MENDOCINO
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Established in 1947 as a private library and as a nonprofit in 1987, the Mendocino Community Library is supported by membership dues, fines, book sales, and donations. Community volunteers serve and support all the Library's activities.
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10591 WILLIAM STREET, P.O. BOX 585 MENDOCINO, CA 95460 707 / 937-5773
OPEN Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
CLOSED SUNDAYS AND ALL GOVERNMENT HOLIDAYS
OPEN Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
CLOSED SUNDAYS AND ALL GOVERNMENT HOLIDAYS
Like to Read?
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After more than half a century of community support, the Mendocino Community Library now holds 13,000+ books, movies, musical CDs and audiobooks as well as free WIFI for the community.
Please donate if you can. |
MATERIALS CHECKED OUT IN YOUR NAME
ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE
ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE
BOOK SALE - October 9th 12:00 to 4:00 Save the date! Please join us for a wonderful selection, great bargains, light refreshments, and lively conversation—all at your Mendocino Community Library.
Latest Books
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MARCH
FICTION You Will Know Me Megan Abbot Moonglow Michael Chabon Swiss Vendetta Tracee de Hahn News of the World Paulette Jiles The Dime Kathleen Kent Rather be the Devil Ian Rankin NONFICTION The New Jim Crow Edward Jay Epstein Dorothy Day: The World Will be Saved by Beauty Kate Hennessy Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly How to Survive a Plague David France Super Sushi Ramen Express Michael Booth Lab Girl Hope Jaren Thank You for Being Late Thomas Friedman |
Library Policies |
Membership dues are valid for one year from month of issue.
FAMILY $18, INDIVIDUAL $10, STUDENT 8/18 w/ parent's signature $ 2 Please show your membership card each time you check out library materials. |
MEMBERSHIP
FAMILY INDIVIDUAL / STUDENT |
TOTAL
BOOKS 10 5 |
NEW
BOOK 2 1 |
RESERVED
BOOK 2 1 |
VIDEO
DVD 4 2 |
AUDIO
BOOK 10 5 |
-
MAG. 3 2 |
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PUZ. 3 2 |
-
MUSIC 3 2 |
All material is checked out for two weeks, and may be renewed by phone, 707 / 937-5773. Videos, DVDs, magazines, and music CDs may be renewed once. All other material may be renewed three times. Phone renewals: give volunteer the due date, the shelf ID, and title. Please write the new due date on the due date slip in the book.
FINES: 25¢ per day for adult material, and 10¢ per day for juvenile material. Please do not check out more library materials if you have items that are overdue and unpaid.
BOOK DROP: On the porch for after hours returns. Please calculate late fines, put the amount in a coin envelope with your name and member number on it and insert envelope into the card pocket inside the material. Donations are gratefully accepted. When possible, please return puzzles and other fragile materials to the desk during library hours.
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR DAMAGED MATERIALS CHECKED OUT IN YOUR NAME:
Do not lend materials signed out in your name. Instead, invite them to become a Library member, better is to gift a membership.
EXPIRED MEMBERSHIP: If your membership has expired, no new material will be checked out until your membership is renewed, which requires payment of fines and return or renewal of any outstanding material.
REQUEST BOOK PURCHASE: To request that the library purchase a book, fill in a book request form and attach a published review.
BECOME A LIBRARY VOLUNTEER ! Members for at least three months are eligible. Ask the desk volunteer for an application form. Volunteers normally work twice a month.
FINES: 25¢ per day for adult material, and 10¢ per day for juvenile material. Please do not check out more library materials if you have items that are overdue and unpaid.
BOOK DROP: On the porch for after hours returns. Please calculate late fines, put the amount in a coin envelope with your name and member number on it and insert envelope into the card pocket inside the material. Donations are gratefully accepted. When possible, please return puzzles and other fragile materials to the desk during library hours.
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR DAMAGED MATERIALS CHECKED OUT IN YOUR NAME:
Do not lend materials signed out in your name. Instead, invite them to become a Library member, better is to gift a membership.
