A.K. Smiley Public Library Annual Meeting (2022)
A.K. Smiley Public Library Annual Meeting (2020)
Our Annual Membership Meeting is available for you to watch/listen. Library Director Don McCue presented his State of the Library message, Friends President Les Kong shared the President’s Report, and we recognized outgoing and incoming board members.
Link to view Friends Annual Meeting Password: 5i^^1%b1
You can access the documents referenced during the meeting here:A.K. Smiley Public Library Annual Meeting (2018)
The Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library Annual Meeting was held on Sunday, June 10, 2018. This year we welcomed two authors, Juan Delgado and Thomas McGovern, who discussed their book Vital Signs. The board also recognized and thanked retiring members and introduced new board members. Questions about the event may be sent to info@friendsofsmileylibrary.org
The product of six years of reflection and documentation,Vital Signs takes us on a walk through one of California’s largest cities: San Bernardino—generally presented in the media as a center of urban blight and high crime. In this passionate collaboration, poet Juan Delgado and photographer Thomas McGovern celebrate the working-class Latino communities of the Inland Empire and the intensity of their stories. Pairing Delgado’s piercing poems with McGovern’s photos of hand-painted signs and murals, Vital Signs preserves the narrative and visual culture of the urban landscape and reveals a community rich in emotion and vernacular art.
Juan Delgado is an internationally renowned poet and graduate of California State University, San Bernardino where he currently is a professor of English and director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing.
Thomas McGovern is a photographer, writer, and professor of art at California State University, San Bernardino. His photographs are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Brooklyn Museum of Art; The Baltimore Museum of Art; The Museum of the City of New York; and the New York Historical Society, among others. His art reviews and features have appeared in Afterimage, Artweek, Art Issues, and Art Papers and in 2011 he founded the photography publication Dotphotozine.
Vital Signs on Amazon.com | New York Times article
The Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library Proudly Present…
The Academy Awards Content Winners!
Santa Visits Smiley Library
View the article from the Redlands Daily Facts.
Olive Ave Market & Friends of the Smiley Library team up
Support the Friends of the Smiley Library by eating or shopping at Olive Avenue Market on October 18, 2017. 10-percent of sales for the whole day at OAM will be donated to the Friends of Smiley Library.
Fliers will be available at the Library but are not necessary for the fundraiser.
Please share on your social media. Be sure to go eat and shop at OAM on Oct. 18, and return again on another day, telling them you’re supporting OAM because they supported the Friends of Smiley Library.
Semi-Annual Book Sale
Thursday, September 14 through Sunday, September 17, 2017
- Thursday, Friday & Saturday 10:15am to 4:15pm
- Sunday 1:15pm to 4:15pm
TARZAN BOOK SALE (DRESS REHEARSAL)
A.K.Smiley Public Library is holding a book sale on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm on the library lawn across from the Redlands Bowl. This special sale occurs during dress rehearsal for the Bowl’s performance of the musical Tarzan. Stop by on your way to the Bowl and we’ll give our best Tarzan yell… when you buy a book!
Consider Becoming an Adult Literacy Tutor
We invite you to attend a tutor orientation on April 10, 2017, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the A. K. Smiley Public Library Assembly Room. At the meeting attendees will find out about the Redlands Adult Literacy Program and have the opportunity to ask questions. To sign up, please contact Diane Shimota, Adult Literacy Coordinator, at 909.798.7565, ext. 4138 or email: literacy@akspl.org !
Lincoln Shrine Book Sale and Open House
Saturday, February 4th will be an exciting day at the Lincoln Shrine, located across the park behind the A.K. Smiley Public Library. In addition to the regularly scheduled monthly book sale at the Library, there will also be a Friends of the Library sponsored book sale at the Shrine. The Shrine is also featuring its 45th Annual Open House Event. The Friends will be holding a sale of Civil War and Lincoln-related books at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine on February 4th from 10:30am to 3:00pm. Come early for the best selection, and stay for the festivities! Visit the Lincoln Memorial Shrine on Saturday, February 4 from 11:00am to 3:00pm for the annual Lincoln Shrine Open House. For the 45th year, the Shrine celebrates the life and times of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War with a day of music, reenactor presentations, and activities for the whole family. Renowned Lincoln presenter Robert Broski will be on hand to greet visitors, along with the 7th Michigan Cavalry on horseback and the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, whose cannon demonstrations are a highlight every year. Given the success of the 2016 festivities, the Open House will once again be coupled with the annual Lincoln Pilgrimage, a program hosted by the Grayback District of California Inland Empire Council, Boy Scouts of America since 1940. Mark your calendar because this grand Lincolnpalooza is a can’t miss event! Mark your calendar now; you don’t want to miss this unique and historic activity. Look for more information in the February newsletter. The Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library often host special events. Please refer to this page to see what is coming up! For more information, call 909-798-7685.Blockbuster Blowout Sale Jan.21, 2017
WHO: Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library
WHAT: Blockbuster Bag Sale
WHERE: In the Assembly Room
WHEN: Saturday, January 21 from 10:30-4:30 pm.
10:30-11:30 for members of the Friends only.
11:30- 4:30 pm open to all
PHOTO: Friends of the Library Bookstore Manager Ellen Schollenberger and a few of the reasons why the Friends is having an inventory “Blockbuster Bag Sale” in the Assembly Room on January 21, 2017.
It is inventory clearance time for the Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library. To that end the Friends will hold a “Blockbuster Bag Sale” on Saturday, January 21 in the Assembly Room. This is the perfect time to treat yourself to some good reads at an unbelievable price.
