There will be no Terman sale on this date.

Palo Alto libraries will be closed on Monday, October 13 for the Columbus Day holiday.

You can vote later this month online or at any Palo Alto library for the book you'd like the community to read next year in the Silicon Valley Reads program.  From over 1,400 nominations submitted in August and September, the three finalists are Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Isabel Allende's The Daughter of Fortune, and Yann Martel's The Life of Pi.  The winner will be announced in November and book discussions on it will commence in February 2004.  Over 300,000 people in the Santa Clara County area participated in the previous Silicon Valley Reads program.

A mini-booksale with refreshments at 7 pm will mark the start of our annual meeting on October 30, at the Palo Alto Art Center at 1313 Newell Road.  At 7:30 pm, physician Fernando Vescia will speak about the artist/scientist/inventor Leonardo da Vinci in a talk entitled "In Search of Leonardo."  Dr. Vescia is a former Stanford lecturer on the history of medicine and his previous talk to our group about the Alexandrian Library was very much enjoyed.  The event is free to the public.  Members of the Friends of the Palo Alto Library may also participate at this meeting in the election of board members and officers and in ratifying our updated bylaws.

Palo Alto libraries have been very much in the news lately, given the recent proposals to close the Downtown Library (see item below) and float a new bond measure.  We polled all ten City Council candidates for the upcoming November 4 City Council election for their views on library issues, which are summarized here.  Please read the full responses, which provide interesting and detailed insights as to how our libraries might evolve.

With the holiday season only about ten weeks away, consider giving gift certificates to our booksale as your presents this year.  The certificates come in denominations of $5 each and are available from our booksale cashiers.  With more than 40,000 books available at Cubberley, a gift certificate represents a whole world of exciting reading and adventure. 

You'll always find some some unusual donated items at our "book" sale, such as puppets, cookware, and computers.  But this month has the most exotic ever: a Suzuki lightweight K15 motorcycle.  This is a genuine collector's item, built around 1967-1968, with an engine capacity of 79cc.  It weighs 75kg and needs some work.  Bid on the cycle at a silent auction from 9 am to 4 pm at this month's sale.  The proceeds will benefit the Children's Library Fund.  Perhaps it's a great way to zip around town when you're rushing to get to a library before closing time.

With September's fundraising kickoff party behind it (see pictures), the Children's Library Repair and Expansion project is now busily raising the funds it needs to begin the repairs and expansion of the Children's Library.  Already, the project has received over $1.8 million in donations and pledges of matching funds.  Please help the project qualify for all the matching funds by making your donation now as well.  For just $250, your can have a brick inscribed that will be placed into a wall in the Secret Garden behind the library.  More about this and other donation and naming opportunities.

Overwhelming support for the Downtown Library, including vows to keep it open from six of the nine City Council members, suggest the branch will not be closing in the foreseeable future.  See recent San Jose Mercury and Palo Alto Weekly articles and even a pro-Downtown library person among today's Palo Alto Weekly street interviews.  Our thanks to the neighborhood associations and numerous individuals who worked with the Friends of the Palo Alto Library to help town officials understand why the closure would have harmed rather than helped the city.