Friday, January 17 (10:30 AM - 12:00 PM)
Location: Boulder Creek
Room: Boulder Creek Community Room, Outdoor Amphitheater

A time for free play for children with a participating adult. Arrival and departure times are flexible. This is a drop-in early learning program, where there will be toys for developing and strengthening gross motor skills, as well as providing time for young children to learn socialization skills,  and for all participants to form friendships.

---

Friday, January 17 (10:30 AM - 12:00 PM)
Location: La Selva Beach

Come learn and play with us.  Every Friday morning (except the 1st Friday of the month) starting at 10:30a. 

Questions??  Please call the La Selva Beach Library   831.427.7710

 

La Selva Beach Library, 316 Estrella Ave.  

---

Friday, January 17 (11:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
Location: Live Oak

We are knitting at Live Oak Library on Fridays. This fun social group. Come for part of the time or stay for the whole event. Other fiber crafts are welcome and encouraged. 

For more information contact the librarian Julie Soto sotoj@santacruzpl.org or 831-427-7700 ext 7649

---

Friday, January 17 (11:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
Location: Aptos
Room: The Betty Leonard Community Room

Join us for great stories and a craft. 

Fridays  11:00a to 12noon

Aptos Branch Library, Community Room

Ages 4-6

 

---

Friday, January 17 (11:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
Location: Capitola
Room: Ow Family Community Room

Baby Story Time features songs, rhymes, stories, and lap play designed to help babies develop early literacy skills. This program is designed for children ages birth to two and their caregivers, but all ages are welcome! After Baby Time, stay for Stay & Play to reinforce early literacy skills through play and create connections with other families. 

---

Friday, January 17 (11:00 AM - 11:30 AM)
Location: Scotts Valley
Room: Fireside Community Room

Come join Librarian Emily for stories, songs, and lots of fun for preschoolers and their caregivers in our beautiful, newly-renovated Scotts Valley Library Branch every Friday at 11am.

---

Friday, January 17 (11:00 AM - 12:30 PM)
Location: Aptos
Room: Dorosin Memorial Conference Room

Join us at the public library for an engaging and dynamic book group experience: Bring Your Own Book (BYOB). This innovative program encourages participants to bring along a book of their choice and share their thoughts, insights, and perspectives with fellow readers. Whether you're passionate about fiction, non-fiction, classics, or contemporary literature, BYOB Book Group welcomes all genres and interests.

How It Works:

Choose Your Book: Select a book that you've recently read or have been wanting to discuss. It could be a novel, biography, memoir, poetry collection, or any other genre that interests you. Bring Your Book: Arrive at the library with your chosen book in hand. Make sure it's one you're eager to share and discuss with others. Engage in Discussion: Once everyone has gathered, participants will take turns sharing their thoughts on their chosen books. This could include favorite passages, character analysis, thematic elements, personal connections, and more. Respectful Exchange: Engage in respectful and open-minded discussions with fellow participants. Share your perspectives while also listening attentively to others' viewpoints. This is a space for lively literary dialogue and exchange of ideas. Discover New Reads: Explore a diverse range of books and genres through the recommendations and discussions of fellow participants. You might just find your next favorite read!

Whether you're a voracious reader or just starting to delve into the world of books, Bring Your Own Book (BYOB) Book Group offers a welcoming and inclusive environment for lively literary discussions and discovery. Join us at the library and let's celebrate the joy of reading together!

---

Friday, January 17 (12:10 PM - 12:50 PM)
Location: Downtown

A popular monthly series of free noon-time concerts in the Downtown Branch meeting room. Pieces and performers vary from month to month. Your are welcome to bring your lunch, and please avoid crunchy food items. Munching With Mozart and Friends is sponsored by the Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries and the Santa Cruz County Music Teachers' Association. For more information about the series, to make a reservation for your class or other large group, or to inquire about performing, contact Carol Panofsky by phone at 831-566-2954 or by email at panofsky@cruzio.com

MUNCHING WITH MOZART AND FRIENDS Friday, January 17, 2025 12:10 - 12:50 Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown Branch – Meeting Room

Early Broadway!

David Reffkin, violin and Nicki Kerns, piano

Program

Selections from:

The Student Prince [The Student Prince, 1924]  Sigmund Romberg

Love Will Find a Way [Shuffle Along, 1921]  Noble Sissle/Eubie Blake

Bandana Days [Shuffle Along, 1921]  Noble Sissle/Eubie Blake

April Showers [Bombo, 1921]  Louis Silvers

Indian Love Call [Rose Marie, 1924]  Rudolf Friml

The Vagabond King Waltz [The Vagabond King, 1925]  Brian Hooker/Rudolf Friml

Love for Sale [The New Yorkers, 1930]  Cole Porter

The Desert Song [The Desert Song, 1926]  Sigmund Romberg

My Heart Stood Still [A Connecticut Yankee, 1927]  Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers

Can This Be Love [Fine and Dandy, 1930]  Paul James/Kay Swift

California Here I Come [Bombo, 1924]  Al Jolson/Bud De Sylva/Joseph Meyer

There’s a Small Hotel [On Your Toes, 1936]  Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers

 

---

Friday, January 17 (12:30 PM - 2:00 PM)
Location: Capitola
Room: Ow Family Community Room

The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program is one of the most effective evidence-based parenting programs in the world, backed by more than 35 years of ongoing research. Triple P gives parents simple and practical strategies to help them build strong, healthy relationships, confidently manage their children’s behavior, and prevent problems from developing. Triple P is used in more than 30 countries and has been shown to work across cultures, socio-economic groups, and in all types of family structures. The topic for this month's event is what to do when your child has difficulty separating from you.

