Tag: gilroy library

Gilroy Library was selected among four local libraries added as early voting sites for the June primary elections.

Saturday Oct. 13, from 2 to 4 p.m., Gilroy voters have the chance to ask those running for mayor and City Council tough questions at a public forum at the Gilroy Library. 

Gilroy police, City Council, and library staff have teamed up to tackle the problem of raucous teens defiling the brand-new $34 million library building, promising the community that the issue will be reined in before the summer's end.

With the warmer days, a walk at Christmas Hill Park is always welcome and standing there near where the Gilroy dog park should be, refusing to give in to being imprisoned and ignored, is the grand old Red Barn. It’s an iconic nod to the past, home to roosting pigeons, stray cats, and a symbol for government inaction. Wouldn’t it be cool if the city, the historical society and the Garlic Festival worked together on a plan to restore it? Summer movies in the barn for kids, home to the Gigantic Garlic Mercantile during the fest, composting demonstrations ... I don’t know what could go on there – children’s plays,  a revived barn dance? What I do know is that putting a chain link fence around the place and doing nothing for years, makes a whole lot of no sense.

It seemed clear even 15 years ago that the community of Gilroy would need a new library. The 12,500 square foot Gilroy Library opened its doors in 1975 with a collection of 57,000 items to serve a population of less than 15,000 people.

After being physically estranged for the past 20 years, the Reading Program – Santa Clara County’s largest literacy initiative and “prodigal son” of the Gilroy Library – is celebrating its spacious new office on the first floor of the library building.

After years of hearing “shhh!” at the Gilroy Library, teens can now be teens. In the old and interim library building, boisterous teens would often get hushed by older patrons, and sometimes even asked to leave by staff.

Wow! Toured the new Gilroy Library this week and it’s a knock-your-socks-off facility. Impressive on many levels. In scouting college campuses with the three daughters over time, the importance of a library as a college community indicator became clear. It’s a functional showpiece that has to integrate design aesthetics with purpose. There’s a feel that goes along with the functionality and the new Gilroy library’s got it. It’s airy, it’s pleasing, it has meeting rooms and rooms for tech classes and a children’s story room with a padded carpet and a pull-down projection screen. There are places to study or read with broad street views and an expansive area for teaching reading along with good space for the Friends of the Library to store and sell donated books. Mark your calendar for a grand opening celebration on Saturday, April 28 … this is truly a fine public use addition that will serve the community for many years to come. The grassroots committee that supported the bond effort to get it built, the Gilroy City Council, the city staff and Santa Clara County Librarians have really accomplished something.