Bring a bag or pick one up in the Assembly Room and fill it with your choice of books, CDs, DVDs and more. The cost per filled bag is $1.00 for members of the Friends and $2.00 per bag for nonmembers. This is a prime opportunity to help the Friends make room for new donations at the bookstore while enriching your own private library at a bargain price.
There will be fiction and nonfiction for all ages. Also available will be a variety of other media including VHS, DVDs, CDs and vinyl. Commuters can take advantage of the large selection of “books on tape.”
Don’t miss out on this unprecedented sale. The date is Saturday, January 21 in the Assembly Room. The hours are 10:30 am- 4:30 pm. The first hour from 10:30 am– 11:30 am is reserved for members of the Friends only. Not a member? Join at the door for $10 per year or $25 annually for a family membership. Members and nonmembers of the Friends are invited to shop from 11:30 am- 4:30 pm. Come and take advantage of one of the best sales of the year.
All sales help to provide materials and programs for the library.
Join Us! Redlands Magazine at the library
Redlands Magazine will be capturing a photographic slice of the A.K.Smiley Public Library community for the magazine’s Fall 2016 issue.
We invite readers, volunteers and library personnel to join us in the Assembly Room to have individual portraits taken with a favorite book, ebook (tablet) or whatever you are reading now.
2:30pm to 4:00pm Tuesday August 23, 2016.
To participate: We’ll ask for your permission for publication, name, what you enjoy about the library and what you are reading. Minors must be accompanied by a legal guardian with authority to grant permission for publication. Who knows… you might be on the cover!
Redlands Adult Literacy Program offers a new, fall book club
Based on the successful first book club this past summer, the Adult Literacy Learners are starting their second book club starting in September. Beginning Monday morning, September 12, 2016 at 9:00am to 10:30am, the conversation and book club will be reading “Who Was Harriet Tubman” by Yona Zeldis McDonough. The group will meet in the Smiley Library Assembly Room. Use the South Entrance, across from the park and the Lincoln Shrine.What’s on your Summer Reading List?
“I just returned from vacation where I was able to begin reading a book that was a gift from my son. It is a biography of George Armstrong Custer entitled Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles. It has been hard to put down. It’s a very interesting read about one of our nation’s most colorful military leaders. Dynamic, charismatic and inspirational to those he lead, yet rash, egocentric, and insecure”
NEW FRIENDS BOARD MEMBERS
Kim Green, Rebecca McCurdy and Kristen Burnham were welcomed to the Friends Board during the Annual Meeting on June 12. Kim and Rebecca have both been volunteers with the Adult Literacy Program, and Kristen has been a Bookstore volunteer.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOOK SALE
Come Tuesday, July 26, and visit the Friends of the Library book sale on the lawn of the Library, Eureka Street side, before the dress rehearsal of “Oklahoma” at the Redlands Bowl. The sales hours are 5:30pm – 7:30pm. The sale will feature Westerns and children’s books, as well as other genres and fun summer reads. Pick up a fan with each purchase and keep cool as you read and relax before the performance starts.
Bus to Books: The Friends Attend the Los Angeles Festival of Books
Courtesy of C-Span2 and Book TV
Book enthusiasts from the Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library joined the throngs at last Saturday’s kick off of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Ever conscious of our crowded freeways, the book lovers boarded a bus in front of the library which delivered them only a few minutes’ walk from the University of Southern California’s famous Tommy Trojan statue.
Readers of every sort love to curl up with a book on a rainy day. While there weren’t many places to curl up, there was rain along with over 600 authors, celebrities, musicians, artists, and chefs at the Festival. The dreary day failed to deter thousands of attendees to this the largest literary and cultural festival in the United States.
Booths lined the broad walkways of the university, drawing crowds even when the occasional shower blew through. Vroman’s and Book Soup, independent bookstore icons, found ways to keep their wares dry and still entice browsers. The beautiful buildings of the campus held author panels and individual speakers. The chilly day made for pleasant dashes between venues where once cozy inside, attendees were treated to stellar authors discussing their work. Best of all, it was free, except for a one dollar convenience fee to attend the conversation panels.
The prolific Joyce Carol Oates was one of the featured authors. You can find more than fifty of her books at the library, including her most recent —“Daddy Love and The Accursed.” Stan Lee drew a huge crowd, the line for book signing stretching through the festival. His book on how to draw comics, along with graphic novels and DVD’s of some of his most famous video adaptations are also part of the A.K. Smiley Library’s collection.
Free books, author book signings, live music, a children’s area and food trucks made for a lively and diverse day. The carpool lane helped make the trip quick and relaxing back to the library where Ernesto Gomez showed off his new book bag.
Courtesy of Alice Moore
This annual trip is just one of the special perks available to members of the Friends of the Library. Annual memberships are available in the Friends bookstore on the lower level of the library. Individual memberships are $10 and families are $25 per year. Members receive up to a 50% discount in the Friends bookstore as well as discounts at a variety of special sales throughout the year. All memberships sold help to support the library and its programs. For further information on the Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library check us out on Facebook at Friends of A.K. Smiley or our website at aksmileybookstore.com.
Friends of A.K. Smiley Public Library Receive National Award
Shown with Award Certificate in front of the newly remodeled Friends of A.K. Smiley Bookstore (from left): Friends Volunteers Rita Reading, Radha Shah, Ted Parsons, Sue Remes
A.K. Smiley Bookstore 