EXPIRED MEMBERSHIP: If your membership has expired, no new material will be checked out until your membership is renewed, which requires payment of fines and return or renewal of any outstanding material.
REQUEST BOOK PURCHASE: To request that the library purchase a book, fill in a book request form and attach a published review.
BECOME A LIBRARY VOLUNTEER ! Members for at least three months are eligible. Ask the desk volunteer for an application form. Volunteers normally work twice a month.
NEW TOTE BAGS: Available at the Front Desk, Art Work by Marion Bush, Suggested Donation $15
The Mendocino Study Club Connection
It was a long time ago in June of 1947 that an astute lady of our town suggested her Mendocino Study Club invite its members to contribute books for a club library. She was Mrs. Daisy MacCallum and her gift of three hundred books along with many fund-raising teas and sewing circles enlarged the library to over six hundred books for the grand opening on June 7, 1947.
Helen Fagg, who had worked in a library in Palo Alto, and her daughter, Helen Thomsen, became the keepers of the books in a small room in Mrs. MacCallum's building known then as Kelliowen Hall on the corner of Ukiah and Lansing Streets. According to Trustee Mildred Benioff's recollection, Mrs. Fagg loved to have children come by to read, but would first demand to inspect their hands. Those with dirty hands were refused permission to check out one of the prized books.
However, daughter Helen took a much gentler approach and during the next four decades assumed full charge of the rapidly expanding collection of books. When the building was sold, Helen appealed to the County to take over the collection, and when that failed put the books in storage in the old Beacon building, and promptly left for an extensive period of overseas travel.
Unfortunately, the Beacon building was sold shortly thereafter and the books wound up in a deep pit left by the removal of a large press by the new owners. Thelma Gray and other Study Club members came to the rescue, dusting off and reassembling the books for removal to a new storage space in Fort Bragg where they remained for almost a year while Mendocino was briefly without a library. Mildred Benioff and Thelma Gray finally found temporary space at the Grammar School where after great effort the library was reopened.
By 1978, the school reclaimed the space, and with the help of Betsy Starrett, Elinor Herod, Helene Penhoet, and others, a much larger space was found in the first floor of Eidsath House. They obtained Federal revenue sharing to help pay part of the $200 per month rent. The Study Club later voted to take over the rent, and revenue sharing help was dropped, to the amazement of the sponsoring County Supervisors! Helen Thomsen returned from her world travels to resume command. She was pleased and surprised to find the library had not only survived, but was flourishing with an increasing membership and more funds. Volunteer Helen Rawlings had begun quietly contributing $3,000 a year for new books. Helen Thomsen, Betsy and Elinor shared the task of raising further operating funds "the old fashioned way" by scrimping and saving until by 1987, there was quite a satisfactory surplus saved for the future.
It was decided that a non-profit corporation would be formed with Helen as President, Betsy as VP, and Elinor as Secretary/Treasurer. A search began for a new permanent home for the eight thousand books, and a number of sites were considered. One year later, Jeanette and Jack Hansen offered a former William Mendosa building across from the Mendocino Art Center, which the new corporation could purchase by paying interest only. With the support of the Study Club, the offer was gratefully accepted and the move completed that year. The former bathroom became the Reference Section, and the kitchen became the new office. In 1990, with funds from savings, a Study Club gift, and funds raised in the community by Bob Burns and Sam Shelton, an eight hundred square foot addition replaced the dilapidated garage. Named the Study Club Room, it completes the present facility.
Throughout these fifty years, the ladies of the Mendocino Study Club who began it all, have given unfailing support; the original books and five dollars a month for new books in 1947, to major funding for the present building and continuing monthly support.
