Friends of Sonoma Valley Library

Book Donation Night
2024-08-21 17:30 - 19:00, 2024-09-18 17:30 - 19:00, 2024-10-16 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Around the Back of the Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
If we have rain, we will cancel the Donation Night.
We especially need children’s books and LP’s. Coffee table and collectible books are always appreciated.

Book Donation Day
2024-09-12 09:00 - 10:30, 2024-10-03 09:00 - 10:30, 2024-11-14 09:00 - 10:30 | Around the Back of the Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
If we have rain, we will cancel the Donation Day. We especially need children’s books and LP’s. Coffee table and collectible books are always appreciated.

Classical Reflections Book Group
2024-10-08 08:00 - 17:00

Classical Reflections Book Group
2024-10-08 14:00 - 15:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States
Come Join the Classical Reflections Book Group. We are meeting to discuss Oedipus Rex and to determine the next book for our discussion group.

Meet the Artist Ellen Murphy
2024-10-11 16:00 - 17:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States
Meet Artist Ellen Murphy
The Sonoma Valley Regional Library is hosting an exhibition of paintings by Ellen Murphy from
October 1 to 31. The public is invited to meet the artist at a reception on Friday October 11th
from 4:00pm to 5:30pm in the library’s forum room. Light refreshments will be served. The
exhibition will be available to view for the entire month of October during open hours when the
forum room is not in use.
Ellen Murphy is a self-taught artist who enjoys the freedom of exploring a variety of mediums
and subject matters. She is attracted to “the light-hearted and fanciful, a bit of whimsy and
happy colors.” Whether she is painting jesters, children, ribbons, feathers or seashells
approaches her art in a joyful manner and goes where her heart takes her.
Ellen’s exhibition at the library is part of an art series organized by local artist Aparna Sinha with
the assistance and support of Cathy Coleman and the Friends of the Sonoma Valley Library.

Book Sale
2024-10-20 10:00 - 15:00 | Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W. Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
10 AM to 3 PM
Parking Lot Sale. Hardback books are $2 each. Paperback books are $1 each. DVD’s, CD’s & LP’s are $1 each. Credit cards are encouraged. Cash accepted. No checks will be accepted. Bring your own bags, please. Masks are optional. Street parking only.
Rain will cancel the Sale.
Restrooms are available during library hours only (1 PM to 5 PM).

Classical Reflections Book Group
2024-12-10 14:00 - 15:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States
Join the Classical Reflections Book Group where we will be discussing “The Aeneid” by Robert Fagles, the award-winning translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Fleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles’ mighty foe in the Iliad, begins an incredible journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome. His voyage will take him through stormy seas, entangle him in a tragic love affair, and lure him into the world of the dead itself–all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods. Ultimately, he reaches the promised land of Italy where, after bloody battles and with high hopes, he founds what will become the Roman empire.
We will finish discussing this book at our February Group.

Book Donation Day
2024-12-12 09:00 - 10:30 | Around the Back of the Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
Book Donation Day – If we have rain, we will cancel the Donation Day. All donations benefit your local library. We accept coffee table books and collectible books and we always need children’s books and LP’s.

Items we cannot accept (we just discard them)

Books that are worn, torn, chewed, underlined/highlighted, moldy, smelly, or water damaged
Textbooks, manuals, encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses
Travel guides, movie review guides
Computer books over 1 year old
Cassette and VHS tapes
Magazines, Newspapers, and Leaflets
Materials such as scratch pads, bookmarks, stationary, blank journals

You can recycle most items in your blue bins, remove hard covers and place in trash bins.

Book Donation Day
2025-01-04 09:30 - 11:00 | Around the Back of the Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
Book Donation Day-If we have rain, we will cancel the Donation Day. All donations benefit your local library. We accept coffee table books and collectible books and we always need children’s books and LP’s.

Items we cannot accept (we just discard them)

Books that are worn, torn, chewed, underlined/highlighted, moldy, smelly, or water damaged
Textbooks, manuals, encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses
Travel guides, movie review guides
Computer books over 1 year old
Cassette and VHS tapes
Magazines, Newspapers, and Leaflets
Materials such as scratch pads, bookmarks, stationary, blank journals

You can recycle most items in your blue bins, remove hard covers and place in trash bins.

Thursday Book Donation Day
2025-01-09 09:00 - 10:30 | Around the Back of the Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
Book Donation Day. If we have rain, we will cancel the Donation Day. We especially need children’s books and LP’s.

Items we cannot accept (we just discard them)

Books that are worn, torn, chewed, underlined/highlighted, moldy, smelly, or water damaged
Textbooks, manuals, encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses
Travel guides, movie review guides
Computer books over 1 year old
Cassette and VHS tapes
Magazines, Newspapers, and Leaflets
Materials such as scratch pads, bookmarks, stationary, blank journals

You can recycle most items in your blue bins, remove hard covers and place items in trash bins.

Meet Artist Nora Russo
2025-01-10 16:00 - 17:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States
The Sonoma Valley Regional Library is hosting an exhibition of paintings by Nora Russo from
January 2 to 31. The public is invited to meet the artist at a reception on Friday January 10 from
4:00pm to 5:30pm in the library’s forum room. Light refreshments will be served. The
exhibition will be available to view for the entire month of January during opening hours when
the forum room is not in use.
When multimedia artist Nora Russo is asked to describe her work, she simply says that what she
does is create. She loves color and texture, and her happy place is when the two meet. Nora’s
concern for the environment leads her to use found and discarded items in her work. She is also
concerned about women’s rights and aims for her work to send a message or tell a story.
Nora’s exhibition at the library is part of an art series organized by local artist Aparna Sinha with
the assistance and support of Cathy Coleman and the Friends of the Sonoma Valley Library.

