Linda excels in making sure ALL our library patrons feel welcome. Whether leading a crowd of 100 at Bilingual Storytime, helping a library visitor use the computer, or requesting a rare book through interlibrary loan Linda does her best to offer excellent customer service. Linda displays her exceptional character in the way she lends a hand to help her coworkers and offers to help with anything. When she isn’t staffing the library’s service desk you can find Linda conducting class visits with local schools, participating in outreach events, building a network of community partners, organizing craft programs for children, or using her artistic talents to decorate the library by creating beautiful displays and high-quality signage. She serves the community each day with positivity and professionalism. Congratulations, Linda!

OC Public Libraries is getting library card holders excited by offering a fine forgiveness program, “Fine Free Library Days,” from February 14-29, 2020. To celebrate the Leap Year, library users with outstanding library fines are invited to “Take a Leap Back to the Library.” Items with overdue fines or marked "lost" can be returned to any of the library system’s 32 branches, and related fines and fees will be waived. Read More

Effective 1/2/20, OC Public Libraries will no longer offer the services of Lynda.com due to our concerns regarding privacy issues associated with their rebranding to LinkedIn Learning. New user agreements for LinkedIn Learning will grant this company the power to share user information contained in a personal profile with whomever they desire, which is not in alignment with the privacy policies held by the County of Orange. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Cassandra began her career with OCPL in the OC Read Department where her enthusiasm and passion, helped to develop our family literacy services. She has been instrumental in the launch of the Charlie Cart project systemwide. The Charlie Carts, portable kitchens used to teach Food Literacy and healthy eating, are now being enjoyed by staff and the public throughout the County in large part, due to Cassandra’s effort. In her role as Committee Chair, she is positive, always searching for solutions or improvements on current practices, and most importantly, she is always available to all staff if they have any questions. Cassandra is now a Librarian II, working with government documents. She has done an outstanding job of organizing the collection and making it accessible to the public. She has improved government documents and made it a meaningful part of our collection. Cassandra is also working to serve the Veteran community in the Garden Grove area. She applied for the Community Conversations with Veterans initiative through the California Center for the Book and is now working to improve collections and programs for veterans and their families. She is also an amazing cook!

Housing & Community Development document for public notice:Substantial Amendment to FY 2019-20 Annual Action PlanThe public notice period is from December 6, 2019 – January 7, 2020. Please link it to the following webpage:http://www.occommunityservices.org/hcd/resources/news/public

Chalishia is a Library Assistant II at Tustin. Chalishia leads an exceptional storytime at the Tustin Library, which regularly exceeds 100 visitors per session and has received many compliments from patrons. She also leads the Tustin Library’s Bilingual Storytime which is a fun morning of stories and songs presented in both English and Spanish. Her background in special education has given her the skills to fulfill our system’s mission of treating every patron with dignity, patience, and respect. In addition to working with kids, Chalishia started “Crafty Adults,” which is a program that involves creating fun crafts while engaging in lively conversation with other adults. She also helps with the Lunch at the Library program, serves on the Genealogy Committee and participates in OC Inspire, OC Public Libraries’ mentoring program.

Housing & Community Development document for public notice:FY 2020-21 Funding Allocation Policy & Process (FAPP)The public notice period is from September 13, 2019 – October 15, 2019. Document can be found at http://occommunityservices.org/hcd/community/

Housing & Community Development will be going out for a public notice on Friday, September 6, 2019. The public notice period is from September 6, 2019 – September 23, 2019. Name of the Document: FY 2018-19 Consolidated Annual Performance & Evaluation Report (CAPER)The document is available at http://occommunityservices.org/hcd/community/

This summer, almost 40,000 patrons signed up to participate in the summer reading program and 85,000 community members attended one or more of the programs. Not only did OC Public Libraries offer learning opportunities, our Lunch at the Library program, in partnership with the California State Library and local school districts, saw six branches serve over 20,000 free lunches throughout the summer.