With summer in full swing but the prospect of an extended closure for the Healdsburg regional branch downtown, it’s a good time to take a look at some of our upcoming events.
It’s not too late to sign up for Sonoma County Library’s 2024 Summer Reading Challenge. All it takes to win free books is to sign up, read for a few hours and win. After just five hours of reading, the young reader earns a free book; 10 hours brings two books.
With just 15 hours of reading, that number jumps to three free books plus the chance to win other fabulous prizes as well, including an instant camera with film, dinosaur magna-tiles, family membership to the Sonoma County Children’s Museum or the California Academy of Sciences, and more. Read about the program and prizes at sonomalibrary.org/browse/audience/kids-families/summerreading.
Throughout the rest of July, we have several more exciting Thursday morning programs, including crowd favorites Safari Encounters on July 18, where rescued animals are presented; drumming with Onye Onyemaechi on July 25; and Magician Mike Della Penna on Aug. 1, all starting at 11am.
The Thursday programs are extremely popular, and we need to enact crowd control strategies so that our community can safely enjoy the events. Anyone who would like to attend one of the Thursday programs should show up with the full group, any time after 10am that day, so that we can give you a ticket for the 11am show. Once seating has begun, turn in your tickets for entry into the event.
Last week we enjoyed Cascada de Flores enacting the story of the Treasure of Aquiles (see photo). Other programs this month include BiblioBike Family Storytimes at Giorgi Park on Fridays, July 19 and 26, at 10:30am; Universal Yums for Tweens (grades 4-6) on Tuesday, July 23, at 11am; Trio Nuevo Amanecer on Wednesday, July 24, at 6pm; and an art program for teens, “Tiny Art, Big Adventure,” on the following Wednesday, July 31, at noon.
Modernization
Even though we are in the middle of summer, the staff is working hard to prepare for the library’s upcoming modernization project, planned to start around Sept. 1. Before construction begins, we need to completely empty the library—for the first time since it was first built in 1988—so we can move into our temporary mini-library space at the Healdsburg Community Center.
Anyone who has ever moved out of a place after a very long time can imagine the work it takes to get it all ready. During August and into September, we will take a break from most regular events to focus on this important task.
The County Library System is currently very busy with another major project at the Petaluma Regional Library, which is closed and moving to a smaller location while its main building is being modernized. We will post more information about the Healdsburg Regional Library Modernization Project on the Sonoma County Library website soon. Information on these projects will be available at sonomalibrary.org/visit/librarymodernization.
Memory Station
Before we close in September, we invite you to give our new Playback Memory Station a try. In July 2023, the History & Genealogy Library opened a new Playback Memory Lab for the public to digitize treasures from family archives. This immediately became a very popular service and expanded this spring to offer a “walk-in” self-service photo-scanning station at the Healdsburg Regional Library.
If you have photos at home that you’d like to digitize, bring them to the library to use our Playback Memory Station during our open hours. If you have audiovisual material (VHS, etc.) you will still need to visit the Playback Memory Lab in Santa Rosa. If you have questions or would like to see the station, please come visit and we will give you a little tour. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Jon Haupt is the manager of the Healdsburg Regional Library, which is open daily at 139 Piper St. Call (707) 433-3772 for hours.
