This is the ninth year of Silicon Valley Reads, Santa Clara County's one book-one community program. The Santa Clara County Library, the County Office of Education, and the San Jose Public Library Foundation present the program each year, with the sponsorship of a number of local foundations, organizations and Friends of the Library groups throughout the county.

The Year of Fog, a novel by Michelle Richmond, is the selection this year. You will have a number of opportunities to hear her talk about the book and her work as a writer, as well as to have her sign your copy of the book. She will be at the Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Library on Saturday, February 12 at 1 PM, at the West Valley Branch on Wednesday, March 9 at 6:30 PM, the Cambrian Branch on Wednesday, March 16 at 6:30 PM, the Berryessa Branch on Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30 PM, the Almaden Branch on Saturday, March 26, at 3 PM, and the Santa Teresa Branch on Wednesday, March 30 at 6:30 PM. The  Silicon Valley Reads website lists all author visits and numerous other events.

The library has copies of the book in paperback and also in audiobook and eBook formats.

My book club, like many others, read the book this month. We had a lively discussion about memory and loss, among other themes explored in the book. I'm curious -- what did you think of the book? Did you read the end at some point to break the tension or did you read straight through?

In challenging times, dysfunctional organizations hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. Healthy organizations look around for creative solutions to the problems they face, and join in the discussion of great ideas to find the very best solutions. San Jose Public Library is one of those healthy, although challenged organizations. Over many years of change, through very difficult budget times, our staff have not only willingly joined in the discussion, in many cases we are leading the discussion.

Some recent examples:

At a recent conference entitled "Internet Librarian", people from across the library field came together to discover the best ideas for using the Internet to further the educational and informational needs of library users. Two of our Library Managers were presenters of workshops, and our entire "Digital Futures Web Team" was in attendance, learning and sharing great ideas.

Over 100 staff from libraries who are users of the circulation and purchasing system (ILS) called "Millenium" from across Northern California were hosted here at King Library on a recent Friday to share experiences, best practices, and to suggest ideas for new product development to the vendor. This event was hosted by SJPL SJSU managers and has become a great place for great solutions to issues to be discussed.

Then, the annual California Library Association Conference was held in Sacramento and San Jose Public Library was well represented by attendees as well as workshop presenters - twenty library staff spent the weekend discussing, networking, debating, and generally making the future of libraries a brighter one.

We are very proud of what we do at San Jose Public Library for the people of San Jose in providing the best possible library service, but also what we do for the library community as it comes together to solve very difficult issues and looks to making libraries relevant and effective in the future.