CUBBERLEY USED BOOK SALES
Saturday February 14
9 am - 12:30 pm Bargain Room Sale
Be sure to check out the latest books here, with some incredible bargains.
All children's books are just 25 cents each, paperbacks are 50 cents, and hardcovers are
$1.00. See the map
for the exact location of the room.
11 am - 4 pm Regular Sale
You'll find books on every topic in the world among the 40,000
items in our regular book
room, with prices way below what used book stores charge.
Paperbacks are 50 cents and up, and hardcovers are $1.00 and up.
Featured sales books for February include:
Wonderful
gifts for Valentine's Day
(at lovable prices)
Art books * Fantasy Poetry * Romance CDs * Records Gift Certificates
Plus: Business Books Computer Science Science * Science Fiction
And much, much more!
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12:30 pm - 2 pm Bargain Room Half
Price Sale
During the middle of the day, all books in room E5 are
half-priced. Be sure to come over after you visit the regular sale.
2 pm - 4 pm Bargain Room $5 a Bag Sale
After 2 pm, all books in E5 are sold by the bag. You can fill as many grocery bags as you want
at $5 each. We supply the
grocery bags.
4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto Near the northwest end of the Cubberley Community Center
Room
location
More
information on the sales Donate
your old books
All proceeds go to help Palo Alto libraries.
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City Survey and Auditor Looks at
Libraries |
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Palo
Alto's City Auditor recently published the results of a 1,200
person survey that rates various city services. 81% of the
survey respondents who expressed an opinion on the Palo Alto
libraries felt that they were either excellent or good.
Similarly, 77% thought that the variety of library material was either excellent or good and 73%
rated the branch libraries as highly. These are not, however, exceptional
scores. The first two questions have also been asked in
many other U.S. cities, and Palo Alto's ratings are slightly
below the national averages.
The survey also found that 31% of Palo Altans
used the libraries or their services more than 12 times during
the year.
The City Auditor compared Palo Alto's
library costs and activities to those of neighboring cities,
finding that Palo Alto spends more per
capita on its libraries than our immediate neighbors, but less
than Burlingame and Berkeley. Library visits in Palo Alto
have risen by 20% over the last five years to 905,248 for
2002-2003 while per capita expenditures have risen 15%, total
hours open have declined slightly, and the number of reference questions asked have dropped
by 19% down to 88,759 per year. Family program
attendance at libraries has surged by 36% from five years ago,
with 33,625 people attending some 517 separate library events offered during
the 2002-2003 year. We're very pleased that the Friends of
the Palo Alto Library sponsors many of these events, using
funds raised from memberships, donations, and our booksales.
Full text of survey and audit (163 pages)
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Libraries Closed for President's Birthday |
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All Palo Alto libraries will be closed on Monday,
February 16 for President's Day.
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"Take a Number" Is Now Official |
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After two months of great success, we're happy to
announce that the tickets to reserve places in line for early
arrivers are now permanent. If you arrive before 10:45 am at
our main sale room, be sure to get a numbered ticket at the door. We
start handing these out at 8 am. With your ticket, you can then go
off to our bargain room or to relax, but please return by 10:45 am to
claim your spot in the line. If you arrive after 10:45 am, you don't
need a ticket, and you can just join the regular line. By the way,
the line moves very quickly, so you'll find plenty of books to buy
whether you come early or not.
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New Booksale Rooms to Debut in March |
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We are planning to expand our booksale into two rooms in the
Cubberley Community Center K wing in time for the March sale. We'll still have the
main sale room as well, but we'll be moving out of the E5 bargain room,
which is further away. This will give us a total of 5,300 square feet of
space at Cubberley, all within an easy walk. We'll give you more details
about the hours, location, and organization for the new rooms in our
next newsletter and on our web
site.
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Library Lover's Month |
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February is Library Lover's month in Palo Alto, and that's
official! Mayor Bern Beecham has signed a proclamation
this month urging "everyone to visit our libraries and
thank a librarian for making this unique and wonderful
institution possible."
To show how much we all love libraries, please send your library
a Valentine's Day card, which will be posted in that
library. You can send an electronic card
right now just by completing this simple form:
You can also just drop off your own card at
your local library or send one by mail (click here for library
addresses).
The mayor's proclamation also asks people to
support the libraries by becoming a member of the Friends of the
Palo Alto Library. You can join
online right now or by using the forms available at all
libraries.
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New Palo Alto Library Director
Nominated |
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Paula
Simpson, currently the Library Director of the Monterey Public
Library, has been nominated to become Palo Alto's new Library
Director, a position vacant since Mary Jo Levy retired in
2002. If the City Council votes in
early March to appoint
Paula, she could begin to serve as early as March
22. Paula earned a master's degree in library science from the University of
Minnesota and has worked in libraries in Oregon, Indiana and Illinois. We're
all looking forward to meeting Paula and welcoming her to Palo Alto.
See
city press release. |
Peter Milward, 1921-2003 |
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Peter Milward, a booksale
volunteer for several years, died unexpectedly on December 21 of last year
at the age of 82. Peter's wife and fellow volunteer Marion
MacGillivray recalls that Peter thoroughly enjoyed his work at the Friends
of the Palo Alto Library sales. In recent months, he was a cashier at
the bargain room, usually in the morning, but sometimes in the afternoon.
We will all miss him enormously, and extend our sympathies to his family and
friends.
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Federal Budget Includes $100,000
for Children's Library |
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Recent
federal legislation signed into law on January 23 provides $100,000 for
renovations and restoration of the Palo Alto Children’s Library. Last year, Congress awarded
$90,000 in funds to the project. The design for the renovated and expanded library will commence in the
next few months, with construction anticipated to begin in early 2005. See
Palo
Alto City Government Press Release and more about the Children's
Library project.
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Booksales Benefit Local Poor and
Homeless |
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Our booksales not only distribute books at low prices to
our customers while raising funds for the libraries, but we also supply many
books to those who cannot afford to
buy them. We do this through non-profit agencies that target
disadvantaged populations. One such organization is the Urban Ministry, which provides the
local poor and homeless population not only with free food, but with free books
as well.
Each month, Friends of the Palo Alto Library volunteer Marian Knox takes
unsold books from our E5 bargain room over to a shelf at the downtown Urban
Ministry Food Closet, where she volunteers as well. The Food Closet
provides free resources to about 75 people each weekday, and the paperbacks
are very popular items. Shirley Reiter, who has worked at the Urban
Ministry for over seven years, estimates that the program gives away over
5,000 books each year.
The most highly-prized books include thrillers and romance
novels. Food Closet patron Robin Collins says she enjoys reading the
classics, such as Shakespeare, Twain, Dickens, Woolf, and Fitzgerald.
Patron Malcolm Hammons says he likes mysteries and suspense novels, including
Poe and Stephen King.
Reiter points out that homeless people have a lot of time
on their hands while waiting for meals and shelters. Books from the
Friends of the Palo Alto Library help fill that time and provide enjoyment as well.
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New Library Advisory Commission
Members |
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This week, the Palo Alto City Council appointed three new members to
the seven-seat
Library Advisory Commission, which advises the Council on library
matters. The new commissioners are Sanford Forte, a director and founder of non-profits involved in community networking and education,
Genevieve Gerard, a high-tech marketing manager and consultant, and John Stucky, the librarian of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum since 1994.
We look forward to working with them. The new commissioners will serve for
three-year terms and
replace three others who chose not to reapply for the
positions.
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