Your Online Library

Posted by on 26 March 20

Due to the County’s Shelter-in-Place order we’re working hard to offer as many online programs and services for all ages until we see you again in our libraries. Please check out our most recent newsletter Your Online Library.

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¡Sobreviviendo al estar con los Niños en Casa!

Posted by Aaron on 25 March 20

¡Hola Niños!  

¿Es super aburrido estar en casa? ¿Los adultos les dicen que ya dejen la computadora o la tableta? Aquí hay algunas ideas de cómo puedes encontrar cosas que hacer, incluso si estás atrapado en casa.  Si bien algunas de estas ofertas son digitales, intenta mezclarlas! 

A Moverse   ¡Enciende tu música favorita y ponte a bailar! Invita a los adultos a bailar también.  Ten una fiesta de baile familiar.  Camina al rededor del vecindario con precaución. ¡Un poco de sol convertirá el gris de tu cielos , en cielos azules! Volvamos a los tiempos de antes donde no tenían nada de tecnologia  digital. Pregunta a los adultos que juegos jugaban de niños como el Yax, Carteritas, Lotería, Saltar la Cuerda, La Cebollitas, o un Trabalenguas. 

Encuentre la Calma en este enlace, Insight Timer has meditations and meditation music just for kids.  Si todavía no puede calmar su mente?  Practique la respiración profunda—pero no detenga la respiración.  ¡Haz algunas repeticiones y mira cuánto mejor te sientes! 

¡Canta!  Después de moverse y meditar, cantar es otra de esas cosas que tiene tantos beneficios, ¡como elevar tu estado de ánimo! ¿Y adivina qué? Las prácticas de respiración de Find Some Calm van a dar fruto.  La gente cantaba mucho antes del karaoke, ¡y tú también puedes! 
¡Puntos extra por aprenderte una canción que un  adulto en casa cantaba de niño! ¡Les  recomendamos  cantar junto con su familia! 

Visita el Zoológico   El  San Diego Zoo, el Georgia Aquarium Y el Monterey Bay Aquarium  están ofreciendo vistas en vivo por la cámara web de pandas, pingüinos y ballenas Beluga. 

Piensa Creativamente:  The Bay Area Discovery Museum https://bayareadiscoverymuseum.org/bringing-badm-to-you is coming to you.  It’s fun! It’s open-ended!  Awaken your inner engineer/scientist/artist! Tap into your creativity! 

¡Hagamos Arte! Incluso si piensas que no tienes materiales para hacer algo de arte.   Mira a tu alrededor y elabora esculturas con todo lo que veas: calcetines, peluches, envases desechados, gomas, correo basura y objetos para reciclar. No hay una manera incorrecta de hacer esto, pero, por favor, ¡díselo a un adulto primero, para que no tomes algo que se necesita en la casa! Haga clic en este enlace: https://theartofeducation.edu/2017/10/17/found-object-sculpture-choice-based-space/  

Utiliza la Biblioteca Digital 
¡Visite nuestra página de Niños para ver nuestros recursos electrónicos, incluidos libros electrónicos y audio, cuentos digitales, una lista de juegos aprobados por bibliotecarios y mucho más! https://srpubliclibrary.org/kids/ 

Surviving Staying at Home for Kids!

Posted by Aaron on 23 March 20

¡SOBREVIVIENDO AL ESTAR CON LOS NIÑOS EN CASA!

Hey Kiddos!  

Is staying at home getting booorrrriiiinnnnggg? Are your adults telling you to get off the computer or tablet??  Here are some ideas of how you can find things to do even if you are stuck at home.  While some of these offerings are digital, try to mix it up!   

Get Moving to change your blahs into some serious bounce!  Turn on your favorite music, and dance!  Get your adults in on the action too.  Have a family dance party! Or head out for a walk around the neighborhood, an open park, or trail.  A little sunshine will turn your blues into blue skies! Go non-digital: get into play from the old days!  Ask an adult about games they played as kids, like Simon Says, jump rope, or hopscotch. 

Find Some Calm  Insight Timer has meditations and meditation music just for kids.  Still can’t quiet that monkey mind?  Practice taking slow deep breathes in and out—but don’t hold your breath.  Do a few rounds and see how much better you feel! 

Sing!  After moving and meditating, singing is another one of those things that has so many benefits—like upping your mood! And guess what? All that breathing practice from Find Some Calm is going to pay off as you hold those notes.  People were singing way before karaoke, and you can too!  Extra points for learning a song from the adult in your house from when they were a kid!  Singing together with your family is highly encouraged! 

