Clinical psychologist and MIT professor Sherry Turkle has studied the social and psychological effects of digital culture for over fifteen years.  In  Alone Together, the final volume in a trilogy beginning with The Second Self and continuing with Life on the Screen,  Turkle  investigates human reactions to interactive computer programs and robots, cautioning that robots are beginning  to replace human caregivers in responding  to  the  social and emotional needs of children, the disabled and the elderly. As a generation has grown up with cell phones, personal communications formerly made by phone and in person are now made online.  Paradoxically, as we are now more connected to the world, we are becoming isolated from others, avoiding the intimacy of face to face conversation.  Sherry Turkle discusses her research on TED:

Summer Reading Celebration

You're Invited!

Sunday, June 3 from 1-4 p.m

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

The kickoff event invites people of all ages to participate in a scavenger hunt inside the King Library (Lower Level-4th Floor).

The scavenger hunt will be divided into three groups: families with small children, teens and adults.  Each group will have their own set of clues and will have to search for hidden treasures inside the library to be eligible to win a prize. 

Prizes include tickets to ...

• Great America
• Tech Museum
• Laser Quest
• Happy Hollow Park and Zoo
• Children’s Museum
• San Jose Giants

The kickoff event will also feature a community resource fair and plenty of live entertainment.

Downtown Parking:

Free parking in the street and the 4th and San Fernando Street Garage located across from the King Library

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is an eloquent and beautiful novel depicting the lives of "picture brides," young Japanese mail order brides who came to California early in the twentieth century.  The author uses a unique, lyrical first person plural voice throughout most of the book.  "We sometimes lay awake for hours."  "Secretly we hoped to be rescued."  Seldom are personal names used and yet the author skillfully conveys the variety of experiences and emotions that these nameless women encounter.  Some are only children, no more than fourteen, when they arrive.  They find love, but not always with their husbands.  They become mothers, raise and bury children, work hard, and build very different lives from the ones they left behind.  Otsuka follows them as their children grow up and adopt  American customs, forgetting the Japanese ways their mothers cling to.  Finally the author revisits the time and place of her previous novel, When the Emperor Was Divine, as she follows them into the dark days of World War II when their lives were uprooted once again.  It is a moving, haunting portrait of first generation Japanese American women.   This title is also available as an audiobook and a downloadable ebook. 

Do you want to learn how to download library books onto an eReader?  Are you interested in buying an eReader but don't know which one is best for you? Find out about the different types of eBook collections available and learn how easy it is to borrow free library e-books on your device!  Bring your own eReader to this event or try out a variety of other popular devices and learn how to download a library e-book.  See a demonstration of how easy it is to read and enjoy these collections.  May programs will be held in the following locations:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library  May 12  10am

Berryessa Branch Library  May 16  11am

Willow Glen Branch Library  May 19  3pm

West Valley Branch Library  May 30  1pm