Calendar

In this class you will learn how to interview with confidence so that you get the job you really want!  Topics will include how to get an interview with your top picks, building your self esteem, find out what employers want to see an employee, having the right attitude, practice interview questions including the hard ones, and interview preparation with exercise and eating well.

For 25 years, presenter Mangala Meridian has had a dual career as both Legal Secretary and Adult Education Instructor of vocational and job search skills, including teaching adults with disabilities.

If you have never used a computer keyboard or a mouse, volunteers are available to help acquaint you with these basic skills.

Family Storytime

Join us as we read, sing and play together. Fun for the entire family from infants to grandparents.

Born in Berkeley, California, artist and photographer Ronald Hirano, a Deaf Nisei, was "adopted" by Miss Delight Rice, who founded the Philippine School for the Deaf in 1907, when his entire family was interned to relocation camps with 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. This exhibition of his works includes photography, linoleum-engraved and designed covers of the California News (the newspaper from the California School for the Deaf), linoleum-engraved cards and pen and ink cards.

There will be a lecture by Ronald Hirano and a reception.

Are you a fiction reader looking for a good book to read? With all of the millions of books out there, how can you find one you will enjoy? Do you prefer short stories to novels? Mystery to science fiction? Whatever your preferences, you can learn how to easily find books that you are sure to love. Among the long list of the library’s online databases, there are several geared to finding fiction books based on your reading interests.

Bilingual Storytime

Families, come join us for songs, rhymes and more in Spanish and English!

Russian book club, literary discussion and/or poetry recital.

Learn about popular mystery writers from different Scandinavian countries. The teacher will discuss popular detective series like Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallender and Arnaldur Indrioason's  Detective Erlendur;  show patrons how to search for books in this genre in SFPL’s catalog and databases like Bookbrowse, Fiction Connection and Novelist; and provide hands-on exercises. The class will also talk about a couple of crime fiction awards, including the Glass Key award for the best Nordic crime novel.

The Typewriter (In The 21st Century) is a film about a machine and the people who use, love, and repair it.

The film features 30+ interviews in 10 U.S. states with Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning authors Robert Caro and David McCullough, collectors, repairmen, artists, musicians, inventors, and bloggers from The Typosphere - an online gathering place for typewriter enthusiasts.

The film was inspired by a May, 2010 article in Wired magazine called “Meet The Last Generation of Typewriter Repairman.” Director Christopher Lockett and Producer Gary Nicholson discussed the importance of the typewriter in 20th Century literature. The conclusion being that every great novel of the 20th Century was written on one, and if typewriters are in their final days, they deserved to be celebrated one last time.

It only took a few interviews to determine that the typewriter and its legion of fans is far from dead. By the time the “Last Typewriter Factory Closes Its Doors” article went viral in April of 2011, Lockett and Nicholson were not only already making the film, they were convinced they had a much bigger story on their hands. They did.

Funded largely through Kickstarter, the film eventually featured not only typewriter people – the aforementioned technicians, collectors, bloggers, users and fans – but famous typewriters as well. The film features machines once owned by Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, Jack London, Sylvia Plath, George Bernard Shaw, John Lennon, Joe DiMaggio, Helen Keller, The Unabomber, John Updike, Ray Bradbury and Ernie Pyle.

Find out more about the film at http://typewritermovie.com/the-film/

Poetry in schools

Homework Help

For Children of all ages.

Computers with Internet connection are available for independent work creating or updating your resume, preparing job applications and/or searching online for jobs.

Handouts, books and some staff assistance are available during drop in hours. Bring a flash drive to store your work. Be considerate and share computer space with others.

Get the job you want! Come learn how to write a résumé or improve your existing résumé with lots of tips and advice from experienced résumé consultants. An overview presentation will be followed by time for individual consultations.

Family Storytime

Join us as we read, sing and play together.  Fun for the entire family from infants to grandparents.

Come get help with setting up email accounts, word processing and other basic computer related tasks. 

Join us when Josh Kornbluth performs "Haiku Tunnel.” This story recounts the neurotic misadventures of a terrific temp ("Josh") who always becomes a terrible "perm” when he is hired by a sinister law firm, Schuyler & Mitchell (S&M) as the secretary to Bob Shelby, a highly intimidating tax attorney who Josh comes to suspect may be Satan.  A book sale & signing follows the event.

Related exhibition: On the Clock: A Playful Guide to Working Life Selections from the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor Main Library, Skylight Gallery, April 1 – May 31.

Toddler Tales

Books, rhymes, music, movement and more for toddlers 18 to 36 months and their caregivers.

Opera Guild preview lectures are scheduled in communities throughout the greater Bay Area by local Guild chapters. Each preview features a renowned musicologist who may use recordings and/or handouts to familiarize the audience with repertoire from the current season.

Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach

Speaker: Timothy Flynn

Weekly meditation sessions open to all. Meditation will be guided with periods of silence. 20 - 30 minutes followed by some time for discussion.

