Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library
Supporting the Pleasant Hill Library Since 1953
This Halloween, my son decided to be the solar system, so my husband and I decided to be NASA astronauts. Surely this family costume, one of our best, is a metaphor for our lives. Our child is the center of our universe while my husband and I, space pioneers, are floating and bumping our way … Read more
The teen area of the library was the setting for the May 19 Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library (FoPHL) Annual Meeting. Guests included Mayor Tim Flaherty, Vice-Mayor Ken Carlson, City Councilman Michael Harris, City Information Officer Martin Nelis, and Construction Manager for Swinerton Builders John Baker. FoPHL President Susan Weaver announced that successful efforts … Read more
My son’s PreK class at Creative Play Center recently celebrated Career Week. During one of my co-oping shifts, his teacher read to the class from a book about different careers. In a classic teachable moment, Ms. Cory asked each of the co-opers (all moms that day) to tell the class what we do for work. … Read more
I’ve been thinking about pursuing my MLIS for a good eight years. It all started with a conversation after a library research workshop that my English 101 class at John Jay College had just completed. The librarian who facilitated our workshop, Marta, told me she used to adjunct in the English department, too. “I got … Read more
I’ve always proclaimed my loyalty towards the traditional printed word. I used to be that person who would turn up their nose and scoff whenever someone said they preferred reading books on their Nook. I thought e-readers took away from that experience of being able to physically leaf through a novel. But these false preconceptions … Read more
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is such an icon of the American civil rights movement that it is easy to overlook that he was a highly educated man and profound thinker and writer as well as a charismatic speaker. After receiving a B.A. in sociology from Morehouse College in Atlanta at the age of 19, … Read more
The City and BCJ architects held a very successful Library Town Hall meeting on November 27th. The design team received excellent feedback, comments and suggestions from the floor and from the interactive session with smaller groups. The next Town Hall takes place on Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center. In … Read more
THERE IS SO MUCH TO SAY! Where do I start? Maybe with: When I ran into Patrick Remer at the Light Up the Night tree lighting, the first thing he said to me was something along the lines of: you guys are going to get the coolest, most amazing library, and this was only after … Read more
Today, I’ve tamed a jammed printer, united a toddler with his hysterical mother, located the nearest clambake, and explained why it’s not appropriate to watch pornography in public places – and it’s not quite noon. Sometimes, staffing the reference desk makes me feel like a lifeguard; I’m either scanning the water or teaching people how … Read more
The award-winning architectural firm behind the flagship glass cube Apple store in New York City will design Pleasant Hill’s long-awaited new library. The City Council selected the San Francisco office of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson from among 11 candidates. In addition to Apple stores, the company has designed high-profile commercial, academic, corporate and civic projects across the country, … Read more
In conjunction with the October citywide read project, young budding interior designers are invited to participate in the Student Design Challenge for the planned new library. Now that the City Council has chosen an architect, residents will have an opportunity to share their ideas about the amenities and design elements they want to see in … Read more
I have never been much of a fan of horror fiction. So much of it always seemed overdone with graphic images and plot devices and I always suspected the writer was primarily looking for a movie deal and thinking first of what the special effects technicians could conjure up. But ghost stories are different … Read more