Libraries are often considered quiet centers for study and research, but this Sunday, June 24, the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St., will be making celebratory noise. The library welcomes the community to its 10th anniversary celebration on the main plaza from 1 to 5 p.m.
“It’s impossible . . . I just can’t believe it,” said Mary Rasmussen, one of the presidents of the Friends of the Pacific Beach/Taylor Library. “It seems like yesterday that it opened.”
The list of music, entertainment and refreshments reads like a list of the library’s most popular selections. Performing arts entertainers include Le Jazz Hot, City Ballet of Pacific Beach, Spirit Wind and Class Act.
The children’s section offers Wild Wonders live animals, Craig Stone’s Magic Show and other activities.
According to Jean Stewart, branch manager, the cooking section features a Best of Pacific Beach theme. At press time, participants included Bronx Pizza, Café Athena, Gringo’s, Henry’s Marketplace, JRDN, Moondoggies, Lotsa Pasta, Piccolo Monda, Subway, Waters Fine Foods, Wow! Factor Events and Zanzibar Café. French Gourmet will create the anniversary cakes.
Other major event donors include Friends of the Pacific Beach Taylor Library, Pacific Beach Town Council and the Pacific Beach Kiwanis.
Stewart said she hopes that the celebration will create new interest in the library and its programs.
“We want people to know where it is, and if they’ve never been here, to come in and look around,” she said. “It might get families involved, and it’s all free.”
The library’s visual arts gallery will also be open for its current exhibit, “Untouched by Hands: Recent digital prints by AARON, a computer program written by Harold Cohen.” Cohen is an internationally known artist and artificial intelligence pioneer.
“This may be the most important show we’ve had, in a lot of ways,” said Mark-Elliott Lugo, library curator. “His [Cohen’s] stature in the art world is enormous.”
According to Lugo, libraries are moving in the direction of becoming cultural centers, including their visual arts programs.
“It’s time to remind people of the vital role libraries play in the community,” he said.
The visual arts gallery also functions as a meeting room for many local organizations.
The library has had close ties to the community since its inception. It was named to commemorate the roles of the late Earl and Birdie Taylor, community leaders and early investors in Pacific Beach real estate. Their son, the late Vernon Taylor, his wife Mary Taylor and Vernon’s late sister Erma Taylor O’Brien gave a capital gift for the land of $6.25 million and provided an estimated endowment income of $125,000 a year in perpetuity.
Before the library was built, the site had several other functions, according to John Fry, Pacific Beach Historical Society founder and a longtime Beach & Bay Press columnist. Fry said that from the 1920s to the mid-1950s, the site was an auto camp.
“People would putt in on their Model T’s and set up their tents,” he said.
From 1954 to 1983, the land was home to the Martha Farnham Elementary School.
Fry said he visits the Pacific Beach branch at least once a week.
“I feel like a dinosaur checking out books,” he said. “Everyone in line ahead of me or behind me has DVDs and CDs.”
“In the digital age, the library is not going away,” said Anna Tatar, city librarian. “Computers are making it a really important resource, and we’re always looking toward building the library of the future.”
Tatar said that more people are coming into the library than ever. Last year, the Pacific Beach library logged 221,000 visits and a circulation of 243,000 books and media.
Even with 98,000 Internet logons on library computers, staff still handles 48,000 reference questions each year.
“We like to think of librarians as the ultimate search engine,” Tatar said with a smile.
Another library fan is Billie Crow, a Pacific Beach resident and member of the Friends of the Pacific Beach Taylor Library. Crow chairs the Friends book sale fund-raisers every Wednesday and Saturday. Retired after 45 years as a police dispatcher, Crow said she probably reads 300 to 400 books a year.
“Mostly mysteries and espionage, naturally,” she said.
For more information on the event, hours or library programs, call (858) 581-9934.