Results tagged “Biane Library” from RCNow

What is it about fun toys that make grown adults happy?

Library officials are getting ready to develop these prototypes, a sort of movable play areas to be housed at both libraries. The purpose is to give the community a sneak peak of what's to come on the second floor of the Biane Library. It's not coming any time soon, but once money is available,the city will build an interactive area for children called Rancho KIDS (Kids Interactive Discovery Space).

This made my editor super excited, even though he is about 54 years older than Rancho KIDS' target audience.

The prototypes are expected to be complete this March. Above is the Big Dig, a station with colored sand where children can either dig for dinosaurs or grow a make-believe garden. At left is an art station with space to hang paintings and a light table for tracing.

"We want it to be educational," said Assistant Library Director Michelle Perera. "We don't want to just chuck a bunch of toys and say, 'go ahead.' "

She called this "purposeful play."

It was something that Councilman Dennis Michael wouldn't mind incorporating into his schedule.

"You talk about purposeful play. God, I'm 62 and I need that," Michael said.

Don't we all.

Read more about the library's future plans in Saturday's Tuesday's newspaper.


 

Library Director Robert Karatsu will lead a workshop on future plans for the second floor of the Biane Library at a special meeting today with the City Council, library board and library foundation board. It'll be 3 p.m. at the Cultural Center Celebration Hall.

The agenda for the 7 p.m. City Council meeting is very light. Organizers behind National Night Out, Linda Bryan of the Military Family Support Group and Minuteman Press will be honored at the start of the meeting. Planning Director James Troyer will present the results of a community survey as part of the General Plan update process. The Community Services department will present the Healthy RC Living show and Web site.
 

Perhaps it's too early to talk about Christmas. (It's going to be 103 today!) But it's never too early to fine tune your cockney accent.

Auditions for "A Christmas Carol" are coming up next week. Auditions for actors will be 2 p.m. Oct. 3; 6 p.m. Oct. 5 for carolers. All roles require cockney and English accents.

No prepared monologues are required; just come prepared to read from the script. Copies of the play are available at the Biane Library.

The play will be staged at the Lewis Family Playhouse Dec. 3 to 14.

E-mail questions to Patrick Hediger. 

A wrap-up of Big Read activities:

Tomorrow -- The kickoff event and Hispanic Heritage Month festival starts 7 p.m. at the Biane Library.

Oct. 2 -- Edward James Olmos will give a keynote speech at 7 p.m. at the Cultural Center Celebration Hall Lewis Family Playhouse. The actor, director and producer will give a speech entitled "We're All in the Same Gang." Free tickets are available at the Biane and Archibald libraries starting Monday.

Oct. 14 -- A screening of "Stand and Deliver" is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Lewis Family Playhouse.

Information: (909) 477-2720

Free tickets for the library's Big Read kickoff event are available starting today at both the Biane and Archibald libraries. The event, which also marks Hispanic Heritage Month, starts 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Biane Library. There will be live music, dancing, storytime, crafts and other family friendly activities.

This fall's reading initiative will center around Rudolfo Anaya's novel "Bless Me, Ultima." Other Big Read events include an appearance by actor Edward James Olmos at Celebration Hall 7 p.m. Oct. 2 and a screening of "Stand and Deliver" 6:30 p.m. Oct. 14.

Information: (909) 477-2720  

The second floor of the Biane Library (yes, there's a second floor) isn't close to being built yet but city officials will spend the next year designing prototypes for an interactive children's area. Think part children's library, part children's museum.

"Imagine something 25 square feet that's in the shape of a huge dinosaur with 250 dinosaur books and a big dinosaur pit," said assistant library director Michelle Perera. "They'll think they're playing but parents will know they're learning about a topic. Something that's highly interactive and gives kids something to do rather than something to look at."

The city just received a $45,000 grant, which will be matched by the Library Foundation, to draw up some preliminary designs for the 14,000 square feet of space on the second floor.

What do you think should go in that space? 

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Bless Me, Ultima" will soon be suggested reading for the city. Thanks to the aggressive grant writing efforts by the city's library officials, we have two books to read for the community reading initiative Big Read.

Rancho is the only city to be awarded two Big Read grants from the National Endowment for the Arts this year. They received double the money simply because they asked for it.

"No one has ever thought of applying for two, but we did," said Assistant Library Director Michelle Perera.





 

The city is marking National Historic Preservation Month starting today. (It's already May!)

At the City Council meeting next Wednesday, proclamations will be given to non-profit historical societies at the start of the 7 p.m. meeting.

