Tag: lani yoshimura

In every community there are unsung heroes, individuals that offer their service, commitment and dedication, time and again. The many roles Isabel Jewell has...

Nothing can compare to browsing in a quiet space, surrounded by thousands of books, magazines, newspapers and other material in shelves that stand nearly...

By Kimberly Ewertz Lani Yoshimura steps down from her role as Gilroy Community Librarian on Aug. 23, yet her ties to the community will never...

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.

More than 6,000 people passed through the new library’s doors during its grand opening on Saturday, gaping at its size and beauty, and enjoying its services for the first time.

If libraries are in fact, “a healing place of the soul” – as the axiom inscribed above the entrance to a library in Thebes, Ancient Greece aptly declares – Gilroy’s brand-new library is one powerful elixir.

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.

Gilroy's brand-new library will open for the first time to the public on Saturday. It will be an historic celebration no Gilroyan should miss!

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.