Wednesday afternoon turned out to be a really bad time to try to study in silence at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in downtown San Jose. You couldn’t blame students and other patrons from thinking there was a loud party going on because that’s exactly what was happening — the 20th anniversary celebration of the library, a joint venture between San Jose and San Jose State University.
The festivities opened with the Spartan Marching Band blasting tunes on the outdoor plaza and even the opening bars of the SJSU Choraliers’ rendition of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” was drowned out by the buzz around the indoor atrium. On the other hand, if the city hadn’t entered into a groundbreaking partnership with SJSU, the party wouldn’t have been nearly as fun since the city doesn’t have its own marching band.
San Jose City Librarian Jill Bourne, who is marking her own 10th anniversary in the post, rattled off a few key statistics: The King Library is the third to stand on the corner of Fourth and San Fernando, following the Carnegie Library in 1903 and the university’s Wahlquist Library, built in 1961; it’s had 43 million visitors in two decades; more than 2 million reference questions have been answered and more than 15,000 people have volunteered more than 730,000 hours (probably a lot of those went to answering reference questions).
“The library is like no other place in San Jose or on Earth,” Bourne said. “It’s a place that invites everyone to exercise their right to access knowledge, where ideas live and where we ensure that the diversity our city is celebrated and reflected in the programs that we host.”
Ten spiffy new limited edition library cards were unveiled, depicting the King Library and some of the artwork there, and even though SJSU Library Dean Michael Meth said “Libraries aren’t really into uniforms,” he noted all the staff and volunteers chose to wear the same black T-shirts with the teal King Library 20th anniversary logo on it.
State Sen. Dave Cortese, who was on the San Jose City Council when it opened, recalled the effort as a “moonshot,” and speaker after speaker reflected on the historic collaboration that led to its creation and thanked some of the players involved: former Mayors Susan Hammer and Ron Gonzales, former SJSU President Bob Caret and former City Librarian Jane Light.
But SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson described as a place from which you could see tomorrow. Calling San Jose State and the city of San Jose the “epicenter of the future,” she said projects like the King Library demonstrate the innovation that was happening back in the 1990s, before most of SJSU’s current students were even born.
“I can assure you when this building was built, we didn’t contemplate cybersecurity attacks, we didn’t contemplate maker spaces, we didn’t contemplate virtual reality, augmented reality labs and all of the opportunities that exist here today. Because we are at the epicenter of the future, these opportunities will continue to evolve right here,” she said. “And up in the library right now are the next generation of inventors, patent holders, intellectually property development and the like.”
And once the commotion faded downstairs — as everyone left to watch Los Lupeños dance outside — they were able to get back to work building that future.
BEER BASH ON TAP: Is there a better place to have an Oktoberfest than a brewery? Dan Gordon doesn’t think so. That’s why he’s again opening the courtyard to Gordon Biersch’s brewing and bottling plant in San Jose’s Japantown for the annual celebration this Saturday, the same day the festival opens in Munich, Germany.
The festivities, which run from 2 to 9 p.m., include 10 food trucks, with the Zicke Zacke Bavarian band playing at 2:30 and singer Tracy Cruz performing afterward. You’ve got a couple of days to get your arm strength built up for the traditional stein-holding competition — with divisions for both men and women. Admission’s free, but bring your bucks for food and beer. The brewery is at 357 E. Taylor St., but the music and aromas will probably lead you there faster than GPS.
‘BARBIE’ AT THE TECH: If you thought “Barbie” was big this summer, wait till you see her at the Tech Interactive’s IMAX dome theater. Starting Sept. 22, Director Greta Gerwig’s record-breaking hit will play for seven days at the downtown San Jose learning center, which is home to the West Coast’s largest screen. The Tech plans to have some fun activities paired with the movie, including lighting up the mango museum in pink hues.
Katrina Stevens, the Tech’s president and CEO, says the movie has sparked conversations about the evolving image of the legendary Mattel doll and what she means to women of all ages. And it sounds like Barbie fits right in with the Tech’s mission to inspire the innovator in everyone. “Scientist Barbie, Astronaut Barbie, and even President Barbie have the power to inspire the next generation of girls to break boundaries and dream big,” she said. Tickets are available at www.thetech.org.
