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SPL Biweekly Newsletter | December 12, 2025
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Join the Friends of the Salinas Public Library for a Holiday Book Sale at the John Steinbeck Library. There will be refreshments, surprises, and HUNDREDS OF BOOKS!
Saturday, December 13, 2025
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Members only: 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
John Steinbeck Library
All Salinas Public Library locations will be closed Wednesday 12/24, Thursday 12/25, Saturday 12/27 and Thursday 1/1 for the winter holidays. Our digital collection and online resources will remain available.
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KIDS & TEENS: Program Highlights |
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Write your letter to Santa and he will mail a response just in time for Christmas!
Write your letter at Cesar Chavez Library, El Gabilan Library, John Steinbeck Library, El Dorado Park, Central Park, and Bread Box Rec Center, or mail to the Salinas Recreation Center 320 Lincoln Ave.
For more information: 831-758-7306
Do you knit, crochet, cross stitch, etc.? Are you looking for a place to work on your cozy season and/or holiday projects? Join us at El Gabilan Library for some productive body doubling with other fiber arts enthusiasts! Drop in any time between 4:00 and 6:00 PM on Tuesdays in December except for 12/23.
This program is open to teen and adult fiber artists of any level to bring their own projects and is intended to be a gathering space for crafters to make headway on works in progress, inspire one another, and share tips and tricks. Please note this is not an instructional class and only a very limited amount of tools and materials will be available through the library.
Tuesdays, December 16 & 30, 2025
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
El Gabilan Library, Study Room 2
No registration is required.
Join us in the library for Make & Explore, our family craft event featuring a fun activity or hands on experiment! Spend some quality time together creating and learning through play.
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
John Steinbeck Library
No registration required
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Check out 3D printing with us at the Salinas Public Library. Choose a stamp design in Tinkercad and watch it print before your eyes. Join us in the El Gabilan Library Makerspace with our Lulzbot 3D printers at the ready. Participants can select a design on Tinkercad or customize a stamp with their initials and other shapes. Our Makerspace staff will explain how our 3D printers work and provide a pre-printed stamp handle that will be glued onto your completed printed design. Please note that these stamps are not ink stamps, but impression stamps that press designs into craft dough, clay, or other soft and moldable materials. For ages 9+.
Three 1-hour timeslots are available as well as a limited waitlist. Space is limited and registration is required.
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
El Gabilan Library, 2F Makerspace
Space is limited and registration is required.
Register on here.
Need a breather in the thick of the holidays? Drop in for a laid-back hangout at the library! Make a craft, play games, and have some free snacks—or, if relaxing isn’t your vibe, dive into a murder mystery box and put your detective skills to the test. Come for the cozy escape, the thrilling challenge, or a bit of both.
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
John Steinbeck Library
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
El Gabilan Library
No registration needed.
Coming Soon! The Winter Reading Challenge returns to the Salinas Public Library starting Saturday, December 20, 2025, and is open to all Salinas children and teens. This Winter Break is a chance to discover new titles or re-read some favorite books. Read for 15 minutes a day for 14 days to earn a FREE book! Starting December 20, stop by any Salinas library to sign up and get a reading log, or register online with ReadSquared to track electronically.
December 20, 2025 - January 17, 2026
All library branches
Register online with READsquared or download the app.
Questions about a kid or teen program?
Click the button below to send a message!
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All Literacy Programs will finish up with our end of year celebration on December 18, and classes will resume on January 6. In the meantime, staff will be on hand throughout the holidays to answer queries and register new students, so call anytime!
Last day of class:
Independent Studies Computer Class
December 16, 2025
Beyond Basics Computer Class
December 17, 2025
Computing for Beginners
December 13, 2025
Citizenship Preparation (English)
December 16, 2025
Citizenship Preparation (Spanish) / Citizenship Preparation (English / Virtual)
December 18, 2025
First day of class:
Independent Studies Computer Class
January 6, 2026
Beyond Basics Computer Class
January 7, 2026
Computing for Beginners
January 9, 2026
Citizenship Preparation (English)
January 6, 2026
Citizenship Preparation (Spanish)
January 8, 2026
To register for Literacy services & programs, click HERE and for more information or to get involved, contact Literacy Staff at (831) 758-7916
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SAVE THE DATE: Winter Computer Class Orientations begin January 6. There are three levels of classes in our 10-week session and all materials are provided.
