Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Wishing all your wishes get sealed this Yom Kippur.

Source: Tablet Magazine

(Source: flickr / preservationgal )

As you might have read in the Shofar the library is not accepting book donations right now. Below is a bit of an explanation of why.

I am grateful, that unlike a few times in the past, the library was not covered with donated books, when I came in last Sunday after a month or so break. On the one hand I am very appreciative of everybody who considers  donating their books to the library. On the other hand, we usually either already have the books we receive this way or they or in such condition that we cannot wholeheartedly embrace them in our collection or they are books that the library doesn’t really need, such as various version of old prayerbook. There are lots of exceptions of course, but 90% of the donated books fall into one of these categories.

I am sad to say that we don’t have a simple way of disposing unwanted books.

• When the library is open you can buy any of them; for between a quarter and a few dollars at top. I usually put a few dozen of them out in front of the library on a table.
• I sold dozens of the more valuable donated books on Amazon. However trying to sell the majority of our books we would need to compete with dozens, or often hundreds, of people who are often selling the same books for 1 cent. The slight chance of selling anything this way and the zero margin is simply not worth the effort it takes to get a book listed on Amazon and then handling the shipping.
• At the last two Simcha Sundays, which is organized by the Jewish Community Center every two years*, we sold our excess of used books. It was a success both times that we hope to do again February 2013. Nevertheless we still returned with boxes upon boxes of unsold books from these events.
• The only other place we know of where we could send the books is an organization that provides books to Jewish prisoners. But they have a very specific list of what books they take and we would need to pay for the shipping to Seattle.
• The public library accepts books in good condition, but doesn’t like to take books that have already another library’s markings in them.

As a result of these limited options we have books that have been waiting for somebody to take them away from us for years. If you have any additional idea what we can do with the old books let me know.

*Full disclosure: your humble librarian is on the JCC board.

The library is open the following  Sundays during the 2012-2013 school year, from 9.15 to 12.30. These  are the mornings when our doors will be open:

The first day at the library went invigoratingly. There was a lot of great energy on campus. I enjoyed seeing with people again, whom I haven’t seen most summer. I also met with the new youth leader and a new family with four children. I made sure to get their information, so I could add them as official patrons to the Library’s circulation system. Now they are all ready to borrow books and other items.

I also enjoyed videoing the religious school’s first Havdallah with Rabbi Miller.Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery in the middle of it and my extra battery was out of juice. So I will be able to post only the beginnings of the ritual on YouTube, but I will do it nevertheless.

I also processed a month’s worth of mail. There were some gems in it, like the new issue of The Jewish Bible Quarterly and the CJ-Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism. (Both of these are available for your perusal now.) Another important action item was to renew the Library’s membership in the Association of Jewish Libraries.

It was a great morning, looking forward to the next one. See you next time the library is open, in two weeks on September 23. I take that back: I will see most of you at the High Holiday Services before that. If I don’t see you let me wish you now

Shana Tovah!

This post was written last week but accidentally  didn’t get posted.

The library and its librarian is back after the break due to the Passover festivities. Today was another fun day at the library.

I got a call earlier the week that today the religious school school’s 10-12 year old students will need books on Israel. Thus as soon as I got into the library I pulled 3+3  books for them. The first set of three included

• Arthur Tcholakian’s “Israel, land of promise” a 30 year old paperback full of excellent black and white photographs
• David Bamberger’s “Young Person’s History of Israel“, a great introduction to Israel in five parts: A land and a people, early Zionism, the road to independence, building a state, Israel today
• A Kid’s Catalog of Israel by Chaya M. Burstein is more in depth than the other two and the drawings are also funny and helpful.

The other three books I thought the children might enjoy are large format picture books:

• Israel, 50 Years: As Seen by Magnum Photographers
• The Israel I Love by Noel Calef
• Israel: The Promised Land by Jacob K. Javits

While I was pulling these out a a teacher came in and asked my help to translate some Hebrew words to English for a game. The first two dictionaries I grabbed didn’t help, but with the third one it was a breeze.