Come to our drop-in computer help class!

This class is geared towards individuals with intermediate-level computer and internet questions!

The title for this month is Nadar Desnudas by Carla Guelfenbein.

Spanish language book club.

Club de lectores en español moderado por Chelis López, periodista y locutora de KPOO en el programa Pájaro Latinoamericano.
El ultimo miércoles de cada mes, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Sala Paley, 3ª planta, Biblioteca Central.

Computer classes in Spanish.

Learn the basics about computers, email and Internet.

May 30 - All May long, SFPL is having a Michael Moore-a-thon during Thursdays @ Noon!

Sicko

(2007, 123 minutes)

A documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories. As the Affordable Care Act has passed into law, this film still remains highly informative and relevant.

Baby Rhyme Time

Rollicking rhymes, songs and books for infants to 18 months and their caregivers.

Come and join other visually impaired and blind people for a yoga session developed by instructor Nancy Yates with you in mind. The class is every Thursday from 6 to 7:30 pm in the Library for the Blind and Print Disabled. Perfect for Seniors or beginners who want to move in a quiet, safe and purposeful way. We will infuse positive energy as we ease into stretching, balancing, flexibility and strengthening postures that open our lungs, neck, shoulders arms, hips and especially our Hearts.

To learn how to use iPad, its features, Chinese input methods, search Apps in English and Chinese, etc.

If you have never used a computer keyboard or a mouse, volunteers are available to help acquaint you with these basic skills.

Family Storytime

Join us as we read, sing and play together. Fun for the entire family from infants to grandparents.

Bilingual Storytime

Families, come join us for songs, rhymes and more in Spanish and English!

Learn to make beautiful origami flowers to celebrate spring. All materials provided. No experience necessary.

Join us for crafting in the Art, Music and Recreation Center on the first Saturday of each month.  Space limited to 12 people.

Boswick Turnstyle the Clown!"

Come see the wonderful Boswick! 

Summer Reading Begins!

Over 400 years old, the Hamamatsu Festival is a celebration held each year in the town of Hamamatsu, Japan, from May 3 to May 5. Local towns which participate in the kite battles and float parades of the festival create cotton banners, called tenugui, with unique designs and colors that act as logos to help spectators identify the different groups competing. The library will be presenting over 100 of these tenugui cloths, along with the history of one of Japan’s most prominent events.

During the 1960s and 1970s San Francisco photographer Phiz Mezey photographed some of the significant events in the City's history.  This exhibit takes the viewer on a tour of San Francisco during this time. Highlights include the redevelopment of Western Addition, the San Francisco State Strike, personalities such as Martin Luther King Jr., Jimi Hendrix, James Baldwin and others.

Related programs:
Sunday March 3: Meet the artist Phiz Mezey, Main Library, Latino Hispanic Community Room, 1:00;
Thursday April 11 The Fillmore, Film and Discussion, Main Library, Koret, 5:30.

A photo exhibit of contemporary China, highlighting a new wave of cultural reforms bringing greater creativity in the arts, literature and design, along with innovations in technology and new safeguards for China’s cultural heritage. From the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco.

Works for Me: Diligence and Drudgery, with Some Distractions,  a book cover display  in  General Collections on the third floor of the Main Library.

California Dreaming: poems from California poets selected by Library staff.    
Join us for an exhibition of poems by California poets, lining the atrium on the third floor of the Main Library.  The 15 poems were selected by Library staff and represent some of our favorite poetry.  The exhibit will be up from April 1 (National Poetry Month) to December 1, 2013.  The poets are both well-known (Alejandro Murguia and Al Young) and new to the scene (Stewart Shaw and Monica Xu).  We're sure you will find something to love in this exhibit. 

Make your next trip to the Library a literary one with these wonderful poets.

The Library's annual wit & humor exhibition examines the subject of work. Most of our lives are taken up with searching for and keeping a job; how about finding a job that we love? This exhibition draws on the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor to find the the lighter side of employment: a completely silly guide to working life. 

RELATED EXHIBITION & DISPLAY

April 1-May 31: S.S. Adams, the Edison of Practical Jokes.           Exhibition, Government Information Center, 5th Floor

April 1-May 31: Works for Me: Diligence and Drudgery, With Some Distractions. A book cover display, General Collections & Humanities, 3rd Floor

RELATED PROGRAMS

April 3: Elect to Laugh: An Evening with Political Satirist Will Durst.      Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 6:30pm

May 28: Josh Kornbluth presents Haiku Tunnel. Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 6:00pm

Thursdays at Noon (Large Screen Videos)
On the Clock: Films About Jobs and Working Life. Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 12 noon

April 4: High Fidelity
April 11: Trading Places
April 18: Up in the Air
April 25: The Associate

All films are shown with captions when possible to assist our deaf and hard of hearing. All program at the Library are free.