 

---

Friday, January 17 (1:00 PM - 2:30 PM)
Location: La Selva Beach

Did you know that  PACZKI is a round filled doughnut (23 points)?  Come test your vocabulary in a game of Scrabble®.

FRIDAYS

1:00

La Selva Beach Library, 316 Estrella Ave., LSB

Are you a bridge player too?  The LSB Bridge Club is 10:30-12:00 on Fridays (except the 1st Friday of the month).  

Questions? Call the La Selva Beach Library at 831-427-7710.

--

---

Friday, January 17 (1:00 PM - 3:00 PM)
Location: Downtown
Room: Life Literacies Center

An Encompass Outreach worker will be available on a drop-in basis, 1:00 - 3:00 PM, in the Life Literacies Center at the Downtown Library for anyone with questions regarding connecting to social services, county mental health, addiction recovery options, housing applications, the Homeward Bound bus ticket program, obtaining a PO Box, clearing camping tickets, obtaining a fee-free DMV CA Identification application and more.

Walk-ins welcome, everyone served on a first come, first served basis

---

Friday, January 17 (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM)
Location: Felton
Room: Felton Study Room

Are you stuck with a technology question?

One of our tech savvy staff members at the Felton Library would like to help you troubleshoot your question with a 30 minute (or less) appointment. Possible topics may include: creating an email account, creating documents, attaching files, using premium subscription library resources, downloading and streaming content like movies, books, and audiobooks, and more. Please bring any devices you use, and have your necessary passwords and library card with you.

Make an appointment: https://santacruzpl.libcal.com/appointments/felton

Advance appointments are prioritized. Visit the library's information desk or call telephone information (831-427-7713) for help making an appointment. Arriving later than 5 minutes after scheduled time may result in appointment cancellation. Walk-ins are welcome, when openings are available.

Visit the library's Digital Learning webpage for more opportunites: https://www.santacruzpl.org/digitallearning

We look forward to helping you!

---

Friday, January 17 (3:00 PM - 4:30 PM)
Location: Live Oak

Every week we will have a new project idea for you to build or explore. Projects will include Science, Arts & Crafts, Model building, and Exploration of the environment around us.

Please allow at least 30 minutes to complete a project.

Children under 7 yrs old will need an adult present to help them. Expect to get messy!

---

Friday, January 17 (3:00 PM - 4:30 PM)
Location: Felton
Room: Felton Community Room

Use your imagination and build anything you can dream! Lego and Duplo blocks will be available for children and youth to tinker with, build, explore, and creatively play! 

No registration necessary.

---

Friday, January 17 (3:00 PM - 4:30 PM)
Location: Aptos
Room: The Betty Leonard Community Room

Lights! Cameras! Action!

Dreamed of making your own movie?  Here's your big break to do it all!  Write the script, build the set, and film your own movie using Lego's and Stop Motion Studio software.  Space is limited to 10 individuals or teams.  If you are working together, only one team member needs to register. 

4 week series.  January 17 to February 7

Fridays  3:00--4:30

Ages 10 to 18

Questions?  Email Sandi:    imperios@santacruzpl.org

Register Now!

---

Friday, January 17 (3:30 PM - 4:30 PM)
Location: Capitola
Room: Ow Family Community Room

Join SCPL in commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with Civil Rights veteran and author Maria Gitin. Gitin will share her experience in the Civil Rights Movement and suggest how its successful strategies might inform our current culture. Her one-hour presentation will include historic photographs and personal stories from Gitin’s friends and co-workers. Her memoir, “This Bright Light of Ours: Stories from the Voting Rights Movement” (University of Alabama Press, 2014 and 2023), will be available for purchase and signing.

Following “Bloody Sunday” and the promised passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Civil rights organizations launched an all-out effort to register thousands of new Black voters in the Deep South. Maria Gitin was an idealistic 19-year-old college freshman at San Francisco State College who responded to Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to join the Summer Community Organizing and Political Education project (SCOPE) of the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC). After intensive training in Atlanta, Maria was assigned to work with leaders and local youth in violently segregated rural Wilcox County, Alabama. She will read from her published memoir which is the only in-depth account of the Freedom Summer of 1965 from the perspective of a teenage participant.

Bettina Aptheker, Emeritus Professor of Feminist Studies at UCSC says: “Maria Gitin’s book is a unique blend of her own story and those of the local community with whom she worked in Wilcox County in the exceptionally challenging struggle of the 1960s civil rights movement. These are powerful stories profoundly relevant for our own times.”