Next I checked in the books that were left in the library’s inbox. I had mixed feeling about it. On the one hand it was good to see that people are using the library and returning books in an timely manner. On the other hand all of these books were Passover related and with one exception all for children. This signaled that the library use is event/holiday driven, we didn’t have a lot of other traffic recently. Furthermore it’s great that adults borrow books for their children, but what about themselves? We have treasures they would surely enjoy had they take the time to browse our collection or ask me for recommendations.

Two weeks, the last time the library was open, I was so busy that I didn’t have time to write an entry in this blog. Being busy is a great thing, I wish it would be always busy in the library.

It took longer than I thought it would to prepare the books I cataloged the previous week ready for the shelves. But, I had to do all of these things before I couls shelve the books:

• Print and cut due dates notes
• Print the “material label,” the ones with the bar codes and author/title information that goes in the book
• Print the “spine label” that has the call number of the books. These were needed in two copies, so if a book has a dust cover a label could go both on the book itself and another one onto the cover
• Put all of the above into the books: two out of three were self-adhesive, but the third need glue
• Cover the labels, but not the due date piece with a clear film to protect them from peeling down
• Add a protective transparent cover for the hardcover books.

While I was doing this a class from the religious school came in and they asked for a book on Passover. At the time I still had the Purim books out as we were just a  few days after the holiday (and on the second day of our Purim Spiel). So I recommended for them to read a Purim a story, while I gathered the Pesach ones. As of this writing, two weeks later, we are still before Passover so all the books for younger readers about this holiday are on library’s table. Come on in and borrow some to read with/for/by your children.

Are you confused why I put “Hasidism” in the title of this post? Don’t be, I am getting to it. A patron came in last time and asked for a book about this topic. I tried to guide the reference conversation to get more specifics on the nature of the “information need” as I learned it in library school. But the patron didn’t offer more details why he needs it, what he would like to find out about them, so I offered my two favorites books related to Hasidism.

Martin Buber‘s “Tales of the Hasidim” is an absolute must to understand the origins of the movement. It is a fantastic read of shorter, often funny and/or inspiring stories, with a great introduction to this world. On the other hand to understand the world of today’s Hasidism you need more. That is why I suggested the more sociologically inclined book by Sue Fishkoff titled “The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch.” It provides insights to the operation of one particular, albeit the most well-known Hasid group

Some people think that librarians just sit in the library and read books, when there are no patrons to assist.  Let me share what I was doing today instead in little over 3 hours:

• Checked the library’s email and felt lucky that only two out of 20+ email messages required an answer.
• Put new batteries in the clock on the wall.
• Accepted four donated books by a patron, who brought them in. I also got her permission to re-sell any of the books, in case we already have them. Then checked the books and found that two we already had. The other two will be incorporated into the library’s collection. They were both on Hanukkah for children. you can never have enough Hanukkah book, as its quite a popular topic.
• Attempted to print a sign, to be put outside on the door, with our open hours. Unfortunately the printer didn’t work, so I wrote one with hand. Something I rarely do nowadays and it shows.
• Added a checkout entry into our library system, based on a note a trusted member left, about a book she borrowed in our absence.
• Checked in 2 books that were left in the library’s mailbox in the office.
• Started a new Facebook page for the library. Previously we had a group, but now I know that “pages” suit better our purpose. Once the page is fully set up, I will remove the group.
• Checked who started recently to follow our Twitter account. Netiquette dictates to follow them back. Most of them were other Jewish or library related organization, so I followed them back. Some of them were marketers, otherwise known as spammer. Those I blocked.
• Stamped two periodicals that we just received with the “Property of the Library” stamp. They were the new issues of “The Jewish Bible Quarterly” and “CJ: Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism“. I left them on our big table, so others could peruse it if/when they are in the library.
• Greeted two people who wandered in the library and were happy to see it open.
• Updated the statistics about the library’s usage based on the notes that volunteers left.
• Placed children’s books about  Purim on the table that I pulled out  from the shelves. This way when the children come in looking for them, as they surely will today, it will be easier for them to choose.
• Lent a book about Purim for the duration of the religious school class today.
• Talked to a patron in Hungarian for a few minutes as I may be the only person he has a chance to practice his native language with.
• Went through another bag of donated books, identifying which volumes we can incorporate in the library.  In this case it was 5 out of 8, which is much better than usual. A lot of the books that people donate to us are of popular volumes that we already have copies of. This time however five of the books were short novels targeted for the 10-12 year old age group. In that category we have room to grow.
• Did the first part of cataloging 14 new books: adding them to the catalog, with all the correct information. Before I can put them on the shelves I will still need to cover them, print and put spine and material stickers on them. Then, hopefuly next week, they will be ready for their audience.

