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CUBBERLEY
USED BOOK SALES

Saturday
April 14
10 am - 4 pm
Main Room opens at 11 am

Sunday
April 15
1 pm - 4 pm

Featured topics for April:


African American Studies
Ballroom Dancing
Diary of Samuel Pepys
(nine volumes)
Knitting and Stitching
Jazz
Zen Buddhism
 
And over 50,000 other items
 

4000 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto
Northwest corner of the Cubberley Community Center

Map
More information on the sales
Donate your old books
 
All proceeds go to help Palo Alto libraries.

Main Book Room Sale
In our Main Room, prices are way below what used book stores charge. Paperbacks are 50 cents and up, and hardcovers are $1 and up.  Numbered tickets for the Main Room are given out beginning at 8 am on Saturday.  These reserve your place in the line that forms before the 11 am opening.  Each person may pick up one or two tickets.
 
Children's Books in K6
Room K6 in the K wing (see map) is entirely filled with children's books and toys.  You'll find picture books, school age fiction, award winners, non-English titles, and books for parents and teachers, many for under $1.  This room and the Bargain Room open at 10 am on Saturday.
 
Bargain Books in K7
Next door in K7 is the Bargain Room, where paperbacks are 50 cents, hardcovers are $1, and children's books are just 25 cents each.  The room also contains many LP records and 78s at $1 each.  All items are half off after 12:30 pm on Saturday and all day on Sunday.  On Sunday, you can also buy grocery bags in the Bargain Room for $5 and fill them with books.

 
Children's Library Progress
The blue tarp in this picture is protecting the newly-constructed wing of the Children's Library from rain damage.  Here's other recent pictures of the Children's Library renovation and expansion.  The branch is currently scheduled to reopen in September 2007.
 
Non-Profit Book Giveaway
Non-profit organizations and schools that need free books should come to the Bargain Room this month from 4 to 6 pm on Sunday, April 15.  Please bring grocery bags to put books into.  More information.

Suggestions?
We're always eager to hear your suggestions for ways to improve our book sale.  Please email them to us at suggestions@friendspaloaltolib.org or mention them to a volunteer at the sale.
Vintage California Collection
This month's sale features a diverse set of Western Americana from the special "Z Collection" of the Palo Alto Library and other sources.  Z Collection items generally date from the early 1900s, cover a wide range of California and regional subjects, and were available to the public only on specific request.  You'll find these books on a table near the checkout area in the Main Room and nearby. Titles include:

Los Angeles from the Mountains to the Sea, 3 volumes, John Mcgroarty, 1921

New Helvetia Diary, John A Sutter, Grabhorn Press, Society of California Pioneers, 1939

History of Sacramento County, California, Thomas Thompson, reproduction by Howell-North, 1960

Davis’ Commercial Encyclopedia of the Pacific Southwest – California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, 1915

Handbook of American Indians, 2 volumes, Frederick Webb Hodge, Smithsonian Institution Bulletin 30, 1912

Yosemite and its High Sierra, John H Williams, 1914

 
Window Shop on Your Computer
Click here to see some of the shelves at this weekend's sale
Check out our shelf preview pictures to see some of the tens of thousands of books for sale this weekend.
 
Marty Paddock Says Thanks
Marty Paddock, our Book Sale Manager, says it was a real highlight of her day to receive the get-well card signed by hundreds of customers and volunteers last month, plus she appreciates the many birthday cards and Easter cards people have sent her.  We all wish her a speedy recovery.
 
Palo Alto Among Top California Libraries
Even with one branch temporarily closed for construction, Palo Alto libraries remain the busiest among comparably-sized California communities.  According to a draft of the annual State Librarian report, during 2005-2006 Palo Alto circulated more items per capita than any of the state's other 74 library systems serving populations of 25,000 to 100,000. 
 
Among the same libraries, only Cerritos outranked Palo Alto in annual visits per capita, the other major metric of library usage.  Cerritos outspends Palo Alto on a per capita basis, both overall and on library materials, according to the report.
 
Volunteers Make the Booksale Possible
About 150 active volunteers ran our booksale, publicity, membership, and other operations during 2006.  Together, they contributed 24,144 hours, which is the equivalent of a full-time crew of 12 people.  Everyone you meet at the booksale is a volunteer, donating their time to sort and put books on the shelves, assist customers, staff the checkout tables, and much more.  As one of our longtime volunteers says, "it's more fun than even reading the books!"  If you're interested in volunteering, see more information.
 
Downtown Library Blossoms
This is a great time of year to visit the courtyards of the Downtown Library, with azaleas and flowering trees in bloom.  There are outdoors chairs and tables to sit in and wireless access to the Internet.
 
Free National Library Week Events
The library is sponsoring four free events to celebrate National Library Week, which is April 14 to 21:
 
Green Thumb Stories and Crafts for little gardeners-to-be ages 3 and up Saturday,
April 14
2 pm Mitchell Park Library
Get Jazzed with Karen Ehrhardt, for ages 4 and up Wednesday,
April 18
3:30 pm Main Library
Amigos Music & Poetry for the whole family Friday, April 20 7 pm Main Library
Saturday Night Teen Poetry Slam Saturday, April 21 7 pm Mitchell Park Library
 
One Library Project Moves Forward; Another Unclear
The City Council voted unanimously on Monday, April 9 to continue to seek voter approval to fund a new Mitchell Park Library and Community Center, upgrades the Main and Downtown branches, and a new police headquarters.  However, no decision was taken on a related parcel tax proposal to operate the expanded libraries and improve service.
 
One difficulty all these efforts face is achieving the 67% supermajority required for passage.  A recent City-conducted poll showed that none of the proposals currently drew that much support, but that a library construction bond measure was just a few percentage points shy.  Several Council members stated that the police station project should take precedence but there is wide acknowledgement that combining the library and police projects might increase support for the latter.
 
The Council also aims to put these issues on the June 2008 ballot, although the polling firm advised that deferring until the November 2008 election would afford additional time for public education.  See the articles in the Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Daily News and our previous coverage.
This notice comes to you from the non-profit organization Friends of the Palo Alto Library.  No trees were felled in the making of this e-mail.  While the Better Business Bureau recommends that no more than 35% of a charitable organization's expenses be for management and fundraising expenses, ours were under 1% for our 2005-2006 fiscal year.  In other words, over 99% of the money we raised went to help Palo Alto Library users.  Visit our web site.  Become a member by joining online.

Be sure to receive your own free copy of this e-mail notice so that you'll know about all special upcoming books sales.  To sign up, just e-mail us.  We carefully protect the privacy of your e-mail address.  We will not share your e-mail address with any other organization and we will not use it for any purpose other than to send you these notices.  If you do not wish to receive these e-mail notices in the future, please reply with the words "Remove Me" in the subject line.