But Wait! I Want More Time!—How to Renew Library Materials

Checking out books, movies, and audio from the library gives you a sense of joy…until you realize that it’s the due date, time to return them, and you aren’t finished with your reading, watching, or listening.

What do you do? Take a speed-reading class? Turn them in and hope you can check them out again? Keep them until you’re finished, and dip into your savings to pay the overdue fines?

Stay calm. You may be able to renew them and get some extra time.

It’s Not Late, Yet

If the Fresno County Public Library items you want to keep aren’t overdue, you may renew them (get more time) at any library branch, by phone, or even online. If nobody else has it on hold (has requested that item, and is waiting for it), you can renew it up to two times.  

 

Look at your checkout slip or the self-checkout monitor to see when the materials will now be due. Books and DVDs check out for different lengths of time. The renewal starts the day you renew it, not from the day it was originally due.

You Can’t Always Renew What You Want

If your library materials are already late, you can’t renew them online. You can go to a branch to renew them in person, or renew over the phone with library staff. Some things can not be renewed. The New & Now category is a one-time-only checkout, and is not to be renewed. Inter-library loans from outside the Valley consortium do not get renewed. Items that are on the waiting list for other people don’t get renewed. It’s only fair that others get a chance to read that book or see that movie.

The Fresno County Public Library wants people to have a pleasant library experience, and to share its holdings with as many people as possible.

Read on!

Meet Me at the Library

A library isn't just a building with books in it. A library is a part of the community, a place where people can meet.




McCardle Room at the Central Library


Many branches of the Fresno County Public Library have meeting rooms where community groups and not-for-profit organizations can gather, and they are offered FREE to the public. Library meeting rooms have hosted drum circles, rodeo associations, knitters and quilters, table-top gamer groups, line dancers, cemetery use boards, T-ball parents, Scouting events, and community Thanksgiving dinners. Non-library-sponsored gatherings that aren't selling services or products or are campaigning for issues or candidates are welcome to sign up to use library spaces. After your event, you can sign up for another use, if the space is available.


Woodward Park Branch meeting room

Because the library is a public building, restrictions on alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and flames and candles apply. Rules are meant to keep the buildings safe places. Different rooms have different service capacities. Kitchens, projectors, Wi-Fi, dry-erase boards, public address systems, podiums, or assisted listening devices are available at some locations. Fire Marshal room capacity limits must be followed.

To apply for meeting room use...

• choose a location,

• find a time that is available,

• provide contact information,

• choose options

That's what it takes to reserve a library meeting room.
Meet you at the library!

Betty Rodriguez Branch meeting room

Placing Holds: Get that book locally!

Did you know you can have materials you request (holds) delivered to your nearest branch?  All you have to do is search for the item in our catalog and request it!  It only takes a few easy steps.



Find your Title

You can search for library items by the title, by the author who wrote it, or by the subject (what it's about). If you wanted to find It by Stephen King, you could search with the terms "It," "King, Stephen," or "Clowns--Fiction." If you were looking for Against All Enemies by Tom Clancy with Peter Telep, the subjects to search for include "Taliban--Fiction," :Terrorism--Fiction," "Mexico--Fiction," "Drug Traffic--Middle East--Fiction," and "United States. Central Intelligence Agency--Fiction."

See where it is available 

Requests tells you how many people are in the line waiting for it. The Location list tells you what branches have copies and if they are checked in or checked out.

Click on Request Item

A Request will put you on the list to get what you want sent to a convenient library. Add to My List makes a wish list of things you would like to get from the library...but not right now. When you want one of those items, go to the list. One click will request it.
Once you select Request Item the next screen will ask for your library card number and your PIN, the four-digit Personal Identification Number you set up with your card (if you can't remember your PIN take your ID to any FCPL branch library; one of the staff will be able to look it up for you).

The next page confirms your request and allows you to choose the location where you want to pick up your request. Select the branch closest to your home or where it is most convenient for you to pick up materials

Sometimes you will be first on the request list. Popular books may have a long waiting list. Don't worry. Anything worth having is worth the wait.

Library Film Studies Drought Impact

A four-year drought has brought pain and anger to the San Joaquin Valley. Not only are the solutions unclear, even the questions are hazy.

