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Contact: Will Marston 510-981-6233

Discussion group participants will read the book at home and then gather at Sunday, March 24,  1:30 – 4:30 PM in the 3rd floor Community Meeting Room at Berkeley’s Central Library, 2090 Kittredge Street to view the film together.  After viewing the film, participants will discuss the book, the movie and the adaptation. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library (www.berkeleylibraryfriends.org), this FREE Book and Film program at the Central Library takes place every other month and offers adult and teen patrons the opportunity to discuss books, films and the art of adaptation. Participation is limited and registration is recommended Please call (510) 981-6233 to register for this program. For questions and accessibility information, call 510-981-6195, TTY 510-548-1240, www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org

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Contact: Douglas Smith Deputy Library Director 510-981-6195

EXHIBIT EXTENDED UNTIL MARCH 31^st!

CENTRAL LIBRARY ART INSTALLATION “Flights of Mind” By Vita Wells

Artist talk & reception: Sunday February 24^th , @2pm

BERKELEY, CA – Berkeley-based artist Vita Wells has created a large installation of some two hundred altered books spanning three levels of the atrium of the Berkeley Public Library’s Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck, downtown Berkeley. This exhibit will now be on display through March 31^st, 2013. Vita Wells will discuss the art installation and her work during a FREE artist talk and on Sunday afternoon, February 24^th at 2:00pm in the Central Library’s 3^rd floor Community Meeting Room. Wells’ installation features many dozens of altered, sculpted books suspended and airborne, as if flying in a spectacular natural formation, throughout a large portion of the Central Library building.  “This installation,” the artist says, “is about possibility and community across space and time, and it celebrates how public libraries enrich who we are as individuals and as a community.”  Wells, who has created art objects since she was old enough to wield an x-acto knife, makes use of the medium of printed books as the raw material of her art, which is powerfully evident in Flights of Mind. In response to the frequent question, “Why books?” she says, “As physical objects, books are unlike any of the other material objects with which we surround ourselves in our day-to-day lives. They are singular in the power their mere physical presence possesses, the promise and possibility they embody.” Vita Wells lives and makes art in Berkeley. Flights of Mind was created for the Berkeley Public Library Foundation’s 11^th annual Authors Dinner and will remain on display until March 31^st. Information about the artist and her work can be found at http://www.vitawells.net/flightsBPL.html. Access to the exhibit is available during the library’s open hours: Monday 12 – 8; Tuesday 10- 8; Wednesday – Saturday, 10 – 6; Sunday 1 – 5. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the Berkeley Public Library Foundation and the Berkeley Public Library. For more information, call (510) 981-6100 or connect www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

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Contact: Library Administration
Donna Corbeil
510-981-6195

The Berkeley Public Library annual report covering the 2012 fiscal year is now available electronically on the library’s website. The report, in narrative and photographs documents the various programs and activities of the library and  a fiscal summary. This year’s theme is 2012, a year of progress and innovation. Much has occurred in the last fiscal year, including the re-opening of two branches following renovation. To read more about the library go to http://tinyurl.com/BPL-report-2012 Our 2012 year in review is also accessible from the library’s website at: www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org in a user-friendly, photo-rich, all-digital format.

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Contact: Jef Findley (Ph: 510-981-6142)

Join Berkeley historian Diana Stephens for an examination of the Gender Revolution through the lens of the celebrated and infamous newspaper, The Berkeley Barb. This free talk will take place at the Central Library, 2090 Kittredge (at Shattuck), on Saturday, March 16, from 2 – 4 p.m. in the third floor Community Meeting Room. Ms. Stephens will explore how the Sexual Revolution became an impetus for the radical women’s movement in 1960s Berkeley, as seen through depictions and images of women in the Berkeley Barb. Nationally renowned, the Berkeley Barb was one of the forerunners of underground newspapers, representing radical Berkeley for twenty-five years (1965-1980). For questions regarding this program, call 510-981-6142. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library (www.berkeleylibraryfriends.org). For accessibility information, call (510) 981-6195 TTY (510) 548-1240, http://berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

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Contact: Michele McKenzie -- phone: 510-981-6240