The library will be open the following Sundays in the next three months, from 9.15 to 12.30

Please, visit to meet your friendly librarian, borrow a book or two…

Last Sunday the library participated in the Simcha Sunday celebration, organized by the Jewish Community Center of Sonoma County at the Santa Rosa Veterans Hall. Just like in past years we were selling books donated to us and weeded/removed from the library’s collection. We sold books that would have filled more than three boxes. Our income for the day was $95. I rounded the amount up with $5 from the money we collected from late charges. This way I could support the CBA’s general fund with $100, a nice, round amount. In past years the income from the booksales went towards the library’s fund, but this year the general fund needs it more.

If you visited Simcha Sunday you saw that the library’s table was between two other CBA tables: the gift shop’s and one shared between USY (including its pop-corn machine.  The Nursery, the religious school and other CBA related materials. We were all tight a little bit, so when P’nina managed to come (after the morning’s religious school ended) it was a bit of a challenge to make space for the beautiful purses and bags she designed. But we did it ,at the end of the Library table, and she managed to make some sales. I would like to thank her for offering 50% of the proceeds to CBA. I wish I could have provided more space for her display.

I would like to thank Susan Goldstein who helped at the table from the the time we opened till we closed. Without her help I may not have been able to go and look around myself. I would also like to thank Dina, who helped in the first two hours. Sorry that I didn’t catch your last name, but I do remember that your child goes to the Nursery. I know you came to help CBA on behalf of the nursery, although you ended helping with the booksales. Thank you.

Most of all I would like thank  everyone who purchased a book or more from us at Simcha Sunday. I hope you will find them engaging and interesting. Your support of CBA is much appreciated.

If you thought just because “Berchick” means little bear in Yiddish a book by this title would be about a cub you’d be mistaken. It is about a newborn colt, who had thick fur when he was found next to her dead mare. He was found by the mother of the narrator (a young child) who promised on the spot to take care of the young creature.

These and the rest of the events are all set in Wyoming. Both the author, Esther Silverstein Blanc, and the illustrator, Tennessee Dixon grew up there. The loving care and attention to the details of the descriptive text and water paintings clearly reflect their affinity to the Great Plains region. I loved the paintings, but I regretted that only the cover one was in color, the rest was black and white. It set an unnecessarily melancholic tone for the mostly positive book.

The first half  of the book, covering the younger years of the horse, the narrator  and his siblings are truly idyllic and happy. The homesteader family doesn’t seem to have any problems; the horse is smart, friendly and splendid. Later, during the rough years, they have to move to town and sell the horse. As we learn at the end the horse eventually learns to live in the wild and that seems  to support its manifest destiny.

I borrowed this book from our, Jewish, library, so I was expecting it to have some Jewish content. My expectation was met, but it wasn’t a particularly Jewish book, besides the name of the horse, the mention of the Talmud once and the use of the word “chochim” once it could have been about any family. Well, maybe the fact that the father’s fallback work was being a tailer was a hint. Otherwise thought it was just a  book about a Midwest family, like many others.

The end of the backflap of the book says this about the publisher, “Volcano Press is a woman-owned company, publishing women-oriented books that seek to enlighten, liberate and delight.” The company’s home page has more detailed information about their admirable mission and history. Having read the above I realized that in the center of the book was the relationship between the matriarch of the family and the horse. It was a strong and defining bond in both directions. I recommend reading the book to observe that, the peaceful drawings, and the description of a simple life.

The book at Amazon.com