Images: Harold Lloyd, Master Comedian by Jeffrey Vance and Suzanne Lloyd (2002); all others courtesy San Francisco History Center, SFPL.

The San Francisco Public Library presents S.S. Adams, the Edison of Practical Jokes. This exhibit is a collection of patents from, professional prankster, Soren S. Adams. The exhibition opens April 1st and continues through May 31st, on the fifth Floor of the Main Library.

S.S. Adams went from humble origins to inventing many of the famous practical jokes including the joy buzzer, sneezing powder, and the dribble glass. Soren Sorenson Adams was a first generation immigrant from Denmark. While working for a dye company in 1904, he realized that derivative of one of the dyes caused people to sneeze. He decided to market this product as “Sneezing Powder” to use to prank unsuspecting groups of people. He patented a delivery method and started the Cachoo Sneeze Powder Company. It proved to be very popular, though controversial.

Later, he expanded his product line, inventing new gags, and renamed it to the SS Adams Company. In 1909, he invented the dribble glass, a drinking glass with minute holes in it causing water to drip on the victim. In the 1930s, he patented both the Joy Buzzer, a handheld device that imitates a shock, and a gag that involved snakes shooting out of a can. Soren S. Adams continued to invent new products through to the 1950s. 

Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth are San Francisco artists who often collaborate in addition to their solo careers. Their most recent work together is a triptych of tapestries inspired by the Unicorn Tapestries and structured on the three fundamental conflicts in literature - Human vs Nature, Human vs Him/Herself, and Human vs Human. The first tapestry, Allegory of the Monoceros, illustrates the end of Darwinian natural selection and the growth of human-centric evolution. The second, Allegory of the Infinite Mortal, portrays a garden for contemplation of the scientific and philosophical structures humans have used throughout history to explore the concepts of infinity and immortality and our place therein. The third tapestry was created during their fellowship at the de Young Museum and explores how cooperation and conflict have shaped human evolution. Each tapestry began with extensive research at the San Francisco Public Library.

Born in Berkeley, California, artist and photographer Ronald Hirano, a Deaf Nisei, was "adopted" by Miss Delight Rice, who founded the Philippine School for the Deaf in 1907, when his entire family was interned to relocation camps with 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.

This exhibition of his works includes photography, linoleum-engraved and designed covers of the California News (the newspaper from the California School for the Deaf), linoleum-engraved cards and pen and ink cards.

From the first obscure titles published by a feminist publishing cooperative in the 1970s through to titles published in last year, Randall Tarpey-Schwed brings to the San Francisco Public Library his unique collection of books that portray gay or lesbian parents. Here is the opportunity to view over seventy books which illustrate how this unique genre evolved despite political controversy. The exhibition also shows how society’s view of the LGBT community has changed.

Related Event: Book talk and discussion with Randall Tarpey-Schwed

Tuesday, May 14
6 PM
Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room, Lower Level

Step to Poetry is a colorful literary art installation on the Main Library's staircase written by WritersCorps youth. The youth, who range in age from 12 to 19, attend an afterschool workshop run by WritersCorps at the Main Library. The installation will be on view from May 10 through June 10, and consists of nine brief poems about popular culture.

A launch event will take place on Friday, May 17 at 6 pm, featuring a stair crawl from the first to fifth floors with WritersCorps youth performing their poems along the way. Space is limited and an RSVP to the event is required as the event takes place after library hours. Contact hello@writerscorps.org or (415) 252-2546.

Afro-Futurism:  Envisioning the Year 2070 and Beyond uses art to create a future for us to aspire to.  It comes from an African American perspective.  Runaway slave and heroine Harriet Tubman once said, "I freed a thousand slaves; I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."  

Over 100 years later, writer James Baldwin praised Black revolutionaries for daring to break down barriers.  He wrote in a 1970 letter to activist Angela Davis:  "The enormous revolution in black consciousness which has occurred in your generation, my dear sister, means the beginning or the end of America. Some of us, white and Black, know how great a price has been paid to bring into existence a new consciousness, a new people, an unprecedented nation." 

What will be the Black consciousness in the year 2070, one hundred years after James Baldwin's letter?  

Curated by  Kheven LaGrone

Contributing Artist:

James Phillip Anderson

Nyame O. Brown

James M. Kennedy

Ajuan Mance

Karen Oyekanmi

Sara Marie Prada

Michael Ross

Malik Senefru

Safety First ©

Tomyé

Related Event: In commemoration of Juneteenth, an artists reception/talk will take place on Sunday, June 16, 2013

Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium, 2 PM

In this Year of the Bay, San Francisco is all about what happens in and on its eponymous  waters.  From the 150th anniversary of the Port to the arrival of the America's Cup races this summer, this exhibit celebrates all things aquatic in San Francisco history: its vibrant shipping and fishing industries, its recreational swimming and boating clubs, and other aspects of San Franciscan life as defined by the City's relationship to its watery location.

Sponsored by the San Francisco History Center