seriously, it was such a wonderful surprise, and really touching. The teachers at Hoover were genuinely excited by our award, and transmitted that excitement and community pride to the kids. We got a sheaf of letters from them telling us so. The library has developed a terrific partnership with Hoover over the years, with regular assemblies, the Family Author Night, parent connections, and tons of classroom visits. And what a rewarding partnership it is! We put the banner on the wall behind the desk in the Family Place. Come down and see it and share the pride.

 Two Project READ volunteers were among the teens honored at this year’s Sequoia Awards.

Molly Prado, a senior at Sequoia HS, has been a KIP tutor since 10th grade. She received the Spirit of Project READ award at the 2007 Trivia BEE for her outstanding tutoring and her initiative to do in-class presentations to recruit more high school tutors. She also volunteered during summer KIP, is a ‘regular’ at KIP story hour, and is currently matched with two 3rd grade girls, Leslie and Marlene, and is loved by all KIP students. Her sister, Melissa Prado, was a page at RCPL and is also a KIP tutor.

Vanessa Torres, a senior at Woodside HS, has been a KIP tutor since 10th grade. She has made personal book donations to Project READ, applied for a matching grant with her employer, Starbucks, to further help Project READ, and is a ‘regular’ at KIP story hour (and brings her little siblings and family). Vanessa is determined to go to college and has sought out and received several scholarships to that end. She is currently matched with a third grader, Erika, and also volunteers during summer KIP.

 Fair Oaks Report (Maria Kramer)

• Fair Oaks Branch circulated 10,619 items, a 30% increase compared with last March. The library had 10,111 visitors, an increase of 33%!
• Dr. Francisco X. Alarcon, author of many bilingual books, English/Spanish, gave a wonderful presentation of his latest bilingual book, Animal Poems of the Iguazu / Poems de los animals de Iguazu. He was surrounded by 283 children and parents that attended the afternoon of Wednesday, March 4 at 5:30 pm in the Fair Oaks school auditorium. Dr. Alarcon presented this book in a video style. All children were amazed of the great photographs of the animals and the Iguazu waterfalls of Argentina. The greatest thing was that Dr. Alarcon made his presentation in both English and Spanish. 
• Students at Opportunity School Weekly Book Club were treated to a special lunch program with author Viola Canales after reading her book Tequila Worm. Viola read a chapter from the book; then she answered student’s questions.
• Armando, Elisa and Cristina presented storytimes to more than 500 children that enjoyed listening to stories while lying down on the turtle floor cushion! The children love to sit and rest on it while they read books.  Participants of PCRC Leadership Group that use Fair Oaks for their meetings also enjoyed a special story time. In addition, Armando continues to read to approximately 225 preschool students every week.
• Computer classes with Martina on Mondays; on Tuesdays with Armando and on Wednesdays with Angelica are well attended. 
• Maria D-S successfully completed  SEMS Introductory course and Introduction to Emergency Management: Earthquake training. Also, Maria has been busy organizing the PACT session with HR and the next Immigrants Day Festival. She and Armando met with YS team to discuss a library wide celebration of Día de los Niños / Día de los Libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book) for which MDS has designed the flyer. Also, Maria is working with the County to resolve some Parking issues; she is getting an estimate on getting two reserved parking spaces.

 Downtown Report (Maria Kramer)

• Downtown library this month circulated, 76,032 items, 2.5 % more than last year.  45,252 visitors, up 10%. 
• Staff is working on the maintenance of the collection; this is in preparation for new non-fiction orders, to clean up the collections, and to make room for the Fiction collection to move downstairs mid-May.
• A Custom Library Services analysis was done on the cost/benefits of using Baker and Taylor to catalog materials. It was decided to use the fiction collection as a pilot.
• We hosted a new partnership with Peninsula Works, to offer technology-based job training programs at the Downtown Library. Employment specialists will offer monthly employment seminars such as resume writing tips, transferable job skills or sharpen your interview skills among others.  Also, we are offering, by appointment, a 15 to 20 minutes session of Free Help with Resumes and Cover Letters twice a week.
• Two literary events brought 30 adults to the Downtown library.  The book group tackled Toni Morrison’s new novel, A Mercy, with all the rigor and toughness needed to give the challenging and lyrically beautiful work their full attention. Redwood City author, Pearl Sofaer, introduced her memoir, Baghdad to Bombay – In the Kitchens of My Cousins, with stories, songs and recipes from her upbringing, offering a rare picture of her Eastern Jewish traditions. 
• On the medical field, 56 people came to find out how the shoulder works and what to do about shoulder pain. Dr. Cheung from Stanford University Medical Center presented Shoulder & Elbow Trauma:  Current Trends for Treatment.  She is terrific speaker, making complex anatomy intelligible. 
• Jenny Davis and Serena Gregorio are attending the Leadership Academy.
• Staff involved with programs and presentations has been trained on the new projection equipment in the Community Room.