A collection of Oakland based photographers celebrate the art and artistry of jazz musicians in the Bay Area with an exhibition in Berkeley Public Library’s Central Catalog Lobby, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck, downtown Berkeley, from February 11^th through May 11^th.  The exhibition is curated by Kamau Amen-Ra and it features the work of Wanda Sabir, Edward Miller and Tumani Onabiyi.  This series of jazz photography captures performances held in a variety of Bay Area venues including the East Side Cultural Center and the 57^th Street Gallery in Oakland.  This group of artists have been documenting the rich history of jazz performance in the Bay Area for over a quarter of a century.  Access to the exhibit is available during the library’s open hours: Monday 12 – 8; Tuesday 10- 8; Wednesday - Saturday, 10 – 6; Sunday 1 – 5. The artist reception features a performance by TVC, a jazz string trio comprised of local musicians Kash Killion on cello, with Sandy Poindexter and Jean “Tarika” Lewis on violin.  This FREE jazz concert and artist reception takes place on Saturday, March 2^nd at 2PM in the 3rd floor Community Meeting Room in the Central Library.  The exhibiting photographers will be available to discuss their work immediately following the concert at 3:00 pm. Wheelchair accessible.  Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.  For more information, call 510-981-6100 or connect  www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org

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Contact:  Debbie Carton (Ph:  510-981-6139)

Berkeley Public Library’s film series “Super Cinema” returns beginning March 1. Each month we explore a different theme or genre on Friday afternoons at 3 p.m.at the Central Library, 2090 Kittredge (at Shattuck), in the 3^rd floor Community Meeting Room. In March, see what happens When Cultures Clash. We begin with Slumdog Millionaire (2008) on March 1, in which a slum dweller competes so successfully on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that he arouses suspicion. On March 8, four working-class townies in Bloomington, Indiana bristle at university students' snobbery and hit on a way to challenge it in the 1979 hit Breaking Away. March 15 takes us on Walkabout (1971), with two kids stranded in Australia's outback, befriended by an adolescent Aboriginal boy who teaches them how to survive.    On March 22, the daughter of a Sikh family in West London defies her parents to play competitive football in the popular and critically acclaimed Bend It Like Beckham (2002).  The final show for March will be The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, a 2005 documentary about a Chicago boy who allegedly whistled at a white woman while visiting Mississippi and was brutally murdered. April will be devoted to Animation Adults Love, and May brings Spellbinding Documentaries. This free program is sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library (www.berkeleylibraryfriends.org). For questions regarding this program, call 510-981-6241.  For accessibility information, call 510-981-6195, TTY (510) 528-1240

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Contact: Douglas Smith Deputy Library Director 510-981-6195

BERKELEY, CA – Berkeley-based artist Vita Wells has created a large installation of some two hundred altered books spanning three levels of the atrium of the Berkeley Public Library’s Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck, downtown Berkeley, that will be on display from February 11 to February 24. Vita Wells will discuss the art installation and her work during a FREE artist talk and on Sunday afternoon, February 24^th at 2:00pm in the Central Library’s 3^rd floor Community Meeting Room. Wells’ installation features many dozens of altered, sculpted books suspended and airborne, as if flying in a spectacular natural formation, throughout a large portion of the Central Library building.  “This installation,” the artist says, “is about possibility and community across space and time, and it celebrates how public libraries enrich who we are as individuals and as a community.”  Wells, who has created art objects since she was old enough to wield an exacto knife, makes use of the medium of printed books as the raw material of her art, which is powerfully evident in Flights of Mind. In response to the frequent question, “Why books?”, she says, “As physical objects, books are unlike any of the other material objects with which we surround ourselves in our day-to-day lives. They are singular in the power their mere physical presence possesses, the promise and possibility they embody.” Vita Wells lives and makes art in Berkeley. Flights of Mind was created for the Berkeley Public Library Foundation’s 11^th annual Authors Dinner and will remain on display for two weeks. Information about the artist and her work can be found at http://www.vitawells.net/flightsBPL.html. Access to the exhibit is available during the library’s open hours: Monday 12 – 8; Tuesday 10- 8; Wednesday – Saturday, 10 – 6; Sunday 1 – 5. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the Berkeley Public Library Foundation and the Berkeley Public Library. For more information, call (510) 981-6100 or connect www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

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