In Observance of Veterans Day, All Locations Closed Tuesday, November 11

In observance of Veterans Day, all library locations will be closed on Tuesday, November 11. The library will open at its normal time of 9:00am on Wednesday, November 12.

In the mean time, don't forget to check out the rest of our War Comes Home programs!

Please call the library at 713.2703 with any questions.

Celebrate Dia De Los Muertos with Tulare County Library

Please join us on Friday for our own special Dia de los Muertos celebration! It will be an afternoon of remembrance... and CRAFTS!

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Want to Write a Novel in November?

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is the largest writing event in the world. NaNoWriMo challenges people to write 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November, with over half a million people on all seven continents (including Antarctica) expected to participate. 2014 is the year of “Your Boundless Novel.”

The Visalia Branch of the Tulare County Library is serving as a Come Write In space, offering its meeting room and light refreshments during selected dates throughout the month of November.

Tuesday Write Ins will be on November 4, 18 and 25 from 12:00pm - 3:00pm. Thursday Write Ins will be on November 6, 13 and 20 from 4:30pm - 7:30pm. Both sessions will be held in the Visalia Branch Purple Room.

A Thank God It’s Over (TGIO) wrap up party will be held on Saturday, December 6 from 2:00pm - 4:30pm in the Visalia Branch Blue Room.

NaNoWriMo is celebrating its 16th year of empowering diverse voices this year with supporting writers in the classroom, and building creative-writing communities around the world. This year, 816 liaisons will coordinate in-person write-ins, turning local coffee shops, bookstores, and living rooms into writing havens. The Come-Write In program partners with 700 libraries, bookstores, and other neighborhood spaces, providing free resources to help build their local creative communities.

For more information, please go to nanowrimo.org and tularecountylibrary.org, or call (559) 713-2703.

Mystery Readers Meeting, November 19

Mystery Readers Book Group 

Sponsored by The Friends of the Library
(559) 713-2709

For November:
Read a novel by a foreign mystery author

The Remarkables mountain range in Otago, New Zealand (creative common image

by Jocelyn Kinghorn via Flickr)

Andrea Camilleri - Italy        
Charles Cumming - Great Britain        
Shamini Flint - Singapore
Anne Holt - Norwegian         
Peter May - China                                  
M.J. McGrath - Canada (Inuit)
Barbara Nadel - Istanbul       
Jeffrey Siger - Greek
Tamar Myers writes about a detective in the Congo (the author isn't  foreign however)
... and www.stopyourekillingme.com has many more!!!

Next Meeting
November 19th at 6:30pm

Meets every third Wed. of the Month

In the blue meeting room, upstairs

Knitting Group to Begin in November at the Lindsay Branch Library

Image via Creative Commons

A new Knitting Group will meet the second Thursday of every month starting November 13, 2014 from 11:00 to Noon at the Lindsay Branch Library! 
For more information, please visit their webpage or contact the library at (559) 562-3021.

Second Great Stuffed Animal Sleepover Coming Soon!

The Tulare County Library Children's Department is holding its second annual Great Stuffed Animal Sleepover the evening of November 6.

Children three and up are invited to bring their families and a favorite stuffed animal or toy to the Visalia Branch Library Children's Wing for a special night story time.  PJs are welcome!  After the story, the children will leave the stuffed animal at the library overnight for a fun sleepover with the other toys.  The librarians will photograph the evening, and children can pick up pictures, a certificate and their toy on Friday, November 7 after 2 pm.

Only one stuffed animal per child is accepted because space is limited to the first 50 stuffed toys.  However, children and families are welcome to attend the storytime even without a stuffed animal.

Check in begins at 6:30 pm, and the storytime will start at 7:00 pm. No registration is necessary.  For more information, contact Children*s Librarian Flo at 713-2731 or go to the library website at:

www.tularecountylibrary.org.

NaNoWriMo Write Ins at Visalia Branch Library in November

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Friend or Foe: Bats, Night Flyers at Three Rivers Branch, November 13

Lesser short-nosed fruit bat
(image via Wikimedia Commons)

On Thursday, November 13 at 6:30pm, seasonal interpretive ranger Lynn Firpo will give a talk on carnivorous bat behavior which saves us millions of dollars in pesticides at the Three Rivers Branch Library. She will bring a bat skeleton and talk about bat guano. 

