Community: Library friends ready to get busy
Elise Kalfayan plans to create a higher profile of the Friends of the Glendale Public Library in her second term as president.
Since 1990, the Friends have raised more than $750,000 in support of library services and materials. The group also promotes programs, volunteer activities and fundraising for the needs of all the branches in the Glendale community.
One of the priorities this year is increasing the donated book sales, Kalfayan said.
The Friends group plans to do more outreach to inform people of the monthly “dock sales” that are from 9 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month on the loading dock at the rear of Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St.
“We also will be promoting our Amazon.com page, where we sell online those high-value books that are donated to us,” she said.
The Friends will also concentrate on raising awareness of the Book Nook at the Central Library, where gently used books that are donated by the public are resold at prices ranging from 50 cents to $7. Most are in the $2-to-$3 range.
With more promotion in the community, Kalfayan hopes to move the inventory off the shelves more quickly, she said.
The Book Nook has more than 500 books that span the categories of nonfiction, inspirational, children’s books, popular fiction, history and recent text books.
There are bargain books that are sold on red-tag shelves at all Glendale branches and those are books that don’t necessarily merit room on the Book Nook shelves, but people might still be interested in buying. They range from 50 cents to $1.
The second thing the Friends will be concentrating on this year is updating the group’s website, Kalfayan said.
“Part of that is to make it easier for people to find information about our book sales because they are our fundraisers,” she said. “We also will be letting people know how to join the Friends as members and learn about our events.”
This past year the, the Friends sponsored more than 20 authors, artists and events. One of the more recent ones featured Mark Geragos and drew a large crowd.
Glendale artist’s oak painting honored
Jennifer Bentson of Glendale received second place in Best of Show at the San Fernando Valley Art Club Summer Exhibition continuing through Thursday at the Burbank Creative Arts Center Gallery, 1100 W. Clark Ave., Burbank.
Another Glendale resident, Candyce Wagner-Binzley, received an honorable mention for her painting titled “Giverny.”
Bentson’s painting, “13,000-Year-Old Oak Clings to Rocks”, is one in her series on significant oak trees throughout the state titled “California Oaks as Art.”
“It’s a Palmer oak, and it’s a 13,000-year clone. It reproduces itself,” she said. “I think it’s just one massive root system. It’s about 75 feet long by 20 feet wide. It’s on a mountain top in the Jurupa Mountains in Riverside.”
Another painting in the series is hanging in Swain’s Art Supply in Glendale. The oak tree depicted is a sibling to one of Glendale’s most significant oak trees, Bentson said.
“Jesus Pico and Lt. Colonel Fremont met under this oak to urge the signing of a peace treaty in 1847,” she said. “This act contributed to the establishment of statehood for California in 1850. The original oak is now gone, but I painted the oak on the hillside above where the ‘Oak of Peace’ once stood.”
Special-needs students receive scholarships
The Northwest Glendale Lions Club presented $1,000 scholarships each to special-needs students at a luncheon meeting in May at Shaker’s restaurant.
Carlos Martinez, 21, has been blind since age 3, but maintains a 3.5 grade-point average at Glendale Community College. He is a member of the speech and debate teams and volunteers at the Blind Children’s Center. He plans to transfer to UCLA or Cal State Northridge to major in clinical psychology.
Rigoberto Perez graduated from Hoover High School in June. He is visually impaired and requires special corrective lenses. He has a 2.7 grade-point average and likes history and math. He plans to attend Glendale College, then go to a four-year university and major in engineering.
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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be contacted at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.