As the San Benito County Free Library celebrated its 95th anniversary and National Library Week last week, Librarian Nora Conte said that there is a common thread that runs through the local history of libraries.
Carlos Munoz, a library staff member, created a mural that showed the history of libraries in the county that was displayed in the children’s area.
“Whether it was fiction or nonfiction, it started with folks telling legends and stories,” Conte said, pointing at images of Native Americans on the mural. “They wanted to be able to continue to have access to it.”
Stories started to be written down and Conte said an early church had a small library in the county. Reading rooms were established and later a Carnegie Library was built in the county. Conte said that access to books was important from the start, when a librarian would ride out on horse to deliver materials to residents.
“All through our history, access has always been the issue,” she said.
She likened the bookmobile, purchased in 2008-09, as the modern-day incarnation of that, with books being delivered to residents in the far reaches of the county or those without access to transportation.
“It’s a wonderful thing that as Americans, we have the right to know,” Conte said. “You can get information to make decisions.”
A timeline of the county and library history also adorns the glass windows of the offices. Conte said they are hoping to continue to add to the timeline as residents share information. The goal is to have a more comprehensive timeline by the time the library is ready to celebrate a centennial in five years. She said Hollister resident Joan Sattler helped with collecting the historical information about the library.
“We want to keep an oral history and a written record as we continue to go forward,” Conte said.
James Ghiorzi, who was manning the Barbara Memorial Room at the library with some tech demonstrations on April 12, explained the ways recent updates to technology have increased access for patrons of the library.
They changed to an open-source software for the library system, which saves money for the county. It also allows the staff to easily edit the software to fit their needs. One of the improvements they have made is with automatically charging visitors for printing. Previously, visitors would have to check in manually, print and then return to the desk to pay.
“It was creating a logistical nightmare,” Ghiorzi said, as the number of students using the library has increased since school libraries have closed down.
He said the library has signed on to the Guttenberg Project, which allows those with e-readers to borrow up to 36,000 books that are in the public domain.
Ghiorzi and Conte said the local library is also working with the Contra Costa Library system to become a member of the “Discover and Go” program. It is a program that allows residents to make reservations for a variety of museums and educational centers in the Bay Area. Ghiorzi said that 95 percent of the participating venues offer free admission passes through Discover and Go – others provide a discount. He said they are working on adding some San Benito venues to the list, such as the Historical Museum, the San Juan Mission and more.
“It could spur the local economy,” he said. “People will pay for gas food and souvenirs (when they visit.) It’s a great little program.”
The launch of the Discover and Go program will be announced at a later date, once the staff work out the details.
As part of the week-long celebration, the library hosted a CMAP workshop for teens as well as a movie night for children and teens. They also held a customer appreciation day that included volunteers and staff members dressed in period attire from 1917 and a display about the history of the library at the entrance to the library. They served cake, donated by San Benito Bakery, throughout the day and the Barbara Memorial Room was set up to allow guests to play video games, learn about Kindle e-readers and other technology. They held an appreciation for adult literacy tutors, a family story time with guest readers and an unveiling of a new logo.
The new logo features bright colors, including the blue color of Benitoite, the gem found only in the county. It has a book that opens up to reveal a rainbow and the words, “Inform, Inspire, Imagine” arched over the graphic. Conte said the library will launch the new logo in January, when they have used up their current supply of stationery with the older logo.
“It’s about knowledge for me,” Conte said. “Libraries inform, but not only do they inform. They inspire.”