Go to the Zoo:  The San Diego Zoo, the Georgia Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium are offering live webcam viewings of pandas, penguins and beluga whales. 

Think Creatively:  The Bay Area Discovery Museum is coming to you.  It’s fun! It’s open-ended!  Awaken your inner engineer/scientist/artist! Tap into your creativity! 

Make Some Art! Even if you aren’t stocked up on art supplies, art is all around you waiting to happen.  Look around, and make sculptures with anything you see: dirty socks, stuffed animals, discarded packaging, rubber bands, junk mail! There’s no wrong way to do this—but please, tell your adult first, so you don’t take something that they need!
Check out:

The Art of Education.

Make Use of your Digital Library:  Go to our Kids’ page to see our e-resources including E-Books and Audio, digital storytimes, a vetted list of librarian approved games, and more!

Join the Online Book Club!

Posted by on 23 March 20

The San Rafael Public Library Joins Libraries Worldwide in Largest Digital Book Club Engaging and informative “Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic.” E-book and audiobook are now available for reading and global discussion. – Thursday, March 23, 2020-April 13, 2020 

San Rafael Public Library patrons can join thousands of readers around the world in laughter and learning during Big Library Read, the world’s largest digital book club. From March 23–April 13. 

Booklovers can enjoy stand-up comic Michael McCreary’s hilarious yet insightful memoir, Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic, from their public library as an ebook or audiobook with no waitlists or holds! San Rafael Public Library readers can join by visiting https://marinet.overdrive.com/ or downloading the Libby app https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/, then discussing online at https://biglibraryread.com/join-the-discussion/.  

Big Library Read is available in over 22,000 libraries and schools around the world, including more than 90 percent of public libraries in North America. It is facilitated by Rakuten OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for popular ebooks, audiobooks and magazines.  

Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic is stand-up comic Michael McCreary’s memoir in which he points out that autism “looks” different for just about everyone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Diagnosed with ASD at age five, McCreary got hit with the performance bug not much later. During a difficult time in junior high, he started journaling, eventually turning his pain into something empowering—and funny. This unique and hilarious #OwnVoices memoir breaks down what it’s like to live with autism for readers on and off the spectrum. Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic is an invaluable and compelling read for young readers with ASD looking for voices to relate to, as well as for readers hoping to broaden their understanding of ASD.  

Big Library Read is an international reading program that simultaneously connects millions of readers around the world with an ebook through public libraries. Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic is the 21st selection of this program which began in 2013 and takes place three times per year. Readers can join an online discussion about the book at https://biglibraryread.com/join-the-discussion/. The free program runs for two weeks and only requires a library card from a Marin County public library to get started.  

Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic was published by Annick Press and can be read on all major computers and devices through Libby, including iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phones and tablets and Chromebook™ without waitlists or holds. Through Libby, readers can also “send to Kindle®” [US libraries only]. The title will automatically expire at the end of the lending period, and there are no late fees.  

Hope you can join us! 

Storytime Online

Posted by on 20 March 20

We are doing live storytimes on our Facebook page! Join us on our Facebook page on Thursdays at 10:30am to see your favorite librarians at storytime!

Online Storytime YouTube Channel

The library may be closed, but we still want to share stories, songs, rhymes, and movement with you. We are excited to offer online storytimes during this time of social distancing. Enjoy storytimes by your favorite San Rafael Public Library staffers while we’re all sheltering in place. Check out our Storytime YouTube playlist. We will continue to update it with new storytimes in both English and Spanish!

Additionally, we have an Early Literacy YouTube playlist with tips and activities for your child, birth to 5 years of age.

We miss our storytime families and can’t wait until we see each other again at the library. In the meantime we hope seeing some familiar library faces provide some comfort and normalcy for your kiddos during these strange times.

For information and updates on COVID-19 and how to keep you and your loved ones safe, visit the Marin Health and Human Services website.

Things to do Online while Social Distancing 

Posted by on 19 March 20

The following is a list of online recreational activities that you can do in your home while practicing social distancing. A few suggestions require a local library card and a PIN to access. If you do not have a library card, visit the library’s Services page https://srpubliclibrary.org/services/ to obtain an electronic library card which provides online access to the library’s digital resources. If you have a library card, but have forgotten your PIN please use this link to reset your PIN https://marinet.lib.ca.us/screens/help_pins.html 

We hope that these ideas will make your time at home more enjoyable. 

