News from the Library, by E-mail and RSS

Some big recent news from the Library is something they mentioned last month and again this month: all five branches are open, and Rinconada and Mitchell Park have expanded hours! You can see more about this here.

If you have ever given the Library your e-mail address, like this newsletter editor did when he signed up for a Palo Alto Library card, you have probably noticed that they are sending you one to a few e-mails per month since the start of the pandemic.

If you haven't been getting these e-mails, and are curious, there's an archive of them here. The messages linked from the archive page have links to a subscription page.

If you prefer this sort of thing in your RSS reader instead of your e-mail, you can get the RSS feed here. (This may open in your RSS reader instead of in your browser.)

 
November 13th: FOPAL Sale & CASP Open Studios

One great location: the Cubberley Community Center! Two great events...

November 13th, FOPAL and Cubberley Artist Studio Program (CASP) come together to offer bibliophiles and art connoisseurs an opportunity to shop/buy FOPAL's art books, framed art...then attend CASP's Open Studios! Look for more details in FOPAL's November Sale newsletter and on FOPAL's Facebook page. Please "like" and "follow" us when you visit. General info; CASP Open Studios - Wings E, F, and U. Join the artists in their studios for art and art activities!

https://cityofpaloalto.org/casp

 
What's Special for October 2021?

Donation volume has been steady, and we want to send out a big thank you to all who have donated material for our sales as well as a super big THANK YOU to FOPAL's Donation Monitor team! Many sections have a backlog and as a result, we expect to have strong sales all through the winter months. Speaking of which, you'll find Fall and Winter Holiday books, music, and more in the bookcases just outside the sorting/donation room (opposite Travel) in November. We will restock this area with new material through December. Speaking of Travel, Travel Guides has a newly freshened selection of guides all priced to sell. Look for the Industrial Design Special curated by section manager Nancy Cohen and donation compliments of IDEO again this month. This collection can be found in the specials (2) bay bookcases just outside the sorting room. After several plentiful months, the Vintage Cooking section has an entirely new selection of titles choose from. A large donation of Halloween books came in this month; many made the display area in the Children's Room. The Puzzles & Games section continues to be going strong with a bay added to accommodate! These are just a few highlights; the shelves are full!

 
Happy Pandemic Halloween Season (It's Still Weird)

No Main Room Entry Tickets at this time: Customers who want the best selection should arrive early. There are lines to enter each room. Please do not plan on using a box to hold your place in line. The Bargain Room is open 9:30am and the Children's Room opens at 10am, giving you time to shop either of these rooms and be able to...

Get In Line By 11am: Please be sure to return to the Main Room a few minutes before it opens at 11 am to line up using social distancing. Customers will be admitted in the order of first in line first to enter. There is an occupancy limit for each salesroom, these will be carefully enforced by FOPAL's Door Monitors.

Twelve Book Limit: Due to health and safety regulations, no more than 80 customers at a time can be allowed into the Main Room. During the first hour or until the Sales Manager lifts the restriction, each customer may select no more than 12 books at a time, pay for the items in the cashier line, and exit through the east door. The customer may then join the end of any remaining line at the north/entry door and reenter in that order. The limitation of 12 books at a time will continue past noon if a line remains outside.

One Bag Limit: There is also a limit of one grocery-sized or one green FOPAL reusable bag per customer for carrying your book selections. We do not allow the use of large "Costco" or "Ikea" sized bags, or boxes of any kind until any shopping limits are lifted.

To avoid lines and crowds, we suggest browsing afternoon on Saturday and Sunday.

