This planning process recently approved by the Library Board of Trustees has reached further into our community than ever before. In community conversations and surveys, we heard the need for the Library as an open and shared public space, as a community and cultural center, as a source for lifelong learning and connections – in person and online.  We heard concerns about the economy and quality of life in our community. We heard the desire for respectful conversations and greater civic engagement, for children and teens to feel welcomed, families to feel supported and educational systems to be improved, for interconnectedness among diverse people of all ages. And we heard loudly and clearly the Library’s value as a trusted source and essential connector (of people, resources and ideas) to build a strengthened community.

The goals, outcomes and activities established in the Strategic Plan 2012-2015 is a pledge to our community for the future, a guide and a tool to help staff balance priorities, spread resources and make prudent decisions to sustain California’s first public library during the 21st century.

Now you may use your mobile devices to access the Library wherever and whenever it is convenient for you. Library Anywhere is a native app for iPhone, iPad, and Android, and a mobile Web site for all small screen browsers. Using Library Anywhere you can search the Library’ catalog, place holds, check your Library account, find out about upcoming events, check Library hours and location, get contact information, get ebooks and downloadable audiobooks, and use World Book Mobile. Downolad the app or visit the site from the Library’s Home Page at www.monterey.org/library. Be sure to let us know if you need help getting started.

This year the Library expanded the partnership with our neighbors at Monterey High School. Thanks to a generous grant from the California State Library, we collaborated with teachers of the 21st Century Learning Skills pilot elective for 9th grade students. Librarians co-taught classes on topics such as research, critical evaluation of sources, and use of digital tools and media formats. Classes were split between visits by students to the Library and visits by librarians to the school campus.

While our efforts focused on specific skills such as evaluating the trustworthiness of a Web site, students were also introduced to the Library as a place to connect with the larger community. Students received guided tours of local historic sites led by Museums and Cultural Arts Manager Dennis Copeland. They participated in a community discussion on Japanese-American Internment during WWII with author Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, who visited the Library as part of the California Reads project. Students also made use of Library resources to investigate their families’ histories.

During this first year of our partnership, more than 70% of our participating students reported visiting the Library in their free time and more than 50% reported using the Library for other school work. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with Monterey High school.

This year the Library engaged the community through “California Reads: Searching for Democracy”, a project made possible with support from Cal Humanities in partnership with the California Center for the Book and co-sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League. The Monterey Public Library's project focused on reading and discussing Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and learning more about the Japanese American experience during World War II. The Library hosted several programs, including a storyteller, a visit with the author, a talk by a survivor and a panel of author/scholars. Hundreds of people of all ages read the highlighted book and attended the programs. A booklist and class set with discussion guide ensure that the discussion will continue.

The Friends of the Monterey Public Library raised funds for the Library through a variety of activities, including book sales, the annual Chocolate & Wine Tasting Benefit and Silent Auction, and staffing information tables at the Big Sur Marathon, the Half Marathon and Whalefest. Over $25,000 was contributed to the Library to replace nine public laptops, to purchase additional expanded access to Ebooks, to introduce an Ebook Reader Loan Service in the coming year, and to continue presentations of the award-winning Stories for Adults programs and Poetry Writing Workshops. The Friends also worked in collaboration with the Monterey Public Library Endowment Committee and 1849 Society, to raise funds the Monterey Public Library Fund of the Community Foundation for Monterey County. Eighteen special events including The Next Chapter series of lectures covering health and well-being, planning for the future and following one’s spirit and other interesting topics for optimizing the second half of life, were attended by 460 people.

Become a member and help raise funds and fun to support your community Library. For more information call 831.646.5601 or visit www.mplfriends.com

Friends of the Library Board

Mike Sovereign, President; Linda Cruzan, Vice President; Lorita Fisher, Corresponding Secretary; Kalyn Shubnell, Recording Secretary; and Bob Petty, Treasurer. Donna DaVigo, Linda Dorris, Darla Gustaitis, Lisa Koenig, Alan McMasters, Harry Mucha, Jean O’Brien, Richard Ruccello, Bill Solitario, Judy White, Leah Williams, Bill Wojtkowski, Suzanne Wood.  Alice Yamanishi, Library Board of Trustees liaison.

Three California History Room volunteers received the President’s Volunteer Service Award, including a certificate and a letter, for contributing over 1,000 hours of service:  John Castagna, Pat Elm, and Chase Weaver.  Each received the silver award, the highest award of volunteer service.  Former Friends of the Library Treasurer Neil Jansen received a Volunteer of the Year award from the United Way of Monterey County.  Monterey Public Library was also voted “Best Library in Monterey County” in the Monterey County Weekly Readers Poll.

Cal Humanities in Partnership with the California Center for the Book for the “California Reads: Searching for Democracy” project; Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) federal grant administered by the California State Library, ” 21st Century Skills";  to develop a teaching partnership with the local high school. Poets and Writers, Inc., to present Poetry Writing Workshops. In addition, The Community Foundation for Monterey County awarded a Doud Fund grant to the Friends of the Monterey Public Library for “An Assessment and Future Preservation of the California History Room Collections”. The Stuart Day estate donated $106,750 to the Library in 2010 for a five-year "Library Partners" program.  During this second year, the program provided books, workshops and mentoring to staff in 14 elementary schools and public libraries within the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.  We thank these generous grantors.

Monterey Fire Department, a donation of historic photographs; Tim Thomas, donation of a postcard collection to the California History Room; and Wasserman Art Trust, the donation of a painting by Gerald Wasserman.  We thank these generous donors.