 Redwood Shores Report (Liz Meeks)

• The Redwood Shores Branch Library has exceeded the 50,000 mark in circulating library materials. This month, the library circulated 51,946 library materials! This is 5,821 more library materials than the previous month. What an accomplishment!
• 27,844 customers visited the library this month, the highest month since opening.
• 739 children attended the various storytime sessions. 
• 31 teens participated in the weekly Wednesday “Teen Activities and Gaming” program.
• The Homework Center staff assisted 141 students with their homework and assignments.
• The newly installed Interpretive Center has turned out to be quite an attraction and an educational component for our library customers. Open one full month now, it is heavily used. The Interpretive Center has captured the interest of library users, exposing them to the various different birds, fish, animals and wildlife in general, that inhabit the Redwood Shores area. The ever popular micro life exhibit, which demonstrates the types of wild life that live in the water, appears to be creating some budding scientists amongst some of the younger children. The aquarium serves as a focal point as people browse through the exhibit.  Many library customers have expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the library staff.  The Interpretive Center is open and available during the library’s regular operational hours.
• Jacky met with members of the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club to begin planning a public celebration of American Wetlands Month. The event will be held Saturday, May 9 at the Redwood Shores Branch Library and is billed as “Keeping Our Baylands Wet and Wild”. Local and national wetlands and ecology groups are invited to participate by giving out information and freebies, presenting family activities, showing a movie, or speaking on their area of expertise. The event will take advantage of the beautiful slough setting of the Library and will showcase the recently opened Environmental Interpretive Center.
• The Redwood Shores Branch Library Book Club meets the second Thursday of each month at 12:00 noon, in the Community Room. In March, the Book Club read and discussed Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. 
• The Library now has a “Quiet Reading Room” for library customers that are seeking a quiet place in the library.  Meeting Room C has been transformed into a “living room” of such, with leather lounge chairs; end tables; a curvy bench; and a few reader tables and chairs. Library staff has received expressions of gratitude from our library customers for creating another space in the library that has a quiet environment.
• The Library welcomes Paul Gunning as a much needed Building Attendant.

 Schaberg Report (Liz Meeks)

• Wendy Mathers Lapp celebrated 20 years of service with the City of Redwood City. 
• 17,081 library materials checked out, an increase of  30%. 7,642 visitors more than doubled last year’s use.
• 331 students utilized the Homework Center.
• 296 children attended the storytime sessions.
• 95 students visited the library during school class visits.

 Youth Services Report (Chuck Ashton)

