Did you know that over the last two years we have been developing a special collection of books, CDs and videos just for you? As part of a grant, Early Learning with Families (ELF), that we received from the California State Library, we have been able to purchase the most current information about parenting for you to check out. Do you have questions about immunizations or concerns about breastfeeding? Are you curious to learn about the latest findings about infant brain development or are you looking for fun activities for your preschooler? Come and check out the Family Collection, located by the Picture Book Room in the Youth Area.

I have recently been reading two books from the Family Collection that caught my eye with their striking titles. The first is Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor, and a Bottle of Ketchup written by two pediatricians, Laura A. Jana and Jennifer Shu who are also mothers with young children. The book is full of helpful ideas to deal with the behavioral issues surrounding food, covering topics from picky eaters to making healthy choices in restaurants and child-care centers. Written with a light touch, it contains practical and reassuring advice.   

The second book is called Honey, I Wrecked the Kids: When Yelling, Screaming, Threats, Bribes, Time-Outs, Sticker Charts and Removing Privileges All Don’t Work. It is written by psychotherapist Alison Schafer. She writes about the “discipline-resistant child” and parents who would like to be respectful of their children but find they default to punitive measures or bribes when more kindly methods fail. Her solution is a new kind of discipline called, Democratic Parenting, which she says, “leads to truly co-operative families that thrive together and support one another.” Best of all, her book is full of real-life tactics to help you pull it off.

I spent most of last weekend at the Monterey Fairgrounds attending the 52^nd annual Monterey Jazz Festival. There was a fantastic musical line up and we had great weather. I love the convenient, new (as of last year) park-and-shuttle arrangement, the increased quantity of sawdust in the arena was most welcome to those of us prone to dust-borne asthma attacks, and there were some great new vendors. One downside, for the third year in a row, was the annoying “thumpa-thumpa-thumpa” beat from the Disco in Lyons’ Lane being heard all the way inside the arena. And most unusual sightings - lots of little dogs being carried around in tote bags (a first, so far as I am aware), and a gentleman hawking subscriptions to the New York Times. 

About three weeks ago, I read a newspaper article with an “editor’s choice” preview of the publishing world’s fall 2009 releases, that listed title, author, publisher, and a one-sentence description of each book. These lists are great for people like me who like to anticipate our next batch of “good reads”, and I pored over it gleefully with uncapped highlighter pen in hand! First, the September Fiction. I highlighted Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow…”The author’s latest historical novel…” and Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery, “…looks back at the life of a famous chef.”  Audrey Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry, “…London’s Highgate Cemetery is the setting of Niffenegger’s follow-up to The Time Traveler’s Wife.” Then I got to author Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol followed by the question, “Will this be the novel that finally gets this guy some attention?”  

One of my favorite "true deep down" books is Missing May, a young reader's chapter book by Cynthia Rylant.  It's the story of twelve year old Summer, her Aunt May and Uncle Ob, who take her in when she is sent from relative to relative as though she was someone's "homework assignment".  Summer is made welcome and able to recognize and connect with the "lesson in love"  she has buried inside since the loss of her mother.

The books begin with May's death; Summer's memories light up the story, along with the pain of death and grief.  I thought of that book at the end of these past couple weeks that brought news of the loss of three area residents who each graced the Monterey Public Library with their presence.

One of the most important ways a public library serves its community is as a shared community space; a place for people old, young and in-between to gather, learn and seek respite, information and inspiration.  We welcome all, and encourage an ongoing relationship through all our services - programs for all ages, checking out and returning hundreds of thousands of books and other library materials per year and answering a multitude of questions every day.

Over the weeks and months of working at a public library, we come to know the Library's regular customers - by name, by reading preference, through their stories, joys and woes.  And when a familiar face isn't seen for a while, we can only wait to hear whether he or she will return.  Sometimes, we never know.  And sometimes, we read a familiar name in the newspaper obituaries, or hear from another customer, and know sadness.  

Marion S. Wilson's jaunty cap and beaming smile were a familiar sight over the years at the Library. We still expect her bright presence through the door, or on the phone.  Mr. Joe Pape, a Bookmobile customer at Park Lane, graciously posed for photos used on the Library's new Bookmobile, debuting last December.  His kind face is memorialized as the Bookmobile travels to parks, schools and neighborhoods, continuing the "door to door" service that he so appreciated.  

And for 17 years Martha Draper, former Assistant Librarian and Director of Public Relations for the Library, helped promote the Library's many services to the community.  She worked from 1961 to 1978, and laid the groundwork for the outstanding public relations program we have today.

As I write these words my mind is filled with faces and voices no longer here - customers, Board and Friends members, staff.  All are missed, and all have helped make the Library - and our city - a warmer, more colorful and vibrant shared place. For these everyday "lessons in love" and in community at the Library, I am truly grateful.

Yesterday at the Youth Services staff meeting, we shared some of our favorite new books:

Sarah mentioned The Shepherd's Granddaughter, a story about a modern Palastinian girl with a desire to take on a traditional vocation.

Jane talked about a young (10 year old?) boy who raved about Nick of Time. She and Karen both think that The Heart of a Shepherd is one of the best novels of the year.  It's about a boy whose rancher father leads the local national guard into Iraq.  He's left with his aging grandparents to run the ranch.  He is a thoughtful, religious boy who learns a lot about himself the year that his father is away.  Karen is thrilled with a new read-aloud-chapter-book for young children, Emmaline and the Bunny.  Every sentence is a special use of language.

When Karen talked about Operation Redwood, an exciting environmental adventure for older kids, Sarah brought up the new format in  Redwoods by Chin - an innovative  nonfiction book with the pictures of a fictional story.We hope you will enjoy these books as much as we have.  What do YOU recommend we read next?

If you are a frequent visitor to our web site, you may have noticed the steady stream of incremental changes over the last several weeks that have transformed many of our web pages. After several years of keeping to strict guidelines about how wide our pages are and how much data they need to load, we have made the leap to a larger page width (a 37% increase), and we're beginning to add more photos to many of our pages. For a look at some of the new content, head down to the kids page, the teen page, or the reference page, and discover something new!

During this time of new beginnings, I decided to take a trip back in time to look at the history of the Monterey Public Library web site. To do so, I enlisted one of my favorite internet toys, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. For the uninitiated, the Wayback machine allows you to look at what almost any web page looked like six months ago, last year, or even way back in the year 2000. For a trip down the Monterey Public Library web site memory lane, click here