 
Children's Room

"The Children's Room is stocked with Halloween books galore, plus Halloween DVDs and some costumes, at prices so low it's scary! Check out our Activities section for loads of games, puzzles and toys; music CDs and books on CD for road trips; crafts materials; science and math books and workbooks; etc. Browse our World Languages section for books in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Urdu, Hindi, Czech, and others--what fun for a language beginner to read Clifford the Big Red Dog or Harry Potter in the language she is studying! On the table in the School-age Fiction section, there is a display of many of the books on Time Magazine's 100 best books for kids. Read about them in the binder on the table. Finally, if you missed the giant pop-up-books sale in H-1 last winter, we have multiple boxes of pop-ups, all priced at 50 cents or one dollar. This month only!" -Carolyn Davidson

 
Architecture

"This month's sale includes a full shelf of architectural guides to cities, countries, and specific architects and monuments. Among the more than 50 volumes are guides in English to Portland, Philadelphia, Copenhagen, Berlin, Vienna, Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing; to countries and provinces such as Switzerland and the Ticino; to monuments such as the Palazzo del Te in Mantua and the Jewish Museum in Berlin; and to architects such as Palladio, Le Corbusier, and Alvar Aalto. There are also many interesting new additions to the architecture section." -Melinda Parry

 
Religion

"There is a sizable collection of the Fortress series of biblical studies, such as the Song of Songs, Micah, Jeremiah and many more. There are also volumes of the Theological Dictionary, both Old and New Testament. James Charlesworth's volumes on The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, volumes one and two can also be found in the Scripture section. Moving to Christianity there are two volumes of John Henry Newman's Letters and Correspondence to 1845 with a Brief Biography. Many more interesting tomes await your perusal."" -Nancy Cohen

 
Fiction Boutique

"If you are thinking of starting a Book Group...or if you are already a member of such a group...or if you enjoy discussing books with just one or two friends, you will find many tempting novels in this section! Enjoy!" -Marian Knox

 
Judaica

"Browse the Judaica section for books on the Jewish religion including editions of the Torah, Kabbalah, Jewish history, the Holocaust, memoirs, Israel, Jewish Women, the Jewish American Experience and other related subjects.

"New this month - The Illuminated Kaddish; Two Volume Paperback set of Moses Maimonides The Guide of the Perplexed; The Light of Days; Enemies and Neighbors; Hebrew Myths - The Book of Genesis; A Train near Magdeburg.

"Most fiction with Jewish themes will be found in Modern Literature/Classics or Current Fiction. Books entirely in Hebrew are shelved in the European Languages section." -Charlotte Epstein

 
Health

"The Health section has over 700 books, just waiting for our patrons! This month, a number of books on ADD have been added, and in particular, several on Adult ADD. Under the Children's Health section, there are two paperbacks on parenting a child with diabetes. In addition, we have received the first book on COVID-19. And, for fun, look for 500 Formulas for Aromatherapy." -Suzanne C.

 
Science Fiction & Fantasy

"So many fine Science Fiction paperbacks this month they've crowded out much of the usual Fantasy shelves. Lots of less-common older books in excellent condition, including a nice selection of one-author 'Best Of' story collections. Still have the like-new eight-volume Expanse bundle!" -Rich McAllister

 
Bargain Room Science Fiction & Fantasy

"Meanwhile over in the Bargain Room we have found additional shelf space across the aisle between the paperback Mysteries and Reference sections and have 28 three-foot shelves (84 shelf-feet) mostly full of SF&F paperbacks, as well as another 12 three-foot shelves of hardcover and trade paper SF&F. Paperbacks are shelved by author and with an eye to breadth of titles and editions and preferring better-condition copies. Anthologies cover most of two shelves and shared-world books cover a little more than two shelves and I think we have all of both out." -Frank McConnell

 
Donations

We have made it past Drop-off Donations 3.0 and have returned to accepting donations without the need to make an appointment.

HOWEVER....

We must pause accepting donations until October 12 while we prepare for the monthly sale (and our Donation Intake takes the Monday holiday off). Please hold your donations until then.

Please read our donation guidelines before you bring materials to us.

All that said, our normal hours for drop-off donations are Monday through Saturday, 3pm-5pm. (But not the week before the sale.)