Banned Books Week 2011 begins today!  Each year, the American Library Association and other nonprofit groups spend seven autumn days helping to ensure that everyone has the freedom to read what they want. 

At San Jose Public Library, we're celebrating Banned Books Week 2011 by displaying banned books and offering a quiz for teens. Please join us at King Library, Almaden, Cambrian, East Branch, Edenvale, Pearl Avenue, Santa Teresa, Vineland, or West Valley if you'd like to take the quiz for a chance to win prizes.

Here are the ten most challenged books of 2010.  Are any of your favorites on the list?

• And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson, 2005
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie, 2007.  Also available as an audiobook on CD
• Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932.  Also available as an audiobook on CD and a downloadable digital audiobook
• Crank, Ellen Hopkins, 2004
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, 2008. Also available as an audiobook on CD and a downloadable digital audiobook
• Lush, Natasha Friend, 2006
• What My Mother Doesn't Know, Sonya Sones, 2001
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich, 2001. Also available as an audiobook on CD
• Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology, edited by Amy Sonnie, 2000
• Twilight, Stephenie Meyer, 2005. Also available as an eBook, an audiobook on CD, a downloadable digital audiobook, and as a print book in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Chinese, and English large print

Available position

We seek an independent consultant with experience and knowledge in appraisal of children’s books.

Background

San José Public Library owns a collection of materials called the Children’s Resource Collection (CRC), consisting of approximately 7200 non-circulating books and magazines dating from 1763 to 1996. The materials get little use, and we’re interested in appraising the collection to determine its value and make a decision as to its future. 

Scope of work

The consultant will evaluate the CRC materials and offer an appraisal of the collection as a whole as well as individual appraisals for any item for which the estimated value is over $25.00, or of special significance for another reason. The appraised values should be those at which the Library can reasonably expect to resell the items. Deliverables will include a written assessment of the collection’s condition and value; appraisals for the collection as a whole as well as individual items as stated above; and written recommendations for potential buyers for the collection. The consultant may also be asked to make a fifteen-minute presentation at a library management meeting to explain her/his findings.

The Library will inventory the collection before the consultant starts. We will provide full access to the collection Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm, and other hours as mutually determined; office space for the duration of the project; a laptop for the duration of the project to be used for research within the library; and office supplies as needed.

How to apply

Please email the following materials to Daisy Porter, Manager of King Access, Children’s, and Youth, daisy.porter@sjlibrary.org, by September 23.

• A résumé detailing your qualifications for evaluating historical books, especially children’s materials

• A letter of interest including your requested fee and the time you estimate it will take you to complete the project

This year's theme is Travel and World Culture. Come to the library to see fun performers like Caterpillar Puppets performing 'Aztec Pinocchio'; pick up a stamp and mailing label so you can send us a postcard from wherever the summer takes you (from Milpitas to Miami to Madrid); and, of course, read books to earn prizes!  For more information, please visit our Summer Reading 2011 page. 

If you'd like to start reading books that are related to the theme, try these book lists created by librarians at other libraries:

One World, Many Stories (for children)

You Are Here (for teens)

Novel Destinations (for adults)

Or, of course, visit your local library and ask a librarian for recommendations.

Californians want a path forward – not left or right – one right step after another.

California Forward, the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, and San José Public Libraries invite you to Speak Up CA, an important dialogue about our state and its future, and how restructuring the relationship between state government and city and county governments may help move the California in the right direction – closer to its people.

California Forward is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group working to fix state government and restore the California Dream. California Forward believes there is a critical link between many of the problems that threaten our future and our state government, which has become ineffective, unresponsive, and unable to fix itself. We are working to create a "smart" government that’s small enough to listen, big enough to tackle real problems, smart enough to spend our money wisely in good times and bad, and honest enough to be held accountable for results. But we need your help.

Speak Up CA will take place on the evening of Wednesday, May 11 at Dr. Roberto Cruz-Alum Rock Library, and your participation is critical to finding ideas to fix our state.  We will begin with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and the program runs 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Seating is limited, and space is filling up, so please RSVP HERE as soon as possible. If you don't have internet access, you can RSVP by calling 408-674-1371.

 

In early April, the Library will present two performances of Shakespeare's play The Tempest (read watch listen), specially adapted for families. These 55-minute shows feature professional actors, hand-painted sets, and captivating costumes, all designed to make Shakespeare accessible to children while keeping the excitement of the original productions.  Please join us at King Library, Room 225, on April 3 at 5:30 pm, or at Almaden Branch on April 6 at 6:00 pm. Stay afterward for a post-show Q&A with the actors!

Book lovers in Dublin, Ireland, are reading Joseph O'Connor's Ghost Light as their One City/One Book pick for 2011. Ghost Light is a story of theater and romance set in post-World War II London and has received rave reviews since its publication in Ireland. It comes out in the United States next week, and we've pre-ordered 38 copies, so place your hold now!

A special treat for Bay Area readers: the author will do a reading and signing at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera on Thursday, February 17 at 7pm.

A whole city reading one book - sound like fun? San José does this too - join us for Silicon Valley Reads 2011!