Cook: Use the food you have on hand by matching the ingredients to recipes available online. Apps such as FridgeToTable, Epicurious, Big Oven, and AllRecipes, allow you to search by ingredient name in order  to create delicious meals. 

Find your Roots: Genealogical research is the perfect activity for when you’re home and feeling disconnected from people. Cyndi’s List (cyndislist.com)  is a great place to find resources for tracing your family history. Start with the section for beginners or go directly to one of the thousands of other categories that Cyndi provides.  

Fine Arts: Head to a virtual museum – many museums won’t be open to the public for an in-person visit, but why let that stop a good dose of culture and history when you can make a virtual visit? 

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, National Gallery of Art and the Guggenheim Museum’s virtual galleries offer plenty of opportunities to see and experience the magic that museums have. International museums such as the Louvre, the Vatican Museum  and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris also offer virtual tours.﷟HYPERLINK “https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris?hl=en” 

Google has a rich library of information and images from over 1200 museums click on this link to explore Google Arts & Culture 

Go to the Zoo:  The San Diego Zoo, the Georgia Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium are offering live webcam viewings of pandas, penguins and beluga whales. 

Learn a language: Take advantage of your local library’s language learning program. The local San Rafael Public Library offers  Mango Languages which will help you to get started in over 70 languages. All you need is a library card. Another good free app is Duolingo. 

Listen: The Metropolitan Opera is offering free streaming of a different opera every night while they are closed at https://www.metopera.org 

You can stream music without downloading for free by using sites such as Pandora, Spotify, You Tube Music, Slacker Radio, Jango, Musixhub, My Space, iHeart Radio, Deezer, and Soundcloud. 

Play:  You don’t have to be over 65 in order to enjoy the free games that are available on AARP’s website https://games.aarp.org 

Read:  If you haven’t tried to use one of the library’s electronic book or magazine platforms, then you’re in for a treat. Go to the library’s homepage and select the ebook tab for a variety of free ebook choices (https://srpubliclibrary.org/ebooks/) The Libby/Overdrive platform has the largest number of selections in audio and in print, while Hoopla also includes streaming videos and music. You can read entire issues of magazines on your computer, smartphone, or tablet using the RBDigital database which is under the eresources tab (https://srpubliclibrary.org/research/). All you need is your library card numbern and a PIN. 

To do:  Tackle some of those minor repairs and home improvement projects that you’ve been putting off- use that leftover paint you’ve been keeping for touch-ups, tighten those loose screws, etc. Need help? Besides the thousands of YouTube videos that helpful homemakers and handypersons have posted, many do it yourself magazines such as This Old House (thisoldhouse.com) and Family Handyman (familyhandyman.com) have free articles available online. 

Travel: Plan for a future trip. Don’t want to fly for a while? No problem. Plan a future road trip with Roadtrippers.com, which helps you find quirky roadside destinations sorted by categories like “abandoned places,” “swimming holes,” “vegetarian restaurants,” and dozens more. Nasa (www.nasa.gov)  and the National Park Service (www.nps.gov) offer virtual tours and videos so that you can travel vicariously. 

Write: Take time to write a heartfelt letter to a loved one or a friend. Consider making your own hand-decorated card or notepaper to make it extra-special. Who doesn’t like getting “snail-mail” that isn’t bills or advertising? Enhance your letters with poems from websites such as Poets.org or Poetryfoundation.org and learn how to make unique cards by googling the phrase “handmade cards” (you will find thousands of inspiring examples). 

BIBLIOTECAS CERRADAS HASTA NUEVO AVISO

Posted by Aaron on 18 March 20

LIBRARIES CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Para ayudar a mitigar la propagación de COVID-19, todas las Bibliotecas públicas de la Ciudad de San Rafael, incluidas la Biblioteca del Centro, la Biblioteca Pickleweed y la Biblioteca del Centro Comercial Northgate, están cerradas.

Esto está de acuerdo con la medida que ordena a los residentes a refugiarse en sus casas durante tres semanas a partir del 17 de marzo. Puede leer más sobre este tema  aquí..