For more information, please contact the branch at (559) 561-4564.

Want to Save Money for the Holidays?

It's not too late to start attending the Tulare County Library's "Stretching the Food Dollar" programs to save extra dollars for holiday needs!  Keep on attending and saving into the new year with new programs like Budget Meal Planning and Personal Finance.

The informational series is held every other Friday from 3:00 to 5:00pm in the Visalia Branch Blue Room.  The programs being offered are:

Couponing                                        October 24 through
November 21
These workshops will cover topics such as coupon math, price matching and adhering to coupon policies.

Budget Meal Planning                            January 16 through March
13
This series will focus on how to make a food budget stretch and plan your family meals to be inexpensive, healthy and easy to prepare.

Personal Finance                                        March 27 through
May 22
These programs focus on how to manage your money a little better to make ends meet.

Can't meet on Fridays? Check out the Stretching the Food Dollar Book Club on the first Wednesday night of the month (except in April, meeting on April 8th) at 6:30 p.m. in the Blue Room of the Visalia Branch. Book selections are available for checkout at the Reference Desk. The next book club meeting is November 5th where readers will discuss The Complete Idiot's Guide to Couponing.

This project is supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. All library patrons are welcome to attend and registration is not necessary.  Add these programs to your schedule and save enough money to go out and celebrate your savings!

Tulare County Library Holding "Food For Fines" Event

All Tulare County Library branches are participating in the library's semi-annual "Food for Fines" program during the month of November.

Tulare County library patrons who donate will have $1.00 of what they owe for overdue fines, expired holds or card replacements forgiven for each item. There is no limit to the amount of fine reduction, but it cannot be used to pay for lost or damaged items or processing fees.

Non-perishable food items and bottled water are being accepted, and any library staff member can accept the donations. All items will be given to Foodlink for Tulare County at the end of November. The food and water will be picked up by Foodlink and used to restock the pantries of food banks throughout the county. Items collected from the fifteen branches will be distributed in each branch's local community and surrounding areas.

"Food for Fines" is held semi-annually in the months of November and April. Library patrons can bring their books and donations November 1-29 to any of the following library branches: Alpaugh, Dinuba, Earlimart, Exeter, Ivanhoe, Lindsay, Orosi, Pixley, Springville, Terra Bella, Three Rivers, Tipton, Visalia and Woodlake. Non-perishable food items and bottled water will be gratefully accepted from anyone wishing to donate them, whether a fine is due or not. Last April, the library collected over 3600 pounds of food and forgave fines or collected cash donations of more than $4600.

Monthly Friends Meeting, November 13

The Friends of the Tulare County Library will hold their monthly meeting on Thursday, November 13, at 7:00 PM in the library's upstairs (purple) meeting room. Absolutely everyone is welcome to attend, including and especially current Friends, prospective Friends, and anyone who is interested in learning more! 
Please contact Sheryll at 713-2709 for more information.

First Tuesday Book Club Meeting, November 4

For November, we'll be reading Copper Sun by Sharon Draper.

Two fifteen-year-old girls--one a slave and the other an indentured servant--escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.
We will be meeting in the Visalia Branch Blue Room to discuss this book on November 4 from 6:30pm - 7:45pm.

The Great Stuffed Animal Sleepover

Children are invited to bring their favorite stuffed animal, doll, or toy to the Visalia Branch Library for a special story time at night! After, they will leave their stuffed animal at the library for a fun-filled night of adventure (that the librarians will capture on camera).

Pick up your stuffed animal the next day and see what they did alone at the library!

Thursday, November 6th
Check-in begins at 6:30pm
Storytime at 7:00pm

Stuffed animals and photos available for pick-up on Friday, November 7th after 2:00pm

*For children ages 3+. Only one stuffed animal per child. Space is limited to the first 50 stuffed animals. Families are welcome to attend the story time even without a stuffed animal.

Karl Marlantes in Conversation, October 9

As part of Cal Humanities' statewide initiative War Comes Home, the Tulare County Library will present a talk by best-selling author and Vietnam veteran Karl Marlantes.

The event takes place tomorrow, October 9, 2014, at 10:30 am at the Visalia Veterans Memorial Building, 609 W. Center Avenue, Visalia, CA.

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Want to Know About Medicare?

