The Library is fortunate to have great staff and great volunteers. This year over 40 volunteers have been supporting staff in keeping the collections in order and the library neat and attractive, providing educational and cultural programs, indexing and preserving local history materials, and helping customers with technology. Volunteers take books to the homebound and get packets ready for families with new babies.  Volunteers even help raise funds to ease the profound budget cuts we've been experiencing lately.   Some are as young as seven, while others have been retired longer than that.  While many have just started, a few have been with us for decades!  Some are in the military, others are students, and a few are unemployed,  All make the choice to serve our community.  Your library wouldn't be the same place without them.  Please join us in expressing appreciation to these generous folks. 

….or at least electricity is in the brand new outlets we’ve added to the Library TeenZone. As frequent visitors to the Library will have noticed, it can be a struggle during busy hours to find a spot to charge a laptop or other electronic device. Our new outlets will provide power to more seats at a time when they are definitely needed. As an added bonus, you will be able to charge a high-tech device via USB cable. So remember the Library as an option when you’re out and about, and relax with a good book while you recharge that iPod, GPS, cell phone, or other USB-powered toy.

April 14 is National Bookmobile Day. Libraries across the country will be celebrating this very special service.  Bookmobiles provide many of the same services as your library. You can search the Web, read a magazine (and check it out), check out books, DVDs, audiobooks etc.  There is something for everybody. Bookmobiles take many cars off the road by bringing the library directly to the communities they serve. Visit a Bookmobile stop today or tomorrow in Monterey and tell us a bookmobile memory and/or why you like to use the Bookmobile for our upcoming youtube video. The Cat in the Hat will be on board passing out treats to all customers.  Once again, Happy National Bookmobile Day!!!
To find a bookmobile stop near you, go to www.monterey.org/library/services/bk.html

Hipster poet and jazz lyricist Fran Landesman has become inexplicably obscure (Note to Music majors in need of a research project.)  But a line from her great song “It Isn’t So Good It Couldn’t Get Better” is going through my mind today as we get ready to celebrate National Library Week.  She wrote, “I’m never surprised at what life might arrange; the one thing I’m always prepared for is change.”  Words positively Boy Scout-ish in their wisdom!  Change is, indeed, the by-word in today’s library, because it is synonymous with how we will sustain ourselves and remain relevant in the 21^st century.

When I first began working at the Monterey Public Library almost 30 years ago, it was not some silent, stuffy old slacker with dim lamps and dust filled shelves.  The Monterey Public Library had a solid reputation for being a progressive library.  Housed in a modern architectural landmark filled with beautiful works by renowned artists, Monterey Public Library was blessed with robust funding, an excellent collection of materials, and plenty of staff to manage all those clunky, labor-intensive tasks of yesteryear.  Beyond the basics, the Library housed a valuable research collection of books on art and architecture, local historical resources, and featured lending collections of art prints, phonograph records, music cassettes, talking books, and even films in the brand-spanking new VHS format.  The Library hosted children’s events, lectures and documentary film programs, and within a few short years, added a regular series of storytelling for adults, acoustic music concerts, poetry readings, author visits, and book discussions.  As libraries go, the Monterey Public Library has always had what can only be called pizzazz.

But riding a wave of success didn’t stop Monterey Public Library from preparing for the next big thing, because game-changing computer technologies were just out on the horizon, and soon enough they presented us with a heady array of new tools for organizing and gathering information and delivering service faster and more efficiently.  And as soon as we got our technology plan on paper and figured out how to pay for it, we dove in - head first!

In this current decade the Library has been keeping its eye on a couple of new and very big changes  - the economic reality that there are diminishing resources for Library operations and the skyrocketing demand for library services. This is change that doesn’t call for sitting by to see what happens next.  So, once again, we are preparing for change.  Each time you visit the library, you’ll see evidence of this (other bloggers can fill you in on the details.)  Will these changes help us meet the challenges we face today and in the near future?   We certainly hope so.  We also hope that you will give us your feedback so that we can tweak and fine-tune as needed to make sure that our new service model will help the Library continue on its longstanding course of progress in an ever-changing world.    

So, this National Library Week we extend two invitations to you – an invitation to prepare for changes in the Library and an invitation to be involved in the process so that the Library remains a strong and sustainable resource for you and the entire community.  Now, back to that great song…

Have you been thinking about how to make your garden pop with aesthetic appeal?  How to create a colorful and sustainable garden with native plants, with a water conservation garden in mind?  You can learn how to do all this from Jeff Rosendale, owner of Sierra Azul Nursery and Gardens, in Watsonville.  After his talk at the library, Jeff will have some of his plants for sale so you can get started as soon as you get home.  We'll see you Saturday, the 17th. 

Good news for history lovers!  Budget difficulties over this past year have taken a major toll on visits to local historical sites.  But things are about to change.  Beginning this weekend, both the Custom House and Pacific House Museum in Monterey’s Custom House Plaza will resume open hours on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.  Thanks to a team of docents, the Stevenson House and Casa Serrano will also be open for tours on Saturdays from 1 – 4 p.m.  The Cooper Molera Adobe and gardens remain open on their regular schedule, and don’t forget the City of Monterey’s two excellent museums, Colton Hall and the Presidio Museum.
If you live locally, don’t pass up these wonderful opportunities to make our rich historic resources part of your weekend enjoyment. And if you’re planning a visit to Monterey from outside the area, plan to stay an extra day and make Saturday your day to explore these fascinating treasures.

Do you know about Biography Resource Center (database)?! Wikipedia is cool, but Biography Resource has information which is verified by expert researchers, Librarians! Try it! It's on MPL's website under the "Reference and Database" section. Ask for help at the Reference Desk if you want more information or to learn about other interesting things you can find on our website! Look up something out of your favorite historical novel.

OK, Monterey County Weekly, you had me going there on page 18, The End of an Era when you announced your plan to quit the print publication and go entirely online and mobile.  I was all prepared to write a weepy, sentimental obituary on the Library blog for you as I did for my beloved Gourmet magazine last winter. Not until after lunch when I had a chance to read the rest of the article did it become clear that you guys really know how to make an April Fool out of this devoted reader!  The pull quote, “Let’s face it:  Six people can do the work of 26,” gave me hope.  Then the story just gets funnier and funnier right up to the sweet conclusion.  Thanks for your usual great job of shaking things up, and long live the MCWeekly.