Central Library

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- Glendale will have its first Sunday library service in more than two decades. The Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St., will be open from 1 until 5 p.m. on Sunday. The City Council voted in June to budget $100,000 for the hour expansion. The Central Library will offer regular services of circulation, reference and the children's room. In 1993, library hours citywide were trimmed from 235 to 188 because of budget cuts caused by the recession.

Gary Moskowitz GLENDALE -- The Glendale Public Library will host several activities and events throughout its celebration of National Library Week April 14 through 20. All events are free, open to the public and sponsored by the Friends of the Glendale Public Library. Events take place at The week of April 14 to 20 will be a fine-free week. Library materials returned during the week to any Glendale Public Library will have no late fines. Rental, lost materials ad collection agency fees remain in effect.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- The king of computers just added Glendale to his kingdom. Well, sort of. Billionare software mogul Bill Gates has given a $97,241 grant to the Glendale Library through his Gates Library Initiative. The Microsoft founder's iniative makes public libraries with a poverty population of more than 10% eligible for the grant. Computer work stations, software, hardware, computer lab equipment, and training and technical support are included in the grant.

The Friends of the Glendale Public Library unanimously support Senate Bill 659 to extend the deadline to dissolve redevelopment agencies from Feb.1 to April 15 (“Support for SB 659,” Jan. 27). This additional time would allow for the orderly unwinding of California's redevelopment program. The Glendale public library system has benefited from redevelopment funds. Most recently, it was hoped that that such funds would support a major renovation of the Central Library. We urge all residents to write their legislative representatives to support SB 659. John Steele Glendale Editor's note: Steele is president of the Friends of the Glendale Public Library.

Karen S. Kim SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Writer Alice Navasargian will speak at the Glendale Public Library's central branch at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15. Navasargian, a Glendale resident, will discuss her book "Armenian Women of the Stage," which traces the contributions of 63 Armenian actresses from 1840 to 1999. Actress and singer Cher, opera singer Hasmik Papian and actress Arlene Francis are included in Navasargian's book. The event will also include the performances of three Glendale musicians -- violinist Ani Bukujian, singer Helena Melikyan and violinist Jennifer Mayer.

CITY HALL ? Proposed projects in central Glendale ? including a face lift for the Central Library and a new soccer field at Columbus Elementary ? could receive financing through a nearly $29-million bond the City Council will review Tuesday. When the governor approved a $1.7-billion take-away of local redevelopment funds in July, city officials said they would have to postpone the proposed bond, which was incorporated into the city?s five-year Capital Improvement Program. While two of the projects intended to be funded with bond proceeds ?

Always a cornerstone of our democratic society, a strong public library system has become an even more vital necessity in the Information Age. Inarguably, knowledge is the key to success even to survival in a world where those with it have power and money while those without it are doomed to poverty and hopelessness. Information technology is transforming our lives in myriad ways, both those of which we are aware and those we'll know about only years from now. Already a concern of those we elect to shape public policy, equal access to the technology required to access the vast information warehouse known as the Internet is rapidly becoming a major social issue.

LCUSD board members to discuss bond and parcel tax LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- Members of the La Canada Unified School District board Wednesday will make a presentation to the Palm Crest Elementary School's Parent-Teacher Assn. of the bond and parcel tax it voted to place on the March 2 ballot. Board members will explain what the bond and parcel tax are, why they voted to place them on the same ballot, and what each will be used for. They will also answer questions about the measures.

Buck Wargo CENTRAL LIBRARY -- A tradition in Glendale since the late 1970s will soon be broken, but library patrons aren't complaining. Starting in September when school reopens, Glendale will have its first Sunday service in more than two decades when the Central Library is expected to open between 1 and 4 p.m. The City Council tentatively voted Tuesday to budget $100,000 to expand library hours. The library will offer regular services of circulation, reference and the children's library room.

Buck Wargo CAPITAL BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS $2,030,000 -- Brand Boulevard improvements. $1,550,000 -- street resurfacing. $1,500,000 -- bus maintenance facility. $1,400,000 -- gutter improvements. $1,300,000 -- acquisition of county building. $1,250,000 -- new park development and upgrades. $1,180,000 -- street reconstruction. $1,092,000 -- replace police computer-aided dispatch system. $1,000,000 -- open space aquisition.

