• • • The Oakleaf • • • January/February 2007 First Graders to Tour Farewell the Library to Two Library How do you get 775 first graders summer reading programs at the Veterans rounded up for a tour of the Grant R. library or participated at toddler Nadia Dagher, Division Manager Brimhall Library? You need careful storytimes before they started school. for Adult’s, Children’s/Young Adult planning and the organizational But there are children who have Services and Collection Management, expertise of Children’s –Young never been to the library and we want is retiring after 24 years at the Adult’s Services Supervisor Anne them to see the beautiful new expan- Thousand Oaks Library. After Landon, the library staff, 39 teachers sion. We hope they will feel welcome in the Conejo Valley Unified School and want to return with their parents,” District, and more than 100 chaper- explained Landon. “The students will ones. also learn what wonderful materials Beginning January 10 and con- we have here and that they can tinuing on various days through April borrow them and enjoy them at home 18, many of the CVUSD first grade as well as in the library.” classes will visit the library to learn The children will receive a few about its resources and services. small souvenirs to remember their Each elementary school first grade visit along with a letter to their class will have a special tour and see parents, letting them know about the the many resources available to them. trip. “Many of the students attended “While we want to promote the library, we also hope these trips Nadia Dagher promote reading and learning which is fundamental for a successful school working with the Conejo Valley experience. Most people think of Branch of the Ventura County field trips as going far away, but this Library, Nadia helped open the City field trip lets students know what a library in 1982. She looks forward to valuable place they have in their own seeing more of her grandson, Aidan, backyard. We hope these visits leave and traveling, especially cruising the a positive imprint on the children so seven seas. But we may not have that they will return many times in the seen the last of Nadia, as she wants future,” said Nancy Sevier, Deputy to become a library volunteer. “The Library Services Director. library has been a wonderful environ- Please join the library staff as we ment in which to work and the welcome the Conejo Valley first community truly supports it. The graders during the next few months. volunteers are so dedicated, I just (continues on Page 2) The Newsletter of the Thousand Oaks Library Page 1 TheVisit Newsletter the Library websiteof the Thousandat www.toaks Oaks.org/libr Libraryary • • • The Oakleaf • • • (continued from Page 1) LIBRARY may join them,” Nadia said. Zeza Salcido is retiring after 17 News Notes years with the Library. Originally, a school teacher, Zeza began her library career at the Newbury Park branch TOTV Channel 10 taped the as a part-time Library Aide after her “Puppets & More Puppets” two children were grown. In 1996, family event at the Grant R. she moved to the Grant R. Brimhall Brimhall Library in November. Library as a full-time Aide. During If you missed the show or your her career, Zeza has enjoyed working kids want to see it again, it is with library patrons at the circulation airing on TOTV. Check the desk. Now she is looking forward to TOTV schedule on the City of visiting her daughter in San Diego Zeza Salcido Thousand Oaks website at more often. She also wants to visit www.toaks.org extended family in her native Brazil as well as travel to other parts of the world. In November, the Thousand “I will miss the people here, it is such a nice place to work. But I am looking Oaks Library began sending due forward to having more time of my own,” Zeza explained. date reminder notices to library users via e-mail three calendar days before materials are due. The Underland Chronicles Library materials may be re- newed subject to the renewal Series by Mary Ho policy or returned to avoid For those who enjoy a good fantasy, there is a children’s series that is not to overdue fees. For an explanation be missed. of renewal policies, please visit: Underneath New York City, deep underground, is a whole society of people http://catalog.tol.lib.ca.us/ who live in an uneasy peace beside giant rats, spiders, cockroaches and bats. patroninfo and select Circulation No one knows of this society, save those that accidentally fall underground and Policies. Patrons whose library manage to survive. This is the setting of Suzanne Collins’ series The registration information includes Underland Chronicles. Collins was inspired to write the books when she an accurate e-mail address will began to think about what city kids must think of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adven- automatically receive courtesy tures In Wonderland. In the city, a person is more likely to fall down a manhole notices. Others who wish to sign rather than a rabbit hole. up for this service may do so at In the first book Gregor the Overlander, we are introduced to the main any circulation desk at either the character, Gregor, an ordinary eleven-year-old boy living with his family in a Newbury Park or Grant R. small apartment in New York City. His father disappeared two years ago, and Brimhall Library. ever since the family barely scrapes by on Gregor’s mother’s income. Gregor Streamline your visit to the and his two-year-old sister Boots are in the basement doing laundry one day library by using the SelfCheck when Boots falls through a grate in the laundry room. Gregor follows her and System! This system will check they find themselves falling down into the Underland. They are met instantly by out all books with the exception giant cockroaches, who take them to the human city, Regalia, a beautiful city of Rentals and is available at made of stone. both the Grant R. Brimhall In the Underland, things are a bit different than in the regular world. Rats Library and the Newbury Park are six feet tall, cockroaches are the size of large dogs, and bats are big enough Branch. The system is easy to for people to ride on. The Underland is also politically unstable. Bats are the use and is especially popular with firm allies of the Underland humans, but the other creatures either have loose the younger crowd, who have alliances with the humans, like the cockroaches and spiders, or are outright their own SelfCheck station in enemies, like the rats. In Regalia, Gregor discovers that he is part of a prophecy the new Children’s Library. that foretells a role for him in the future of the Underland. Gregor wants no part So — if you’re in a hurry, use in this prophecy, but is drawn into events despite himself. When he makes the our SelfCheck! astonishing discovery that his father is being held prisoner by the rats, he em- (continues on Page 3) Page 2 • • • The Oakleaf • • • Information Advantage NEW When you need reliable information, take advantage of the Arrivals powerful research tools available at your library. Featured Resource: The Thousand Oaks Library System has recently added these NewsBank America’s Newspapers materials to its collection: Access electronic editions of U.S. newspapers from around the country, including the Thousand Oaks Star, the Daily News, the New York Times, FICTION and many other national and regional newspapers. Fortress of Ice (Science Fiction) The Thousand Oaks Library subscribes to a variety of highly special- by C.J. Cherryh ized electronic databases for your online research. All of these resources may be used in the library, and many are also available “remotely” via the World Wide Web. For remote access to the catalog, go to www.toaks.org/library and click on the “Databases” link on the library’s catalog page. And remem- The Poe Shadow ber, reference librarians are always available to assist you. (Mystery) by Matthew Pearl NON-FICTION 956.7044 Operation Home- coming: Eyewit- ness accounts, private journals, short stories and other writings, (continued from Page 2) edited by Andrew barks on a quest to save his father, and to save the future of the Underland. Carroll There are currently four books in the Gregor series: Gregor the Overlander, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of 791.43028 the Warmbloods, and Gregor and the Marks of Secret. All can be H529 found in the library’s Juvenile Fiction collection. The final book in the series Enchantment: Gregor and the Code of Claw, is due in 2007. Happy reading! The Life of Audrey A New Family Event at the Library Hepburn by Saturday family programs began in December at the Grant R. Brimhall Donald Spoto Library and Newbury Park Branch Library. Three more special Saturday events are scheduled this winter. 615.5 In January, actor and storyteller Scott Burden will present “Feed Your Primal Healing: Imagination with a Taste of Fairy Tales” on Saturday, January 13, 11:00 a.m. at Access the Grant R. Brimhall Library and repeated at 2:00 p.m. at the Newbury Park Incredible Branch. Mr. Burden is currently the artist-in-residence storyteller at Acacia Power of Feel- Elementary School in Thousand Oaks. ings to Improve Thanks to the Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library for generously spon- Your Health by soring monthly events for families at the libraries.