Finally, with a checkered history of many moves, those who may believe that the two fatty columns on each side of our Little Lake Street entrance are an odd feature for a library, our bylaws offer this hint, "...for maintaining cultural, educational and entertainment material for all ages..." This harkens back to a bit of nonsense during the filming of the movie East of Eden in which the columns had converted the building into a bordello. It was said that the ladies of the night waved at potential customers from the front porch offering "cultural, educational, and entertainment" opportunities. If that sounds like the Library's mission statement, I assure you there is no connection whatsoever!
It was a long time ago in June of 1947 that an astute lady of our town suggested her Mendocino Study Club invite its members to contribute books for a club library. She was Mrs. Daisy MacCallum and her gift of three hundred books along with many fund-raising teas and sewing circles enlarged the library to over six hundred books for the grand opening on June 7, 1947.
Helen Fagg, who had worked in a library in Palo Alto, and her daughter, Helen Thomsen, became the keepers of the books in a small room in Mrs. MacCallum's building known then as Kelliowen Hall on the corner of Ukiah and Lansing Streets. According to Trustee Mildred Benioff's recollection, Mrs. Fagg loved to have children come by to read, but would first demand to inspect their hands. Those with dirty hands were refused permission to check out one of the prized books.
However, daughter Helen took a much gentler approach and during the next four decades assumed full charge of the rapidly expanding collection of books. When the building was sold, Helen appealed to the County to take over the collection, and when that failed put the books in storage in the old Beacon building, and promptly left for an extensive period of overseas travel.
Unfortunately, the Beacon building was sold shortly thereafter and the books wound up in a deep pit left by the removal of a large press by the new owners. Thelma Gray and other Study Club members came to the rescue, dusting off and reassembling the books for removal to a new storage space in Fort Bragg where they remained for almost a year while Mendocino was briefly without a library. Mildred Benioff and Thelma Gray finally found temporary space at the Grammar School where after great effort the library was reopened.
By 1978, the school reclaimed the space, and with the help of Betsy Starrett, Elinor Herod, Helene Penhoet, and others, a much larger space was found in the first floor of Eidsath House. They obtained Federal revenue sharing to help pay part of the $200 per month rent. The Study Club later voted to take over the rent, and revenue sharing help was dropped, to the amazement of the sponsoring County Supervisors! Helen Thomsen returned from her world travels to resume command. She was pleased and surprised to find the library had not only survived, but was flourishing with an increasing membership and more funds. Volunteer Helen Rawlings had begun quietly contributing $3,000 a year for new books. Helen Thomsen, Betsy and Elinor shared the task of raising further operating funds "the old fashioned way" by scrimping and saving until by 1987, there was quite a satisfactory surplus saved for the future.
It was decided that a non-profit corporation would be formed with Helen as President, Betsy as VP, and Elinor as Secretary/Treasurer. A search began for a new permanent home for the eight thousand books, and a number of sites were considered. One year later, Jeanette and Jack Hansen offered a former William Mendosa building across from the Mendocino Art Center, which the new corporation could purchase by paying interest only. With the support of the Study Club, the offer was gratefully accepted and the move completed that year. The former bathroom became the Reference Section, and the kitchen became the new office. In 1990, with funds from savings, a Study Club gift, and funds raised in the community by Bob Burns and Sam Shelton, an eight hundred square foot addition replaced the dilapidated garage. Named the Study Club Room, it completes the present facility.
Throughout these fifty years, the ladies of the Mendocino Study Club who began it all, have given unfailing support; the original books and five dollars a month for new books in 1947, to major funding for the present building and continuing monthly support.
Finally, with a checkered history of many moves, those who may believe that the two fatty columns on each side of our Little Lake Street entrance are an odd feature for a library, our bylaws offer this hint, "...for maintaining cultural, educational and entertainment material for all ages..." This harkens back to a bit of nonsense during the filming of the movie East of Eden in which the columns had converted the building into a bordello. It was said that the ladies of the night waved at potential customers from the front porch offering "cultural, educational, and entertainment" opportunities. If that sounds like the Library's mission statement, I assure you there is no connection whatsoever!
"A Brief History of MCL..." The MCL Book Worm,June 7, 1997