The Tulare County Library will present a program, "Getting to Know Medicare 101: Understanding the Medicare Maze," on Thursday, October 23 at 6:30 pm at the Visalia Branch Library.

The program will be hosted by HICAP representatives and topics to be covered include:

*What is the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP);

*What HICAP does and doesn't do;

*Who does HICAP serve and where does the program provide services, and

*How does HICAP advocate and assist clients.

The presenters will also review current coverage, costs and benefits, enrollment rights and periods.  Information on understanding the ABCD's of Medicare, how billing issues can be resolved and the appeals and grievance process will be given.  In addition, reviews and comparisons of Medicare Parts C and D will be outlined.  HICAP, Medicare counselors, are NOT insurance agents and/or brokers.

If you are approaching your retirement year, or are already there and are confused about Medicare, this program can help with your decisions.

It is free, and no registration is required.

Tulare County Library Collecting Oral Histories From Vietnam War Veterans

The Tulare County Library is working with the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project to record Veteran’s history. The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project as an effort to "collect, preserve, and make accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war."

We can help you tell your story by either interviewing you or recording you as you tell stories about your time in service. If you are not comfortable with being filmed we can also help you send in a memoir, diary, or journal or photographs or letters.

The Veterans History Project keeps all the originals sent to them. The Tulare County Library will also keep copies in its History Room collection located at the Visalia Branch Library. If you have any questions, please contact Faythe at 559-713-2706. 

If you are interested in participating, please click here.

Independent Film Movement Series, October 28

The Independent Film Movement Series will be showing its next film on Tuesday, October 28. The series is on the 4th Tuesday of each month. 

Synopsis: Despite a bum leg, 25-year-old Grigris has hopes of becoming a professional dancer, making some extra cash putting his killer moves to good use on the dance floor of his local club every weekend. His dreams are tested when his step-father falls critically ill and he's forced to risk his future by smuggling oil to pay the hospital bills. When he befriends Mimi, a beautiful but damaged prostitute, the two will try to start a new life together. But as bad decisions begin to catch up with them, they'll have to run for their lives. Their pasts, however, are never far behind, bringing them to a perilous climax.

Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | 2013 | French and Arabic with English Subtitles | 101 min

The film will be shown at 6:00pm in the upstairs "blue" meeting room at the Visalia Branch Library. This event, and future events in this series, is free and open to the public. Absolutely everyone is welcome.

For more information, visit the Reference Desk or call (559) 713-2723.

Tulare County Library to Celebrate Family History Month

The Tulare County Library has designated October as Family History Month in the Visalia Library Branch.

The month-long series of events begin when author Terry Ommen speaks as part of the Friends of the Library Author Series on Saturday, October 4th at 7 p.m. This conversation, about Terry’s latest book, Wild Tulare County: Outlaws, Rogues, and Rebels, will highlight the trials and tribulations of past Tulare County families. Since every family has their own rogues and rebels, this will be a fitting start to the month-long spotlight on families and history.

           Ever wondered how to take care of those fragile pieces of family history?  Archivist Christopher Livingston, MLIS, will speak on “Preserving Family Memories: not just Fruits and Vegetables” on Tuesday, October 14th at 5 p.m. Mr. Livingston is the archivist for California State University, Bakersfield. He worked for Kern County as head of their genealogy and local history department before joining Cal State. His expertise, which comes from years of working with fragile documents and materials, will benefit those attending the lecture. Mr. Livingston’s talk will cover basic preservation techniques for important family documents and photographs that tell a family’s history. There will be time after the presentation for questions from the audience.

           On Wednesday, October 15th at 6:30, the Mystery Readers Group will be reading A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny. This, the fourth book in the enormously popular Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, features the detective and his wife on a long weekend to celebrate their anniversary. But, even in an idyllic location, a family reunion leads to a death and Gamache’s powers of detection are called upon to solve the death in this Agatha and Anthony award-winning series.

           A session called “The Cheapskate’s Guide to Absolute Beginning Genealogy” will be held on Tuesday, October 21st at noon. Considered to be one of the top two hobbies in the United States (along with gardening), this very basic introductory class will show how to begin finding those elusive ancestors and how to start family research. Attendees will work with the basic paper forms to start their search, so this class will be friendly to all ages and skill levels. 

