A.K. Smiley Public Library

Serving the City of Redlands, California since 1894

Because of the City of Redlands emergency measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus), The library will remain closed until further notice. eBooks and eDatabases are available and we are looking into other ways to continue to service the community. Read more about how Smiley Library is protecting the community from COVID-19.

News + Events

Blog

We Have a new blog site!

Here you will find periodic posts on library news and relevant topics by staff across Smiley Library departments: Adult Services, Adult Literacy, Young Readers’ Room, Heritage Room, Lincoln Memorial Shrine, Museum of Redlands, and more. Each week you will be treated to a new installment of the “What’s New at A.K. Smiley Public Library” column published in the Redlands Daily Facts newspaper. Written by our staff on a variety of newly acquired books by the Library, it is one of the longest-running columns currently published by the paper. Thank you for visiting, and please check back regularly!  You can visit the blog at https://blog.akspl.org.

Community Steps Up for Smiley Library

Demonstrating how important A.K. Smiley Public Library is to Redlands, dozens of members of the community pledged their own financial resources to save the Library from the most severe budget cuts in its 126-year history, raising $193,000 in two weeks.

“What an amazing testament to the people of our community who, rather than see drastic cuts in our Library’s hours and services, dug into their own pockets to keep it open” remarked Library Trustee Rosa Gomez. The gifts from the community, in concert with the entirety of the Library’s $126,000 reserve fund, make up the 2020 COVID-19 Emergency Fund needed to avoid many of the projected layoffs, if only for one year. “Fortunately the Library Board was able to cobble together additional reserve funds to contribute, but the challenge when you use one-time funds for recurring needs is that once they’re spent, they’re spent. We won’t be able to do this again next year,” Gomez continued.

“The Library hadn’t completely recovered from the cuts of the Great Recession, so the sudden 20% reduction from the City meant the loss of 16 positions and the elimination of 21 hours of service to the public,” commented Library Director Don McCue. “While this doesn’t fix everything for the upcoming year, it is a great help, allowing the Library to be open 48 hours a week instead of only thirty-five.”

“We’re confident that, as the City budget picture hopefully improves, the City Council will reaffirm its commitment to the Library by resuming the funding needed to preserve these important programs,” said Bill Hatfield, President of the Library’s Board of Trustees. “The Library is part of the soul of this community. When Albert Smiley gave the Library and park to the City of Redlands in 1898, it was with the expectation that it would be ‘faithfully and liberally sustained’ by the City. We, with the City Council, must continue to honor his vision and gift.”

Kanopy

 

Back by popular demand! Kanopy is a video streaming service offering more than 30,000 popular movies, documentaries, and educational videos from thousands of producers such as Criterion Collection, PBS, Great Courses, and more. Kanopy’s subdivision, Kanopy Kids, includes children’s programming. Just log in on the eLibrary tab with your library card to get started!

Books to Go

 

A.K. Smiley Public Library in Redlands is unveiling a new service, named Books to Go, in which any Library cardholder can request books, CDs, DVDs or magazines from the Library’s catalog either online (www.akspl.org), via email circ@akspl.org, or with a phone call (909) 798-7565. Staff will pull the material, bag it up, and contact the cardholder to make an appointment to pick up the material from a table which will be set up in front of the Vine Street entrance to the Library. The program will start on Monday, April 27 and continue until further notice.

You will need a valid AKSPL library card. Make sure your phone number and email address are current in our system.  Please note that some formats are not available for the Books to Go program.

Online Procedure:          

  • Go to our website, www.akspl.org.
  • Click on My Account / Search our Catalog.
  • Click on Log In.
  • Enter Library Card # and PIN (usually last four digits of phone number).
  • Search our Catalog, click on desired title. Please note that some formats are not available for   the Books to Go program.
  • Click on Place Hold. (Disregard 75 cent charge for placing hold)
  • Click on Place Hold(s).
  • Click on Ok.
  • Repeat steps for each additional desired item.

Email Procedure:

  • Search our Catalog online at www.akspl.org.
  • Email your desired titles to circ@akspl.org.
  • Please include your library card number, first name, last name, and phone number in your email.

Phone Procedure:

  • Search our Catalog online at www.akspl.org.
  • Call (909) 798-7565 and tell library staff which title(s) you desire.

A member of our staff will attempt to fulfill your selections and contact you to setup an appointment to pick up your requested materials.  Pick-up appointments are available during the following hours:

  • Monday & Tuesday: 11am – 7:10 pm
  • Wednesday & Thursday: 10am –5:10pm
  • Friday & Saturday: 10am – 4:10pm
  • Sunday: Closed

After you’ve been given an appointment, please park near the Library’s Vine Street Entrance.  Upon arrival, either call the Library at (909) 798-7565 or ring the temporary buzzer.  A Library staff member will need the cardholder’s name so the correct books can be placed on the table outside for them.  Please maintain social distancing and utilize appropriate face covering while picking up your material. Please continue to use the Library’s book drop to return material.

Thank you for utilizing our Books to Go program.

 

An Important Message from Your LIbrary

As many of you are aware, the Covid 19 pandemic and the resulting effect on our economy has caused a severe financial crisis for government on all levels. The city’s proposed budget was released to the public this week and it includes extremely severe cuts to the library. Because of previous cuts, 98.5% of the library’s budget is committed to personnel. Accordingly any cuts to the budget will require reductions to the library’s employees. The current proposal cuts the library’s budget by $535,000. More than a dozen employees will need to be laid off which in turn will require a reduction in our hours of service to the public from the current 56 to 35 per week. Unfortunately, this will severely restrict our ability to provide services to our patrons.

All of the services at the Smiley of which we are so justly proud: One-on-one Adult Literacy tutoring; access to public computers and WiFi; services to young readers and young adults; access to print and electronic collections; and access to the magnificent local historical research of the Heritage Room and Lincoln Memorial Shrine, will be negatively impacted.

We have relied increasingly in recent years on our Friends of the Library support organization to provide funding for the library’s books and programming. The service hours reductions will also hurt the Friends ability to sell donated and deaccessioned books in their bookstore.

The Library board and the Friends of the Library are working diligently to advocate for restoring at least some funding to the Library which would save positions and hours of service. The City Council will be holding a special budget meeting next Tuesday morning. Although the public cannot attend thanks to Covid 19, the city is accepting accepting email comments about priorities until 5 PM on Monday evening May 11. If you are concerned about these cuts to your library, please contact your elected officials. publiccomment@cityofredlands.org.

Don McCue Les Kong
Library Director Pres., Friends of Library