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Contact: Debbie Carton
Librarian
Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6236

West Edge Opera’s As One, a Transgender Story at Berkeley Public Library

Berkeley, CA July 8, 2015 — Gender topics are making headlines from Caitlyn Jenner to Laverne Cox. Berkeley Public Library welcomes West Edge Opera for a free discussion that illuminates the brave and painful growth of a transgender person in As One, their upcoming production of this Bay Area chamber opera. Join us for a sneak peek performance on Thursday, July 23 at 12:00pm in the third floor Community Meeting Room of the Central Library, located at 2090 Kittredge and Shattuck.

Three co-creators of the opera – composer Laura Kaminsky, co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed – will speak about their 2014 work. Written for two singers and string quartet, As One illuminates the brave and painful growth of a transgender person. This chamber opera is based on the life experience of co-librettist Kimberly Reed. For more information, call 510-981-6236

Composer Kaminsky received a Koussevitzky Prize for her work, Piano Concerto, and is currently composer in residence at American Opera Projects. As One received unanimous praise at the world premier last September at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Co-librettist Mark Campbell was recently profiled in Opera News as one of 25 artists “poised…to become major forces in opera in the coming decade.” The opera Silent Night, which he wrote with composer Kevin Puts for Minnesota Opera, received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Co-librettist Kimberly Reed is a transgender filmmaker, editor and producer. Named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, she was awarded multiple fellowships including a Yaddo Artists’ Community Fellowship. Reed is a summa cum laude graduate of UC Berkeley.
This free event is sponsored by the Friends of the Library. (www.berkeleylibraryfriends.org)

The Central Library is located at 2090 Kittredge Street and is open Monday, noon - 8:00pm, Tuesday, 10:00am - 8:00pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00am - 6:00pm, and Sunday from 1:00pm - 5:00pm.

Wheelchair accessible. To request a sign language interpreter or other accommodations for this event, please call 510-981-6195 (voice) or 510-548-1240 (TTY); at least five working days will help ensure availability. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs. Visit the library’s website: www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

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Contact: Deirdre Cerkanowicz
Public Information Specialist
Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6123

EBMUD Certifies Berkeley Public Library’s Branch Libraries as WaterSmart!

Berkeley, CA  July 7, 2015 – The City of Berkeley has long been serious about energy efficiency. A rigorous EBMUD audit of Claremont, North, South, and West Branch Libraries proved these locations are saving significant amounts of energy. Now, water efficiency is a big priority, and the Berkeley Public Library is meeting the drought head-on.

The serious California drought continues. Everyone needs to do his or her part to conserve water. The Berkeley Public Library’s Branch Improvement Program provided the citizen of Berkeley with state of the arts spaces for reading, relaxing and gathering. Just as importantly, all the branches were constructed with energy saving and sustainability in mind. Claremont, North, South, and West Branch Libraries recently participated in East Bay Municipal Utilities District’s (EBMUD) WaterSmart  water efficiency program. Our branches met all of WaterSmart’s high standards!

The program is highly effective. In 2014, WaterSmart award winners, which include Berkeley Civic Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Park, had a combined water reduction of more than six million gallons. Since 2010, WaterSmart certification recipients have saved more than 100 million gallons annually.

The WaterSmart program requires that a facility be audited by EBMUD program staff for water use, assessing the flow rates of appliances, and looking for leaks and other signs of water waste, including irrigation schedules and equipment. Once the audit is completed, any corrective measures must be made prior to certification. In 2016, the City is enrolling more Berkeley municipal buildings in the program.

City staff will accept the awards at a ceremony at EBMUD’s Oakland headquarters in the fall. For information on the EBMUD WaterSmart program and ways to save water, visit www.EBMUD.com. For more information about the City of Berkeley’s water saving efforts, please contact Alice La Pierre, Energy Efficiency Coordinator, Energy@cityofberkeley.info.

Founded in 1893, the Berkeley Public Library has grown from a small reading room with 264 books, into a city-wide system with a five-story Central Library, four state of the art neighborhood branches, a Tool Lending Library and a Library on Wheels. For more information visit www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org or call 510-981-6195.

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Contact: Jeff Scott,

Director, Library Services

Berkeley Public Library

510-981-6195

Berkeley Public Library’s West Branch Earns Coveted Gold Nugget Award

Berkeley, CA July 7, 2015—West Branch Library continues to shine with architectural design leaders. Chosen from the elite pool of Merit Award winners, Grand Awards were announced on June 25 as a feature highlight of PCBC®, the nation’s largest regional conference for the real estate development field. Judges for the 2015 Gold Nugget Awards named Berkeley Public Library’s West Branch as a Grand Award winner in its fifty-sixth annual competition, which honors architectural design and planning excellence internationally.

Located at 1125 University Avenue, West Branch Library is the first Net Zero Public Library in California. West Branch Library earned Grand honors for Best Zero Net Energy Design, which honors those who improve communities through exceptional concepts in design, planning and development. Winners this year were chosen from 635 entries from around the world.

After almost 1.5 years in operation, the building is on track to surpass its goal of energy neutrality and is gives more energy back into the utility grid than it uses. Both active and passive strategies were used to achieve these results including solar thermal and photovoltaic panels for heated water and electricity; a wind chimney that draws air through the building without the use of fans and skylights that add light and ventilation.

“Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest and most innovative architects, planners and builder/developers,” said Judging Chairman Lisa Parrish. According to the judges, “The West Berkeley Public Library is the first verified public ZNE library (Living Building Challenge V3.0 NZEB- see ZNE_LBI-certificate). Call 510-981-6195 for photos and additional details on Berkeley Public Library’s green and sustainable branches.

Founded in 1893, the Berkeley Public Library has grown from a small reading room with 264 books, into a city-wide system with a five-story Central Library, four state of the art neighborhood branches, a Tool Lending Library and a Library on Wheels. For more information visit www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

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