January 5, 2007

Lots of happenings scheduled at the new Cambrian Branch Library

By Mary Cage,
Youth Services Librarian
Special to the Times

Book discussions, computer classes, story times and craft programs are some of the events you’ll find at the newly reopened Cambrian Library in the coming months.

Computer classes
Never used a computer before? Come to our Absolute Beginners Computer Workshop, which will be held on Tuesdays in January at 11:30 a.m. starting Jan. 9. In this fun, relaxed introduction to the PC, you’ll learn the parts of the computer and how to navigate using a mouse.

Learn E-mail Basics on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. beginning Jan. 10. Open a free e-mail account and learn how to open, send and organize e-mail.

These computer classes are free and will be held in the library’s Technology Center on the second floor. Please sign up at the second floor Information Desk or call (408) 808-3080.

Story times
Our story times feature a mix of books, flannel board stories, songs, fingerplays, puppets and musical activities. They are designed to provide children and their caregivers with a fun, engaging experience while simultaneously enhancing children’s pre-literacy and early literacy skills. Join us in the children’s area on the second floor. Our schedule is as follows:

- Family Story Time, children of all ages – Wednesday evenings at 7.

- Mother Goose Story Time, children age 2 and under – Thursday mornings at 10:30.

- Preschool Story Time, children age 3 to 5 – Friday mornings at 10:30.

- Family Story Time, children of all ages – Saturday mornings at 10:30.

Winter craft activity
Make sparkling snowflakes on Thursday, Jan. 11, from 4-5 p.m. This event will take place in the Community Room and is geared for children ages 5 to 15. All materials will be provided.

‘Silicon Valley Reads’ events
On Saturday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. the library will host a lively discussion of this year’s “Silicon Valley Reads” book selection, “The Tortilla Curtain.” This book depicts immigration through the eyes of two Southern California couples living in very different circumstances.

The afternoon will begin with a showing of a videotaped interview with the book’s author, T.C. Boyle. Professor Scot Guenter from San Jose State University will enhance our knowledge of the issues surrounding immigration with a presentation about the Nativist Movement of the Know Nothing political party of the 1840s. This movement bears some striking similarities to the anti-immigrant groups of today.

Immigration, past and present, will again be the focus on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m., when the library will show the acclaimed documentary “Ellis Island” in the Community Room. In this film, immigrants of every ethnic background recall their extraordinary journeys, historians explore the sometimes-insensitive national policies and the Ellis Island Oral History Project reveals what the immigration experience was actually like.

Regular hours at the Cambrian Library are Monday from 2-7 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The library will be closed on Monday, Jan. 15, in observance Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, and on Monday, Feb. 19, for Presidents Day.

The Cambrian Library, a branch of San Jose Public Library, is located at 1780 Hillsdale Ave. Call (408) 808-3080, visit the Web site at www.sjlibrary.org, or send e-mail to cb.sjpl@sjlibrary.org.