Computing for Beginners
A thorough introduction to the basics of computing. The focus of this class is understanding your device, connecting to the internet, recognizing and navigating secure websites, and sending and receiving emails.
Friday, January 9, 2026 (orientation & first class)
10:00 AM to12:00 PM
Cesar Chavez Library
Beyond Basics
Builds on the skills practiced in the Computing for Beginners class. A thorough review of Gmail is followed by a fun class project that includes using Chrome for safe internet search; Google Docs to create, format and share documents; an introduction to spread-sheeting with Google Sheets, and using Google Slides and Google Meet to present coursework.
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 (orientation & first class)
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
El Gabilan Library
Independent Studies
Your opportunity to focus on specific areas for improvement. You will work independently in Google Classroom and select from curated lessons geared toward workplace readiness, productivity tools for business, and personal interest computing. To take part in this class you should have basic keyboard skills, familiarity with core operations (e.g. sending emails, accessing the internet) and some confidence in recovering from errors. This course also includes an introduction to generative AI.
Tuesday, January 6, 2026 (orientation & first class)
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
John Steinbeck Library
To register, call the Literacy Program at (831) 758-7916 or click HERE.
Home for the holidays? Cozy up with our on-demand Virtual Author Talks! Explore over 125 recorded conversations with bestselling writers, Smithsonian experts, inspiring thinkers, and even a Nobel Peace laureate. From page-turning fiction to expert insights on mental health, finance, and remarkable real-life stories, there’s something for every curious mind. Watch anytime, all season long, perfect for quiet evenings, or sharing with visiting friends and family.
No registration required.
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Looking for a cozy holiday pastime? Dive into The Librarian’s Apprentice, a solo tabletop role playing game set in an infinite, ever-shifting library. As the apprentice, you’ll hunt down six elusive documents, testing your creativity, courage, and clever problem-solving. No experience needed, just imagine, write, and shape your own adventure. Each kit includes three tri-fold guides, a reusable character bookmark, extra bookmarks, a journal, a deck of playing cards, two dice, a Great Library card, and an instruction sheet with online resources.
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
4:00 PM
All library branches, while supplies last.
Enjoy a festive place to wrap your gifts this season at our come-and-go wrapping party. Bring a few boxed gifts from home and arrive at your leisure. Wrap your gifts here with the varieties of wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, tape, and stickers we provide. Whether you want privacy from gift recipients at home or company with other wrappers, we have just the place for you.
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Cesar Chavez Library
No registration required.
Questions about an adult or literacy program?
Click the button below to send a message!
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With LinkedIn Learning, access 16,000+ professional and multilingual tutorials on business, software, web design, photography, video, 3D animation, and more. Learn on your desktop and you can also download the app for library access to LinkedIn Learning on-the-go!
Your favorite magazines are available to read on Libby 24/7. Catch up with The New Yorker, New Scientist, Newsweek, National Geographic and more. And never miss an issue when you subscribe: Libby will add it to your shelf as soon as it’s available.
Questions about our collection or online resources? Click the button below to send a message!
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Other News from the Library |
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The Friends of the Salinas Public Library are asking for your support in helping the library develop teen leadership through activities such as teen talks, service projects, literacy projects and local trips to widen the horizons of local teens.
Visit MC Gives to contribute today!
Attention people of Salinas - We want to hear from you! Please take a few minutes out of your day to tell us what you want from your library. Currently, we have two surveys out to the public:
Help Shape Your Library Survey
The Help Shape Your Library Survey is your opportunity to help determine the direction of Salinas Public Library into the rest of 2025 and beyond. In this survey, we want to know who you are, how you use the library, and what you want to see more of from us, whether that's a bigger library collection, more programs and events, more seating and spaces in the library, more online resources and digital materials, more technology and equipment available to use, or something else. Click here to take the survey and help shape your library!
Operating Hours Expansion Survey
The Operating Hours Expansion Survey is your chance to tell us when you want the library open. Are you looking for later nights? Earlier mornings? More weekend availability? More opportunities to visit a specific library location? We want to know how we can best serve you! Click here to take the survey.
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