Director of Libraries Message for March
“Ah yet, ere I descend to the grave
May I a small house and large garden have;
And a few friends, and many books, both true,
Both wise, and both delightful too!”
This is an excerpt from “The Wish”, by celebrated 17th century English poet, Abraham Cowley. He too lived in interesting times, this poem written while in exile during the English civil war. Bemoaning a crowded, busy life in a city, he is yearning for something simpler, and he decides two key ingredients are friends and books. Not just any friends or books mind you, they must be ‘true’, ‘wise’ and ‘delightful.’ Coincidentally, these are also key ingredients for your local public library.
The books are obvious, but you may not realize Santa Cruz Public Libraries receive committed support from Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. Formed in 1979, the organization and its local branch chapters help us deliver programs, support our collections, enhance our spaces and most importantly, spread the word of what we do throughout our communities. Over the years, the Friends have supported our Summer Reading Program, our READ Tutoring, our Boundless Minds collection at Juvenile Hall, and more. One important and popular program started by the Aptos Friends of the Library Chapter is the annual Our Community Reads, in which the community votes on a book to read and comes together in a series of events around themes of the book. This year the program has expanded to include 7 Friends chapters as well as partnerships with Cabrillo College, and Aptos and Scotts Valley High Schools. This year’s book is Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. OCR Events have been going strong through January and February and there is still time to participate in the closing programs in March, including a film screening at the Aptos Library, a pollinator garden workshop at Felton Library, and a Trivia Night inspired by the book at Bruno’s Bar & Grill in Scotts Valley. Come join these events and find out more about this program at Our Community Reads.
Friends groups are an important component of modern public libraries. Santa Cruz Public Libraries is certainly grateful for the ‘true’, ‘wise’ and ‘delightful’ partnership with our Friends organization. If you are interested in understanding more about it, I encourage you to explore their website in the link above.
Christopher Platt
Director of Libraries
Mensaje del Director de Bibliotecas
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