• The monthly Dad and Me @ the Library program featured juggler/balancing act artist Owen Baker-Flynn  who wowed an audience of 100 with his juggling abilities. The program culminated by moving to the sidewalk in front of the library where Owen juggling flaming torches before extinguishing them – in his mouth!
• Daffy Dave – magician/juggling/madman – had an audience of 150 begging for more after his Family Night performance. Dave’s mix of magic, juggling and slapstick humor had the parents laughing just as much as the kids.
• The library’s own Chuck Ashton presented a program of stories, songs and puppets at the 3^rd Saturday of the month Family Program at the Shores Library. Chuck was pleased to see that some of the new faces in the audience found their way back to the library for his Tuesday night storytime a few days later.
• Jacky was interviewed for an article about Paws for Tales. The article will appear in the next issue of Bay Area Parent.
• When you have a moment, please come check out our new sign for the children’s Program Room.  Children’s book author/illustrator Bob Barner created the original art for the sign which was then blown up to fit the space and mounted on the wall by Dpi of San Francisco. The sign depicts a dinosaur head and dialog balloon saying Program Room, both of which are “popped out” about an inch from the yellow background festooned with flowers. It’s a visual treat, so come have a look. Thank you to Bob Barner for the fabulous art, his wife Cathie for finding Dpi to reproduce it, and to Louie Tse of Dpi for faithfully reproducing Bob’s artwork and for mounting it on the wall. Once Bob and Cathie get back from a trip to Maui we’ll figure out a date and time to dedicate the sign and have Bob do a presentation for the kids. With Elizabeth Gomez’s wonderful mural, Gianna Marino’s joyous pillars, and Bob’s fabulous sign we have the makings of an art museum for children that hopefully we can add to over the years. The next spot to consider for some additional artwork is the wall space in the alcove behind the Children’s service desk. Stay tuned for further developments.
• Fair Oaks school’s 5 kindergarten classes made the trek to the Fair Oaks library to hear Cristina read stories. It’s been so much fun that they’ve been coming every month!
• During the month of March Jan finally was able to spend some additional hours in her office and reconnect with many of her volunteers. As a result, two volunteers asked for additional placements.  Jan’s storytimes at Redwood Shores continue to attract a large number of people. Jan also completed the training of the new Chinese reader for Redwood Shores and she attended her first storytime.  Jan also took on the responsibility of working with two special needs students from Menlo Atherton High School. She was able to put her many years of special education experience to use and was able to create several meaningful tasks for them that would result in expanded skills for the two young men. The activities provided many teachable moments for their job coach.
• Sarah has started analyzing the Summer Reading collection to make sure that the library will have enough books for our High School students. She ordered books for Woodside High School’s summer reading and is now working on Menlo Atherton High School’s list.
• The Library Teen Council worked on flyers for the Mask program and discussed the upcoming Talent Show for Teens. This month during the weekly art activity, children decorated boats with crayons and sequins, they made rubbings of shamrocks, created clover wands, decorated flower magnets and created Chinese lanterns. A total of 46 people attended the art activities.
• The library continues to provide job experience for 3 students from Menlo Atherton High School. Jan found many activities for the students to perform. 
• Sarah attended a Fishbowl Forum on Drugs and Alcohol at Menlo Atherton High School.
• This month 7 people participated in a lively book discussion of Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  Next month the group will read The Boyfriend List.  This month teens made fantastic masks using feathers, sequins, rhinestones, etc.
• Sarah led a library tour for 25 students for Teen Reach.  Also as part of Teen Reach, Sarah will host a table at a career fair to let students know about the different volunteer opportunities at the Redwood City Public Library.   Sarah will also present volunteer opportunities to Citizen School at the Community Affairs Building on the 27^th.

 Project READ Report (Kathy Endaya)

We are just about finished with our current tutor training for March; we will have 18 new volunteer tutors to match with adults and children.

 Learners’ Accomplishments:

One of our regular learners, Jaymee, a second grader, surprised us all this month a few times. Recently Jaymee’s parents came in to talk to us about Jaymee’s status in school. According to Jaymee’s teacher, she was endanger of failing this term, and was given some additional testing through the school district. Her teacher and learning specialist sent home a note to her parents and to us, highlighting the areas that she needed to work on. We created an individualized learning plan to help Jaymee progress in these areas. The next week Jaymee’s dad told us that since Jaymee has been working with Project READ, she has excelled in school, especially in the areas that we are focusing on here at FLIC. Additionally, after being tested this week, we were told that Jaymee’s multiplication skills impressed everyone—such a thrill since Jaymee works every day on her multiplication “games” with her tutors. 

 A Family Affair: In addition to Jaymee’s success this month, we have another family member to celebrate… Jose—Jaymee’s dad, who comes in each session with Jaymee to encourage her and learn with her. Now that we have are new computers, Jaymee’s dad asked us if he could practice his computer skills to help him “with his work, and most importantly…to help (his) kids.”  Now, when Jaymee comes into FLIC, her dad is learning right beside her. One of Jose’s goals is to work with Jaymee on reading and math computer programs, so they can continue to learn together. (Jaymee’s mom is already a Project READ learner, so we now have a complete family of learners.) As we celebrate our goal of eliminating family low literacy, we celebrate this Project READ family!

 Another one of our youth learners had a really productive month. Edgar, a 3^rd grader, and his mom Juana are both learners in our FLIC program, and come in regularly each week. Juana has been concerned with Edgar’s progress in school and told his teacher about his work with Project READ. His teacher has partnered with us to help Edgar succeed, and recently send a detailed letter, bulleting areas that Edgar needs to work on. After creating a learning plan that matches his teacher’s goals, we have been seeing progress in Edgar’s work, especially with his multiplication skills—a major learning goal for Edgar. Last week, we were so pleased to hear from Juana that since working with Edgar’s new learning objectives at FLIC, he has been receiving notes home from the teacher with “excellent” in these areas!! She was so happy and proud of Edgar.  Everyone at FLIC can see how proud Edgar is of himself and his progress. And Edgar is now the reigning Math Bingo (multiplication) champion at FLIC—he is even giving our AmeriCorps a run for their money!  He is so proud of his accomplishments, Edgar has even started graphing his Bingo results—there’s no stopping him.