Esto es lo que se estamos llevando a cabo durante este periodo:

• Se están eliminando las multas  para todos los materiales mientras la biblioteca está cerrada y alentando a los usuarios a mantener sus artículos en casa.
• Estamos trabajando para extender las fechas de vencimiento de todos los artículos hasta que la biblioteca haya vuelto a abrir.
• Mantenemos todos los artículos “retenidos” en los estantes en sus ubicaciones actuales para que estén disponibles una vez que se vuelvan a abrir las bibliotecas.
• Estamos en el proceso de renovar todos los materiales de Link + hasta el 7 de abril. Si tiene preguntas sobre elementos específicos en su cuenta, puede comunicarse con nosotros a través de library@cityofsanrafael.org o nuestro chat  . Proporcione su número de tarjeta de biblioteca, nombre y apellido.
• Le recomendamos que se comunique con nosotros de forma remota para obtener asistencia personal utilizando nuestro chat que se encuentra en la parte inferior izquierda de nuestro sitio web durante el horario de atención.
• Estamos promoviendo nuestra amplia gama de materiales digitales y servicios en línea desde casa, que incluyen: libros electrónicos audiolibros, películas, revistas digitales y noticias;aprender mas acerca de .

Para obtener más  información y orientación más reciente del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos del Condado de Marin (Marin HHS), visite la página web de Coronavirus de Marin HHS: www.marinhhs.org/coronavirus.. También puede suscribirse para recibir actualizaciones por correo electrónico. Además, las personas pueden comunicarse con Marin HHS con preguntas no médicas sobre COVID-19 llamando a un centro de información específico al 415-473-7191 o por correo electrónico a: COVID-19@marincounty.org..

Libraries Closed Until Further Notice

Posted by on 17 March 20

BIBLIOTECAS CERRADAS HASTA NUEVO AVISO

THƯ VIỆN ĐÃ ĐÓNG CỬA ĐẾN KHI CÓ THÔNG BÁO THÊM

To help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, All San Rafael Public Libraries including the Downtown Library, the Pickleweed Library and the Northgate Mall Library, are closed.

This is in accordance with the order directing residents to shelter at home for three weeks beginning March 17. You can read more about this order here.

Here’s what we are currently doing in response:

• We are waiving library fines for all materials while the library is closed and encouraging patrons to keep their items at home.
• We are working to extend due dates for all items until the library has reopened.
• We are keeping all ‘hold’ items on the shelves in their current locations so they will be available once the libraries reopen.
• We are in the process of renewing all Link+ items until April 7. If you have questions about specific items on your account you can reach us via library@cityofsanrafael.org or our chat widget. Please provide your library card number and first and last name.
• We are encouraging you to contact us remotely for personal assistance using our chat widget that is located on the bottom left of our website during open hours.
• We are promoting our wide range of digital materials and online services from home, including: eBooks and audiobooks, streaming movies, digital magazines and news; Learn More

For the latest information and guidance from Marin County Health & Human Services (Marin HHS), please visit the Marin HHS Coronavirus webpage: www.marinhhs.org/coronavirus. You can also sign-up to receive updates by email. In addition, individuals can contact Marin HHS with non-medical COVID-19 questions by calling a dedicated information call center at 415-473-7191 or by email to: COVID-19@marincounty.org.

COVID-19 Update

Posted by on 14 March 20

Updated March 15, 2020

To help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, All San Rafael Public Libraries including the Downtown Library, the Pickleweed Library and the Northgate Mall Library, will be closed. 

March 15th, 2020 Press Release

For additional information please see the City’s COVID 19 (novel coronavirus) information and resources page.

Here’s what we are currently doing in response:

• We are waiving library fines for books due through the end of March and encouraging patrons to keep their books at home.
• We are extending due dates an extra 3 weeks for all materials due through April 4th.
• We are encouraging you to contact us remotely for personal assistance using our chat widget that is located on the bottom left of our website during open hours.
• We are promoting our wide range of digital materials and online services from home, including: eBooks and audiobooks, streaming movies, digital magazines and news; Learn More

For the latest information and guidance from Marin County Health & Human Services (Marin HHS), please visit the Marin HHS Coronavirus webpage: www.marinhhs.org/coronavirus. You can also sign-up to receive updates by email. In addition, individuals can contact Marin HHS with non-medical COVID-19 questions by calling a dedicated information call center at 415-473-7191 or by email to: COVID-19@marincounty.org.

The best way to reduce the risk of becoming infected is to practice good hygiene:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
• Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching your face.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash and wash your hands.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
• Get a flu shot to prevent flu, which has symptoms like novel coronavirus.

For any library-related questions, please contact library staff for assistance by phone at 415-485-3323, using the chat widget or by emailing us at library@cityofsanrafael.org.

Stay Healthy Marin

Posted by Aaron on 06 March 20

It’s a community effort! Help prevent the spread of germs and disease.
COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) information and resources