"If I were a book" youth poetry celebration. 😃📚 City Hall was abuzz with youthful new energy this week. Over 200 youth poets and their families packed the City Council Chamber for the Menlo Park Youth Poetry Celebration. Contest winners read their original poems on the theme, "If I Were a Book..." All the poets received a blue ribbon and beautiful commemorative booklet. Winners received cash prizes sponsored by Menlo Park Library Foundation. The grand prize winner also received a new iPad. Congratulations to Menlo Park's amazing youth poets!

Emilia Hansen - 2nd Grade winner

Sophia Gamini - 4th Grade winner

Jamie Zou - 8th Grade Winner

Chyanne Robinson - 10th Grade, grand prize winner

Building a new library. 😃📚 We unearthed these vintage snapshots of the Main Library under construction in 1967. The photos show the "great hall" expansion, which was completed in 1968. Back then, people used to say that the library is the tallest building in Menlo Park... because it has the most stories!

Back to the future.😃📚 We found this groovy magazine article about Menlo Park's "new" library in 1968! Complete with photos of the vinyl record listening station, space-age microfilm reader, and the card catalog-- where one can "research any subject from aardvark to zythum." Then, as now, Menlo Park Library is the place where past, present and future intersect.

Blast from the past. 📖 Here’s a vintage photo showing the Menlo Park Main Library as it appeared around the time it was built in 1957. This is the original entry and façade, which is now enclosed by a fence around the library’s outdoor patio. The chimney and fireplace are still in place where the magazine area is today. As Menlo Park grew, the library building was expanded with the “great hall” addition in 1968; and again when the children’s room was added in 1991. Then, as now, the library was a vibrant center for learning and sharing information, and a source of immense community pride. 📖

Gateway to knowledge. 📖 If you’ve passed by the Main Library recently, you may have noticed a new feature on the corner of Ravenswood and Alma. A beautiful replica of the historic Menlo Gate was recently constructed there. The new Menlo Gate is built of redwood like the original, but with a sturdy steel frame underneath, and extends over the pathway leading from the train station to the Library and civic center campus. Visit the library to learn more about the history of this beautiful new landmark.

Unleash your inner Shakespeare. 📖✍️ Enter the Menlo Park Youth Poetry Contest! Original works of youth-created poetry on the theme, "If I were a book…" may be entered by youth in grades 2 through 12. Cash prizes will be awarded to winners in each age group, and the grand prize winner will receive a new iPad. Limit one entry per youth. Entrants must live or attend school in Menlo Park, California. Click here for contest details and how to enter.

The Menlo Park Library Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization, is accepting proposals from established fundraising consulting firms to conduct a capital fundraising and community information campaign feasibility study and to develop a capital campaign and community information campaign plan in conjunction with the Library System Improvements Project in Menlo Park, California.

Please see our Request for Proposals for more information. Responses are due March 25, 2019.

In an age where “information is power,” 21st-century public libraries can provide arsenals of invaluable resources for personal and community discovery. For everyone from toddlers to teens and resourceful entrepreneurs to retirees—the Menlo Park Library has been a place to listen, learn, collaborate, study, and create for 61 years. During those decades, Silicon Valley and Menlo Park have changed the world and grown exponentially in the process. And while the number of people using the library has increased along with our population, the library's facilities haven't.