 Robert, one of our adult learners highlighted in our accomplishments last month, has been matched with a tutor through our Adult Program. Robert and his tutor, Gregory, meet at FLIC each week, and have hit it off from the start. We are all pleased that in addition to working with his tutor, Robert has continued to come to FLIC regularly to supplement his work with his tutor. This month Robert shared his own poetry with us, and worked on learning new words that he uses in his own writing. Inspired by Robert’s poetry, we went downstairs to find books of poetry for Robert to read. He came in this week, with a smile on his face. When I asked him what he wanted to work on, he replied proudly, “I want to read!” He took out his book of poetry and recited a beautiful poem by Neruda that he has been working on with his tutor. Later that evening he shared that he has a new goal: He wants to get his poetry published.

 The Family Literacy Instructional Center (FLIC) had an exciting month. We finally launched our new computer lab, which was a huge success. We opened the lab up to a small group of students during our KIP program, as a trial run to get initial feedback from our learners before opening the lab up to all Project READ learners the first week of March. We were thrilled by the response from our KIP students and their tutors.  The user accounts have been set up to make learners’ computer experience a positive one, with easy access to learning programs, and word processing software.  The kids were overjoyed; everyone wanted a turn on the new computers. With our new fully functioning lab we are able to accommodate each of our 40+  KIP students, allowing a computer time slot for every learner and tutor each week. After working on a phonics-based reading game that lists the words learned in each lesson, Maricruz (KIP student), turned to her tutor with a huge smile and proudly said: “Look at the words I learned!” It looks like the computer lab was worth the wait!

 This month Project Read’s adult inmate program launched its second book club collaboration with Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island.  Inmate learners have completed their first round of writing compositions, which include essays and Found Poetry and are waiting for responses from their classmates on Treasure Island.  Together, inmate learners and Life learning Academy students are critically analyzing writings about the prison system and are engaged in dialog focusing on ways to lower recidivism. 

 Project Read’s adult inmate program also hosted its first ever Scrabble tournament in March.  After stiff competition, which spanned over 2 weeks, a learner/tutor pair were named Scrabble Champions.  This tournament served as a community building activity for learner and tutor pairs and, helped learners discover a fun way to improve spelling skills, while simultaneously boosted their self-esteem. 

 On March 12th we completed another F.A.T.H E R S. course on 06 West with 6 guys from EAST and 6 from WEST. Of the original 12 students, 10 completed the entire course and received their certificate of completion from Project READ. We sent home 11 books and 10 audiocassettes of dad reading to his child. We had a graduation on last day of class and shared Pizza and soft drinks. It was a lot of fun.

 Kids in Partnership (KIP) story hour at the Fair Oaks Community Library drew over 75 KIP learners, tutors and families.  Everyone came out of the cold, wet weather to enjoy the lively and educational entertainment of the Lori and RJ from the Cotton Candy Express.  Adults and children alike joined in the fun by singing, dancing and playing instruments. Each family received a children’s literature classic, Leo Lionni’s A Color of His Own, to take with them to add to their home library collection. Participants also used their imagination and creativity to make beautiful valentines to share with their friends and families.

 We welcomed 6 new teen tutors during a mini midyear teen tutor training.  These high school students are now matched and tutoring in the KIP at the library program!  In addition to their individualized plans, KIP pairs also worked on math literacy through creating multiplication flipbooks, math fact dominoes and story problem vocabulary and templates.

 KIP pairs were also thrilled to be the first to use the new Project READ computers!  As students worked with their tutors on the educational websites, staff heard exclamations like, “I’m reading!” and “I read all these words!”  Wacky Web Tales, an online version of madlibs was also very popular and many KIP pairs selected, a spooky night at the library, as the their first template.

This month at KIP, we also began our annual BBQ art service project.  In the teen hour, tutors and AmeriCorps members worked together to design, paint and construct beautiful decorations for Project READ’s Award Ceremony and BBQ this July.