Mark Geragos, a Glendale attorney who has represented Michael Jackson and numerous other high-profile clients, has penned a book with fellow criminal defense attorney Pat Harris that delves into the faults of the criminal justice system and gives an inside look at the headline-grabbing cases he's argued in court. Geragos - who is scheduled to discuss his book, "MISTRIAL: An Inside Look at How the Criminal Justice System Works…and Sometimes Doesn't" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Glendale Central Library - said defendants are too often assumed guilty in the modern justice system.

Back in 1977, Dennis Reed read something that intrigued him: There once had been a vibrant society of Japanese American photographers, including first-rate modernists, but with the advent of World War II and U.S. internment camps, all of their work had been lost. “Nothing survived,” the photography educator and historian remembers reading in that article. He wondered about that. Reed spent the next few years researching the subject. He found that not only was there evidence of the work in books and surviving prints, but the work was exceptional.

All Glendale libraries, including the city's flagship Central Library, were closed Saturday through Monday to observe Veterans Day. These “long weekend” library closures are becoming more and more routine in the Jewel City. Meanwhile, in both Los Angeles and Pasadena, the libraries were open on Saturday. So Glendale has even worse budget problems than the city of Los Angeles? C'mon. Oh, that's right: Los Angeles library lovers recently passed Measure L, a ballot measure that prioritized funding for their city's libraries; full Friday hours were just restored and more are purportedly on the way as a result.

More triple-digit temperatures are expected Wednesday as a ridge of high pressure settles in over Southern California and the area continues to swelter. The heat wave is expected to last through Saturday, with the highest temperatures likely from Thursday on. But the differences between Wednesday and the rest of the week may be slight. “It may be hotter later in the week but you're not really going to be able to tell,” National Weather Service meterologist Rich Thompson said.

Glendale will officially launch its new cloud-based borrowing system for ebooks at a public demonstration event on Thursday. Glendale and Pasadena are among the few library systems in the nation to try out the new cloud-based technology for lending out ebooks. The cloud library - developed by 3M - is being tested by just 10 library systems in the nation, with the shared Glendale-Pasadena lending network the only one in California to be part of the program. Unlike Glendale and Pasadena's current digital reading platform, OverDrive, the ebooks on the 3M platform will be stored in a “cloud,” or an off-site data center.

The Friends of the Glendale Public Library unanimously support Senate Bill 659 to extend the deadline to dissolve redevelopment agencies from Feb.1 to April 15 (“Support for SB 659,” Jan. 27). This additional time would allow for the orderly unwinding of California's redevelopment program. The Glendale public library system has benefited from redevelopment funds. Most recently, it was hoped that that such funds would support a major renovation of the Central Library. We urge all residents to write their legislative representatives to support SB 659. John Steele Glendale Editor's note: Steele is president of the Friends of the Glendale Public Library.

Officials today encouraged residents to seek relief from oppressive triple-degree heat at several "cooling stations," especially given air quality warnings issued this morning. In Burbank, the public can stop in at the city's three libraries -- Central Library, 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd.; Buena Vista Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St.; Northwest Library, 3323 W. Victory Blvd. -- during daytime hours. For a complete list of hours of operation, visit the city's website . In Glendale, the Adult Recreation Center, 201 E. Colorado Blvd., is a Los Angeles County-designated cooling center and open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

CITY HALL — On the heels of residential protests, the City Council this week took the Casa Verdugo and Chevy Chase branch libraries off the budget chopping block as council members continue to grapple with a projected $18-million budget gap. Closing the Casa Verdugo branch and converting the Chevy Chase Library to a community center that would host fee-based programs and maintain a “minimal” library presence was part of a nearly $500,000 proposed...

Hooray for Louise Phelan and Franklin Ruehl (“Casa Verdugo library must survive,” May 19) sticking up for Casa Verdugo Library and pointing out the solid grass-roots base of support and need for that library! When I lived in that part of Glendale, that was my library too. OK, there is need for economizing in the city budget, but come on, city of Glendale, we all know there are plenty of unnecessary and unproductive weeds in the budget whose elimination can create the necessary savings.

I am responding to the proposal to further cut — if not kill — our Chevy Chase Library, a branch that has already hemorrhaged hours, books and services (“Libraries could shoulder brunt of budget cuts,” May 12”). Glendale public library officials have presented the City Council with a proposal to transfer management of the Chevy Chase branch to Community Services and Parks, to develop it as a community center and rental venue, and continue a “minimal library presence.” Read “minimal” as the library’s death knell.