Jonathan Waltmire of the WoW! Library team is project director for a new video documentary, Reflections of a Drought: a film, which shows the issues through the words of people in Fresno County dealing with the drought’s effects. The film was shown at the Woodward Park, Selma, and Mendota branches of the Fresno County Public Library.

Jonathan Waltmire answered questions about the film
at its Woodward Park Library premiere showing.

Funded by a competitive California Humanities grant underwritten by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the California Documentary Project seeks to understand the people and history of the state. Waltmire and videographer/editor Steve Thao interviewed ten people, from civic officials to farmers to homeowners, cutting six hours of raw footage into a 21-minute exploration of how agriculture, communities, and the public are dealing with the lack of water.

Waltmire says his biggest challenge was “trying to find a story that was balanced between urban and rural. There’s something for everybody, farmers and city dwellers. We’re all in the same boat together.”


Sarge Green, interviewed in the film,
spoke at the Selma showing.

“Reflections of a Drought” can be seen on YouTube or at the end of this post. Future plans for the documentary include having DVD copies available for checkout at FCPL branches.

Waltmire’s goal for the project was to “foster discussion on how people can mitigate the effects of the drought.” What surprised him the most was “how complex water management in California is. There is no easy solution.”

Librarians Pop-Up on Groundhog Day

You never know where the WoW! Pop-Up Library will pop up...or when.


Fairwinds and fun reading.

On Groundhog Day, Kenny Abramowitz, Joanna Chase, and Terrance Mc Arthur set up a Pop-Up at the Fairwinds-Woodward Park retirement community in north Fresno, bringing more than 100 books and videos to peruse and check out.

What Is This?
People have questions about the Fresno County Public Library's Pop-Ups:

The WoW! Pop-Up packs a lot of library into a little space.

• Is this a book sale?--These are library books, DVDs, and CDs to check out. It's a mini library branch for lending books, not selling them.
• How do I return the books?--The Community Pop-Up Library goes to different places at different times, instead of on a schedule. Library materials may be returned to any of the public library branches in Fresno County, or as far away as Merced, Mariposa, and Bakersfield.
• Do I have to have a library card?-- Materials are checked out with a user's library card, and  WoW! processes new library cards on the spot. Cardholders who don't have their cards with them may check out with proper ID.

  

  Joanna makes a card at Fairwinds.

• What if I don't see what I want?-- The Pop-Up Library is a sampler of library services and materials. Each event helps our staff learn what people want, and the goal is to match the books to the people we meet: children's and parenting books at a school night, cookbooks for a gardening group.
• How can I request a Pop-Up Library near me?--The Pop-Up Request Form on this blog site is designed to help library service users sign up to have a pop-up at their location or event. Filing a request more than two weeks in advance increases the chances of WoW! staff being available. Back-to-School night, church potluck, or shopping center--the Wow! Pop-Up Library can be there!

TNT. Computers. WoW!

A TNT grant. Sounds explosive, doesn’t it?

It stands for Technology aNd Training, using technology products to provide information services to library patrons. The WoW! unit of the Fresno County Public Library is participating in a TNT grant, providing computer classes to rural communities, focusing on skills that would help adults in job-searching. Librarian-instructors and translators make it happen.

 

Monthly classes take place in Parlier and Firebaugh, communities with great needs for computer training and job-search help.  The venues used are non-library buildings (Parlier Youth Center and Firebaugh’s First Baptist Church), with morning and afternoon sessions. January's classes taught basic computer terms, mouse skills, and how and why to get an e-mail account; that set will be repeated in February. March is resume-writing, and April is on-line job-hunting techniques. The resume and job-hunting classes repeat in May and June.

The WoW!-mobiles contain the supplies for a pop-up classroom, with laptop computers, projection equipment for visual presentations, and other needful things. Translation is provided for Spanish-speakers by Sonia Bautista and Carlos Estrada of the FCPL staff. After January's first sets of classes, a dozen adult students left with their own e-mail accounts that they could use for communicating with friends, shopping online, and filling out job applications. Information literacy--being able to use computers with confidence and without fear--is a major need for people in the 21^st century. According to Shannon Morrison, one of the teachers, class members “enhanced a skill they might not have had otherwise.”

If you are interested in building your skills at these classes, contact the Firebaugh branch library at (599) 600-9274, the Parlier branch library at (559) 646-3835, or the WoW! Library unit at (559) 600-9699.