ABOUT MARIA GITIN

Since the first publication of “This Bright Light of Ours,” Maria Gitin has presented at numerous universities, civil rights and history museums, libraries and bookstores. She was the Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote speaker for King County in Seattle; for the U.S. Army Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey and for the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.  She was curator of a voting rights art and history exhibit at Pajaro Valley Arts Gallery and the Santa Cruz County Government Center 2018-2020.

From 1993-1999, Gitin co-led public schools training with National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) Monterey County Chapter. In Santa Cruz County, she served as President of the Emergency Food and Shelter Board, Advisor to the NAACP Kwanzaa Collective, and to Girlz Space, a program of Santa Cruz County Probation Department for in-risk girls in Watsonville.  As co-founder and first co-chair of the Pajaro Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club, Gitin worked for many years supporting the voter registration, education, and canvassing efforts of Latino led political action in Watsonville.

For twenty-eight years she was principal of Maria Gitin & Associates, a national organizational development and diversity consulting group. She served on the Peter F. Drucker Foundation national training team, was a coach for CompassPoint’s Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color, and led training for the National Center for Nonprofit Boards, WK Kellogg, Tides and the Peter F. Drucker Foundation. She founded the Monterey Bay Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and developed a Diversity Fundraising training presented at AFP international conferences.

Projects in the Monterey Bay region included leading the founding of the Monterey YWCA domestic violence emergency shelter, directing start-up of the Carmel Public Library Foundation, and directing capital campaigns for California community health clinics including the Santa Cruz Women’s Health Center. Gitin also developed strategic plans for the Pajaro Valley Health Trust, Santa Cruz Resource Conservation District, and Community Bridges, among others.

Gitin is the recipient of numerous racial justice awards in recognition for her lifetime commitment to civil rights. She is a member of the NAACP, Bay Area Civil Rights Veterans, J Street, and of Aptos Temple Beth El. She and her photographer husband, Samuel Torres Jr., live in Santa Cruz County.  For more on Maria Gitin:

Visit http://www.thisbrightlightofours.com

e-mail: msgitin@mariagitin.com                                             

---

Saturday, January 18 (10:00 AM - 11:00 AM)
Location: Capitola
Room: Ow Family Community Room

The agenda is different for each meeting. Currently we are interested in getting updates on the progress of our major project: installing solar panels on the library roof. We often make decisions about how to use some of the funds we have earned at our bookstore in the mall to enhance the Capitola Library and the Santa Cruz Public Libraries in general.

Don’t miss these opportunities to get involved in our fine new library. Bring your ideas to the Cap Friends’ meetings.

---

Saturday, January 18 (10:00 AM - 2:00 PM)
Location: Aptos
Room: The Betty Leonard Community Room

The play will be Timon of Athens

Timon is one of the less-often performed Shakespeare plays. He is immensely wealthy and his generosity makes him extremely popular, until his money runs out. His friends, who had received expensive gifts from him in the past, now refuse to help, giving feeble excuses. Timon becomes insane with anger, and even helps a soldier who is threatening Athens. At the end, an embittered Timon dies, leaving an epitaph that curses his enemies and asks others to pass by and ignore his grave.
After our series has ended, the Undiscovered Shakespeare program at UCSC will present a reading of Timon by Professional actors, together with discussions, spread over three sessions.

The schedule of speakers so far is:

January 11th--Michael Warren, Emeritus Professor of Literature at UCSC, and a renowned Shakespeare scholar.

January 18th--Zack Fine, an actor who has performed on and off Broadway, and throughout the U.S at regional theatres. He played the Fool in a 2020 production of Timon put on by Theater of the New Audience.

January 25th--TBD

Feb 1st--Gretchen Minton. Gretchen is a Professor in the Department of English at Montana State University. She is also the editor of several books and critical editions, including Timon of Athens. She will be the scholar at the Undiscovered Shakespeare presentation in February.

Feb 8th:  View a DVD recording of a 2018 performance at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario Canada.

---

Saturday, January 18 (10:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
Location: Boulder Creek
Room: Boulder Creek Community Room, Outdoor Amphitheater

Join us each Saturday morning for a relaxing time crafting with your neighbors. The Community Crafters are a diverse group of makers and love to share our knowledge. We knit, quilt, weave, spin, make jewelry, embroider, mend and so much more. All crafters are welcome! We hope you will join us in creating community and beautiful things!

Please note: Most weeks, crafters bring their own supplies to work on independent projects, but about once a month one of our members puts on a special workshop, sharing knowledge on a specific subject and materials are provided. Please refer to the Library calendar for updates on these special workshops, as they require registration.

---

Saturday, January 18 (10:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
Location: Capitola

Please join us at the Capitola Branch Library on Saturdays, 10am-12pm for a chance to practice your English language skills with new friends and a group leader from the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County Literacy Program.

For more information about the Literacy Program visit https://scvolunteercenter.org/programs/literacy-program/ or call  831-427-5077.