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A.K. Smiley Public Library

Serving the City of Redlands, California since 1894

Because of California's Regional Stay Home Order to slow the spread of COVID-19, in-person services are suspended until further notice. Books to Go, eLibrary, and Virtual Story Time 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

2020 U.S. Census

 

Census 2020: Every Voice Counts

The A.K. Smiley Public Library has partnered with the San Bernardino Area League of Women Voters to present an online Zoom workshop about the 2020 US Census. Join us on August 20 at 10am. Bring your questions and concerns. The workshop will be recorded and shared on the library’s Facebook page.

The state of California has only had a 65% response rate to the 2020 Census. The Census is more than a population count. It’s an opportunity to shape your community’s future. Census results determine how many seats each state gets in Congress. They are also used to improve communities by improving schools, emergency services, social services, freeways, roads and bridges.

Federal law keeps your census answers strictly confidential. You will not be asked about your citizenship status or political affiliation. Your answers can never be used against you in any way.

This virtual workshop will answer all your questions about the census. Register today!

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_n8orVGTqRvGkA2taVhp1iA

Resilient Redlands Webinar Series

A.K. Smiley Public LibraryIf you crave opportunities to learn during your time at home, partake in the “Resilient Redlands” webinar series that will focus on topics related to Redlands history and the collections of the Lincoln Memorial Shrine. Webinars will take place at 11am on the second and fourth Saturday of each month and will be led by the staff of A.K. Smiley Public Library and Lincoln Memorial Shrine. Please check each week to register for the upcoming presentation.

Upcoming Webinars

January 23 – “Redlands: The Town That Philanthropy Built”

Past Webinars

April 25 – “Intro to Redlands History”

May 2 – “From the Shrine’s Collections: Emancipation and Lincoln’s Letter to James Conkling”

May 9 – “The Great Crusade: Reflections on the 75th Anniversary of the End of World War II in Europe”

May 16 – “All Aboard for Redlands: How the Railroad Shaped Our Town”

May 23 – “From the Shrine’s Collections: The U.S. Sanitary Commission”

May 30 – “Redlands History in Motion: The Home Movie Preservation Project”

June 6 – “Reflections on D-Day and the Normandy Campaign”

June 13 – “From the Shrine’s Collections: Colonel Chapin and the 21st Connecticut Infantry”

June 27– “California Sunshine: Citrus Label Art of the Redlands District”

July 11 – “Grant’s First Great Victory: The Campaign for Forts Henry & Donelson”

July 25 – “Let’s Take a Walk Around the Block: A Brief Survey of Architecture in Redlands”

August 8 – “Hiroshima-Nagasaki: Reflections on the 75th Anniversary”

September 12 –“Booze, Brews, and Views: Redlands’s Uneasy Relationship with Spiritous Beverage”

September 26 – “Warriors & Patriots: Women of the Civil War”

October 10 – “Pure Gold Archives”

October 24 – “The Smiley Library Children’s Room Centennial: The Couple Behind the Gift”

November 14 – “Redlands and the Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1919”

December 12 –“The Smiley’s and Christmases Past”

January 9 –“The Civil War in Southern California”

Watch previous webinars on Smiley Library’s Facebook page and the Special Collections YouTube channel.

Zoom Backgrounds

As an added bonus, Smiley Library is offering historic views of Redlands as virtual backgrounds for your Zoom meetings. Find them here.

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!

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