Dorothy Albee, Phensri & Chareonsri Ampolsuk, Leonides & Remedios Andalio, Burton and Ruth Anderson, Anonymous, Kathleen Armstrong, Mary and David Basham, Richard Beidleman, Mike and Christina Bennett, Charles Biller, Robert and Jean Black, Nan Borreson, Diane Bower, Lois Breida, Edgar and Emily Burde, Anne Peterson Burk, Ellen Burton, Marian Carapezza, Gary Ray and Katy Castagna, John and Mary Castagna, Russell and Marion Catterlin, Doug and Peggy Chandler, Shirley Chapman, Donald and Dori Chin, City of Monterey, Beverly Cleary*, Madeleine Delman and Jerry Cohen*, Elizabeth Cole, Carol E. Collin, Edgard and Shirley & Family Coly, Bonita Cornish, Joanne Colombo Crist*, Louise Cutino, Enid Day, Chuck and Sandy Della Sala, Robert and Eileen DeWeese, Natasha Doner, Darryl and Jean Donnelly, John and Nancy Durein, Sharon Dwight, Anne Miller and David Elliott, Janice and Richard Elster, Jerry Falek, David Farmer, Sal and Carol Ferrantelli, Julene Fisher, Linda & Peter Fredericksen, Friends of the Monterey Public Library*, Rod and Linda Gabrielson, Ross & Nancy Genger, Donald & Katharine Gillies, Neal Gittleman and Lisa Fry, Larry Green, John and Carol Greenwald, Hildegard Grill, Nancy E. Hamilton*, Elinda Hardy, Nancy Harray, Philip & Miriam Hawthorne, Laura Hayden, Chuck Hickenlooper & Inez Kirkman, Edward Hohman*, Lisa Hoivik, Bob and Ruth Horn, Jay and Kip Hudson, William and Barbara Hyland*, Robert  Hylton, Hans and Elizabeth Jannasch, Joe Johnson, Johnsson Family Living Trust, Jean Kane, Olive and Willy Keats, Ruth Kelly, Kimiye Kendall, Renee and Richard Kezirian, Dorothy Konrad, Peter Kracht, Carl & Sarah Leonard, Jean Littlepage, Penelope Lockhart, Richard and Jane Lundy, Willis & Yvonne Lyon, Don & Lou Mathews, Andrew and Jeanne McCombs, Everett Messinger, Monterey Vista Neighborhood Association*, Linda Moorman, Kathy and Bob Nielsen, Doni Ogarrio, John and Carol O'Neil, Kristin Orliss, Paul Davis Partnership*, Pebble Beach Co., Rosemary Poskus*, George Lanford  Powell, Ann Prego, Harold and Laverne Ragan, Robert and Sandra Rice*, Lillian C. Rico, Lois Rockefeller, Marina Romani, Diane and Bruce Rowe, Pat Rutowski, Kathleen Ryan, Eugene and Jean Sanchez, Anne Scanlon, Robert Schumacker, Sea Scribes Monterey Bay Calligraphy Guild, , Marjan Shirzad, Beatrice Siegel, Mike and Barbara Sovereign, Michael Stamp, Jean Stemmons, David Taggart, William and Asayo Takigawa, Linda Thorpe, Hal and Peggy Titus, Carol Todd, J. Breck and Nancy Tostevin, Murali and Anuradha Tummala, Ruth Upton, John & Madeline Van Zander, Dick Vreeland, Clara Wang, Judith  and Chase Weaver, Bill and Kathi Wojtkowski, Mary Wrighton, Alice Yamanishi, Linda Zwagerman

*Over $500

Robert Bell and Francisca Garcia Bell*, Paul and Anne Davis*, 1^st Capital Bank – Geoff Loftus, Elizabeth Murray, Nancy Selfridge*, Cary and Lynn Yeh*

*Over $500

The 1849 Society is a group of community members who believe in the importance of libraries and the unique significance of the Monterey Public Library, established in 1849.  These legacy donors have made a gift of $1,849 or more to the Library's Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation for Monterey County.

Francisca Garcia Bell and Robert Bell, Kim Bui-Burton and Steven Silveria, John and Mary  Castagna, Paul and Anne Davis, Friends of the Monterey Public Library , The Gerard de Groot Estate and the A.& A. McFarland Trust Book Collection, Diane E. Harmon, Ruth S. Hartmann, Mary Ann Kane, Harry and Suzanne Mucha, Carl  Outzen, Harold and Laverne  Ragan, Maxine Hohman Reneker, Dottie and Clyde Roberson, Richard and Marilyn Ruccello, Nancy J. Selfridge, Jack M. Signorella, Jennifer Smith and Douglas Holtzman, Mike and Barbara Sovereign, David and Maryanne Spradling, The Shake Family, Alan and Anne Washburn, Bill and Kathi Wojtkowski, George and Alice  Yamanishi, Cary and Lynn Yeh

Your Voice, Our Future - we thank you!

Looking back at the summer of 2011, the Library Board, staff, Friends and Endowment Committee were embarking in two tremendous endeavors - a strategic planning process and an endowment building effort. We had hopes that our community would help us succeed, and our hopes have been wonderfully fulfilled!

Over 1300 people of all ages shared their hopes, wishes and dreams for the future of our Library and our community. - for our Library as a special community center where people can continue to connect to the knowledge and cultures of the world, and for our Library moving forward to help our community succeed.  We listened, we heard and over the next three years, we will be working to make these plans a reality.  

Donors gave us amounts of money, large and small, that increased our fund at the Community Foundation to almost $100,000 and will give us a gift in the future of over a quarter of a million dollars.  That was a tremendous effort by our community that will help us move forward, putting those plans into place and growing the Monterey Public Library for the future.

Thank you for 2011.  It was a good year.