           On Tuesday, October 28th at 1 p.m., there will be a tour of the Annie Mitchell History Room. This room, named in honor of Tulare County historian Annie R. Mitchell, contains documents, maps, books, genealogies, pictures, census records and important county records relating to the history of Tulare County. Small groups will be able to see first-hand what Ms. Mitchell’s commitment to preservation has created for patrons of the History Room.

           The final event of the month will celebrate Dia De Los Muertos on Friday, October 31st at 3 p.m. In continuing with the theme of family history, this event is designed to honor family ancestors by remembering them and their contributions to our lives. A family-centric afternoon of crafts (with glitter!) will complete this event, so please stop by the library before heading out for Trick or Treat fun!

             All events are free and no reservations are required.

Find Out About Historically Wild Tulare County

Terry Ommen, local author and historian, will speak about his book, Wild Tulare County: Outlaws, Rogues and Rebels, at the Visalia Library, Saturday, October 4th, at 7:00 pm.

The county was once a rough place with its share of old west bad guys. Come and hear their stories.

Mr. Ommen is also the author of Visalia: Then and Now and the Historic Happenings blog at http://visaliahistory.blogspot.com.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Tulare County Library and is free and open to the public. For more information please call (559) 713-2709 or go to: www.tularecountylibrary.org.

Tulare County Library Branch Crafts for October Announced

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These crafts will be held at different times each week at the Alpaugh, Earlimart, Exeter, Ivanhoe, Lindsay, Orosi, Springville, Three Rivers, Tipton and Woodlake branch libraries.

For more information on days and times of the crafts at each individual branch, please go to: http://tularecountylibrary.org, and choose the locations tab or call the branches:

 

Alpaugh                    (559) 949-8355

Earlimart                   (661) 849-2525

Exeter                       (559) 592-5361

Ivanhoe                     (559) 798-1264

Lindsay                      (559) 562-3021

Orosi                          (559) 591-5830
 

Springville                  (559) 539-2624

Three Rivers              (559) 561-4564
 

Tipton                         (559) 752-4236

Woodlake                   (559) 564-8424

Best-Selling Author Karl Marlantes to Speak

Visalia, CA - As part of Cal Humanities' statewide initiative War Comes Home, the Tulare County Library will present a talk by best-selling author and Vietnam veteran Karl Marlantes.  The event takes place on October 9, 2014, at 10:30 am at the Visalia Veterans Memorial Building, 609 W. Center Avenue, Visalia, CA.

Karl Marlantes served as a Marine Corps Lieutenant in Vietnam, and will talk about his memoir What It Is Like To Go To War. Written nearly 40 years after his own tour of duty in Vietnam, Karl Marlantes' book recounts his experience of going to war and coming home through the lens of time and memory, illuminated by insights drawn from his study of history, literature, psychology, and philosophy.

Mr. Marlantes grew up in a small logging town on the Oregon coast, attended Yale University on a National Merit Scholarship, and went on to study at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.  He served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. He is the author of the New York Times best seller What It Is Like to Go to War and the novel Matterhorn, which won numerous prizes, including the William E. Colby Award given by the Pritzker Military Library, the Center For Fiction's Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, the 2011 Indies' Choice Award for Adult Debut Book of the Year, the American Historians James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical American Fiction, and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's James Webb Award for Distinguished Fiction, The American Library Association W. Y. Boyd Literary Novel Award for 2011, and The Vietnam Veterans of America Excellence in the Arts Award for 2012.

This statewide speaking tour by Mr. Marlantes is part of the War Comes Home/California Reads initiative, a public dialog about returning veterans. This project seeks to engage Californians in the tough questions about what it means to return from war, and to rejoin one's community. What are the responsibilities toward those who have been sent to war, and how can we bridge the gap of experience between those who served and those who have not? 

Cal Humanities has chosen Karl Marlantes' memoir, What it is Like to Go to War, as the California Reads book of 2014. Readers across the state are encouraged to read the book, and join the discussion. 43 public libraries (including over 240 branch libraries) will present programs in communities across the state.  Hundreds of activities, including book discussions, speakers, film screenings, writing workshops, poetry readings, oral history projects, service projects, and information fairs are planned with support provided by grants and programming resources from Cal Humanities.  More information about Mr. Marlantes' statewide tour can be found at www.calhum.org.

California Reads is a program of Cal Humanities in partnership with the California Center for the Book. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.