Great Press!

The annual budget dance the state, county, city, and library authority engage in often has staff in the dumps. There are funding cuts, fewer ways to economize, and many services we'd like to offer if we had more staff. So, when an article like this beautiful one in the June issue of "Inside the City" is published, it reminds us to pick up our heads and see the bigger picture: in spite of the apparent setbacks, we have managed to come a long way since the days of our childhood, and the romanticized memories of libraries as banks of card catalogs, old books and "Shh-ing" librarians. (It also includes a great quote from one of Central's children's librarians.)

Truly, the library has moved into the digital spere, and, in addition to all the online services mentioned in the article, we are also helping our users move there. Central Library offers free computer classes on Wednesdays, and other branches have also begun offering them as well. In fact, the array of classes will be expanding in the fall. Keep an eye out for the announcements.

And we couldn't do as much for our public without our Friends. The Friends of the Sacramento Public Library and the individual Affiliate Friends of our branches provide resources for programming, materials purchases, volunteers to help at the branches, and lots of moral support. Special thanks to McKinley Affiliate Friends for the great press this month!