 

Girl Scout Expo

Take a thousand or so Girl Scouts, put them in one building, and what do you have?

FUN...at the Fresno Girl Scout Cookie Expo!

 

The Fresno County Public Library booth at the Cookie Expo was a busy place January 23rd at the Fresno Fairgrounds. Information about library resources, craft activities, and making new library cards were the order of the day.

 

Even with cookie tasting, inflatable obstacle courses, Star Wars Stormtroopers, Kopi Sotiropoulos, and other displays to get their attention, hundreds of Girl Scouts, leaders, and families from several counties of the Valley visited the FCPL booth. Eric Dunnicliff, Rita Leung, and WoW! staffers Joanna Chase and Terrance Mc Arthur helped Scouts with the craft and answered questions about library services.

 





Eric and Joanna,
waiting for the Expo to start.



Here come the Girl Scouts!



 







 

 

 

Bentley going to meet

his fans.

Bentley, the Library's popular mascot, made an appearance, greeting fans and posing for pictures. In the booth, Terrance told people about e-books and downloadable movies, Zinio online magazines, the Freegal music service, and Beanstack. All these FREE services excited leaders and parents, who carried off flyers and bookmarks filled with information.



The Girl Scouts decorated cut-out leaves with what they liked most about the library. more than 150 participated. The leaves will be part of a display at the Central Library in February. For helping to create the display, each Girl Scout received a patch with Bentley's picture stitched into it.







Girl Scout-decorated leaves,
ready for display at the Central Library.



The Library Patch for Girl Scouts,
Bentley-approved.

It was a lively event, with lots to see and do. Next to the FCPL booth, a radio station challenged people to hit a golf ball into a putting cup. Costumed members of the 501st (the local Star Wars re-enactors chapter) swung light sabers as onlookers oohed and ahhed.




   

Rita putts at the
booth next door.

Terrance learns a lesson:
never jostle a Jedi.

It was a good day for Girl Scouts, families, cookies, fun, and learning about the library. 

 



Music to Your Ears

Music--great music--is part of our lives, but it can cost you...unless you can find a way to get it free and legal.

Enter the Fresno County Public Library and Freegal.

The library subscribes to databases and online services to make them freely available to the public. Freegal's catalogue of over 8,000,000 songs and 15,000 music videos is ready to be streamed or downloaded to a mobile device or a home computer.

The collection can be searched by song title, artist, album, or genre. Library card holders can download three songs for personal use a week and stream three hours of FREE listening pleasure per week. Everything from classic performers...

 

 to current hitmakers...

 

 to one-hit wonders...

 to unique kinds of music...

are all ready to be heard.

A month of downloads can give you all the songs on a great album that you can put on a CD or store on a device, or make up a set of your favorite tunes to set a mood while you work or study. The music is for non-commercial use only, to play for small groups of friends or listen on your own.

Freegal is one of the ways the FCPL tries to meet the needs of Fresno County and its people. Give it a listen.

The Betty Rodriguez Regional Library--It's Open!

The Betty Rodriguez Regional Library opened Saturday, January 9, and team members from WoW! lent a hand. Amid speeches, music, refreshments, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony, dignitaries and the public stepped through the doors of the new library building for the first time.

Wow! staffers Joanna Chase, Jonathan Waltmire, Kenny Abramowitz, and Terrance Mc Arthur conducted tours, assisted with computers, gave directions, helped performers, located materials, signed customers up for new library cards,  and introduced people who should get to know each other.

Kenny and Terrance, together again.

 

To showcase the capabilities of the new Innovation Lab, experts made objects with the 3-D printer from "Star Wars" characters to a wrist brace. The lab will be a place for robotics activities, sewing, and building product prototypes.
In the fifty-person-capacity meeting room, local vintage string jazz band Scats on the Sly had the crowd dancing to its infectious rhythms of the 20's and 30's.

In the library's main area, a colorful, neon-like portrait of the group looked down on the crowds of library-goers.


After the band, the E&M Reptile Family thrilled and chilled children and the young-at-heart with bugs, amphibians, lizards, and snakes.

The Betty Rodriguez Regional Library, at 3040 N. Cedar Avenue (southeast of the Cedar/Shields intersection), housed in a former Fresh 'n Easy building, boasts more than twice the space of the old Cedar-Clinton branch. The area near McLane High School now has a state-of-the-art library that will serve the community for years to come.