News
We are witnessing censorship in many parts of the country. In Llano County, Texas, elected officials removed books because they disagreed with the ideas, closed library board meetings to the public, dissolved the library board, replacing them with political appointees, and fired the librarian. I am grateful that our community
News
March was a fantastic month for FAL. The March pop-up used book sale, featuring mysteries, sci-fi, and adventure, had lines of buyers ready to shop as the doors opened. Almost everyone seemed to find a good book to buy and a couple of people returned to buy more. The sale
News
Fingers crossed for our grand opening of the Books for Friends store this month! We think we will meet this date now that COVID cases are low in our community and we have worked out the kinks in opening a new operation. The book sale team has put in many
News
I want to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal donors for their contributions. We are grateful that the FAL community shares our love of and vision for public libraries. We are also grateful that the FAL community shares our enjoyment of the Friends @ Home author and docent talks.
News
I hope this holiday season was a brief respite for you to safely enjoy friends and family after many postponed get-togethers. Unfortunately, we are still facing COVID variants. Yet we are grateful for so much. While I hesitate to mention individual volunteers, I want make an exception and acknowledge the
As this is the last newsletter for 2021, I want to look back on the past year and give a sneak peek at 2022. Without the ability to hold in-person events, we organized very successful Friends @ Home art docent and author talks. Over the past 18 months, 5,180 people
News
The most frequent questions Board members receive are “When is the next book sale?”, “When will you accept book donations?”, and “When can I go to a Live @ the Library concert?” The pandemic put a halt to these well-loved programs. As socializing has become safer, we have begun to reimagine
News
The LA Times recounts the vision of Katia Padilla who grew up in Mexico and loved to read, but books were too expensive. She dreamed, “I had a library all for myself.” She now lives in Chula Vista and has placed two little free libraries in front of her house.
News
An unexpected award arrived in the mail for FAL recently. Each year Girls Inc. of the Island City selects Alameda organizations and individuals who have gone above and beyond to support the empowerment of girls and to inspire them to be strong, smart, and bold. This year the Friends of
President Biden has proposed massive legislation to rebuild our infrastructure and reshape the economy. Unfortunately, the legislation ignores the critical need for funding to build and modernize public libraries. A new bill, Build America’s Libraries Act, does just that. It has bipartisan support and would provide funding to construct
May is another amazing programming month for Friends @ Home featuring three authors and one docent event. A big thank you to the Docent Council of the Museum of Fine Arts for its ongoing support of our programs. All of the docents from the Council have been extremely knowledgeable and have
News
The FAL Board issued a statement strongly condemning the violence against AAPI and other oppressed groups. In addition to the statement, Board members will contribute to Asian Americans Advancing Justice and support the Library’s purchase of materials from and about the AAPI community. Friends @ Home programs have highlighted the