The events are free and open to all. The library is located at 755 West Napa Street, Sonoma. For
more information contact library manager Sabine Salek at (707) 996-5217 or
ssalek@sonomalibrary.org. Keep up with all library events at www.sonomalibrary.org and on
facebook, www.facebook.com/sonomavalleylibrary.

Classical Reflections Book Club
2025-01-14 14:00 - 15:30, 2025-02-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States

Book Donation Day
2025-02-01 09:30 - 11:00, 2025-02-13 09:00 - 10:30, 2025-03-01 09:30 - 11:00, 2025-03-13 09:00 - 10:30, 2025-04-05 09:30 - 11:00, 2025-04-10 09:00 - 10:30, 2025-05-03 09:30 - 11:00 | Around the Back of the Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
If we have rain, we will cancel the Donation Day. We especially need children’s books and LP’s.

Items we cannot accept (we just discard them)

Books that are worn, torn, chewed, underlined/highlighted, moldy, smelly, or water damaged
Textbooks, manuals, encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses
Travel guides, movie review guides
Computer books over 1 year old
Cassette and VHS tapes
Magazines, Newspapers, and Leaflets
Materials such as scratch pads, bookmarks, stationary, blank journals

You can recycle most items in your blue bins, remove hard covers and place items in trash bins.

Art Reception Pat Meier-Johnson and Russ Johnson
2025-02-07 16:00 - 17:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States
Sonoma Valley Couple Brings Love of Art to the Sonoma Valley Library
In Time for Valentine’s Day in their show, “Here and There Side by Side”
Sonoma’s Pat Meier-Johnson and Russ Johnson will display their art for the
month of February at the Sonoma Valley Public Library. Their show, “Here and
There Side By Side” will feature Pat’s oil and pastel paintings and Russ’
photography of both the Sonoma Valley and the many places they have visited
around the world.
Right from the start, the couple discovered in each other a love for art, which
each of them had pursued in their own style and medium.
Pat, Sonoma’s Treasure Artist of 2022, began her artistic career as a political
cartoonist while still in college and resumed it after she retired from her high tech
public relations business. Her passion is capturing a sense of place, ranging from
joyful crowds at the Sonoma Farmer’s market to a dramatic city skyline in San
Miguel de Allende.
Russ’ career in the tourism industry was defining a sense of place as he traveled
to some sixty countries as a photographer, filmmaker and writer for clients
including American Express, cruise lines, the UN Development Programme, six
countries in Southeast Asia, Nepal and Sonoma County Tourism.
The show will feature subjects ranging from land and city scapes to painting of
Manhattan dog walkers and Russ’ street photography including exotic
mannequins from around the world.
“Painting and photography help us look deeper into the places we visit and the
people we meet, and in a changing world, allow us to find beauty in the everyday.
We hope this show lets visitors to the Sonoma County Library see the world a
little differently and love it more.”

Classical Reflections Book Club
2025-03-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States
The next book is Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy.

March 2025 Artist Reception Student Artists
2025-03-14 16:00 - 17:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States
Art Exhibition at the Sonoma Valley Regional Library
Middle School Art Exhibit of Illuminated Letters
The Sonoma Valley Regional Library is hosting an exhibition of paintings by students from Altimira and Adele Harrison Middle Schools in March. The public is invited to meet the artists at a reception on Friday March 14 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm in the library’s forum room. Light refreshments will be served. The exhibition will be available to view for the entire month of March during opening hours when the forum room is not in use.
Middle School students learned that Illuminated Manuscripts were part of European and Egyptian libraries. Last month, students read about the ancient technique of making pages from vellum, how scribes made their own ink, and learned how they created Illuminated Letters. Students were shown a variety of illuminated pages from different ancient texts.
An Illuminated Manuscript page during medieval times was hand-written and decorated with colored paints as well as actual gold or silver leaf. The word “illuminated” comes from Latin, meaning “to fill with light”. Ancient texts included ornate large initials, favorite objects, and painted borders. When reading a book by candlelight, the flickering of the flame made the pages look illuminated as the candle shimmered on the gold.
Each middle school student was given time to practice drawing their letters as well as several objects that reflect themselves now and in the future. The objects would be incorporated as part of their design. Earlier in the school year, students learned about mixing colors, complementary colors, and utilizing different paint mediums so they could complete a decorative painting in this style.
Their teacher, Cheryl Coldiron, provided vintage paper for their final paintings. Each child drew and colored their letter and their objects, painted the frame around their design, then added gold or silver paint to represent shiny gold or silver leaf, similar to an ancient page of an Illuminated Manuscript.
Ms. Coldiron enjoys creating lessons that combine history and visual arts for the students. This is her 18th year with SVUSD. All of the art supplies for the Illuminated Letters (and all of their visual arts projects) are provided by funding from the Sonoma Plein Air Foundation.
The Middle School Art Exhibit at the library is part of an art series organized by local artist Aparna Sinha with the assistance and support of Cathy Coleman and the Friends of the Sonoma Valley Library.

Classical Reflections Book Club
2025-04-08 14:00 - 15:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States

"Threshold" Art Exhibition of Photographs Constance Schlelein and Monica Kuhlman Jacobson
2025-04-11 16:00 - 17:30 | Forum Room, 755 W Napa St, Sonoma, 95476, United States

Book Sale
2025-04-27 10:00 - 15:00 | Sonoma Valley Library, 755 W. Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476, United States
Parking Lot Sale. Hardback books are $2 each. Paperback books are $1 each. DVD’s, CD’s & LP’s are $1 each. Credit cards are encouraged. Cash accepted. No checks will be accepted. Bring your own bags, please. Masks are optional. Street parking only.
Rain will cancel the Sale.
Restrooms are available during library hours only (1 PM to 5 PM).