On May 9, there will be a Mother's Day tea event hosted by the Etiwanda Historical Society at Etiwanda Gardens. Call the historical society at (909) 899-8432 for information.

On May 19, you can check out the display of historic photos at the Biane Library from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

On May 27, a 6 p.m. reception at the Tri-Communities Room at City Hall will precede the Historic Preservation and Planning Commission meeting. At the 7 p.m. meeting, there will be an award ceremony and certificates presented to historic property owners.

Information: (909) 477-2750

... that the library has three, count 'em, three blogs.

Children's Happenings lists various events for youth as well as links to science news and NPR stories on children's books.

Rancho Reads! is library related news for grown ups with information on book clubs and suggested readings.

The Green Vine is the earth-friendly blog administered by "Healthy Librarian." This one hasn't been updated in awhile though. Maybe "Healthy Librarian" has been busy with Earth Day.

Suggestion: An occasional "staff picks" entry to see what librarians and other staff members are reading. That should get book worms to start commenting.

Mayor Don Kurth was faster than the City Hall's press release creators when he broke the news on his Twitter feed that the library just received a $40,000 grant for the next Big Read. "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Maltese Falcon" were the books from the last two reading initiatives. I wonder which book we'll pour over this year.

Kurth's Twitter also talked about the unveiling of next season's lineup at the Lewis Family Playhouse. The schedule has not been officially released but I hear Judy Collins and The Pointer Sisters will lead the lineup.

Library Director Robert Karatsu announced the family fun night at tonight's City Council meeting and also spoke about the need for public libraries in a tough economy. Karatsu said if you've been reading newspapers recently, like the L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal or the Sun, you might have read about the role libraries play in a rough economy.

Ouch! The Daily Bulletin ran a front page story today about this very topic.

It slipped his mind, I'm sure. Karatsu is a big supporter of the local paper and this blog. Plug us next time, Robert. 

To celebrate national library week, the city will host an Arts and Literature Family Fun Night Friday at the Biane Library from 7 to 9 p.m. There will refreshments, performances, storytelling and caricatures drawn by artist Angelique Cicone.

Free tickets can be picked up at the Biane and Archibald libraries.

Information: (909) 477-2720 

The library's big fundraiser event starts Friday with performances by Rod Gilfry, Redlands YMCA Circus and many other local acts. Word is that City Manager Jack Lam has donated $500 for the City Council to make a fool ... I mean, to perform alongside the circus on Friday.

You can watch the show on Channel 3 or online here at these times:

Organizers for the Library Telethon are seeking schools, businesses and other organizations to participate in the team trivia challenge. You can either boast your trivia know-how or be laughed at before a television and Internet audience, all while promoting your club.

Entry fee is $200. If you're really jonesing for the grand prize trophy, you can pay $20 once per round and "Ask a Librarian," which I assume is like getting a lifeline.

Interested? Call a librarian at (909) 477-2720 ext. 5009 or 5031

The Library Telethon is March 13 to 15. The trivia challenge will be at 5 p.m. on March 14.  

More than 500 tickets were passed out for the Black History Month Cultural Arts Night last night and from the looks of it, most of them showed. I met Dylan Thomas, 8, right, and his brother Devin Thomas, 4, at the children's area of the Biane Library.

The organizers had made cut-outs of trees that had the phrase "If I were president I would ..." written on them. One girl wrote, "... I would fix the broken economy."

Dylan had one even better, in my opinion: "... I would make healthy candy."

To see more photos of the event, see staff photographer Jennifer Cappuccio Maher's slideshow.   

The Biane Library will host a cultural arts event marking Black History Month on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. There will be live music, storytelling and arts activities for children. Tickets are free but required. They can be picked up at the information desk at either the Archibald or Biane libraries.

Information: (909) 477-2720

The library is looking for volunteers to help deliver books to homebound residents for its house calls program. The program offers books and other library materials to homebound residents free of charge. If you have a few hours each week to spare and reliable transportation, you can apply by calling (909) 477-2720 ext. 5023 or download the application here.  

Ring in the Year of the Ox at the Biane Library on Jan. 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets for the Chinese New Year festival are free and can be picked up starting today at the Biane Library information desk. See flier here.

The event will showcase lion dancers, martial arts experts, a feng shui discussion, storytelling and arts projects for children and teens. Call (909) 477-2720 for more info.

Lunar New Year, by the way, is on Jan. 26 making Sunday, Jan. 25 new year's eve. One more reason to party.